Product Description
Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has "a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs" is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wiching him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes. Heartburn is a sinfully delicious novel, as soul-satisfying as mashed potatoes and as airy as a perfect soufflé.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 26 reviews)

Heartburn...pun intended

Heartburn is the thinly disguised version of the break up of Ephron's second marriage. Part of the magic of Ephron's writing is her conversation-with-a-best-girlfriend style. The other part is her ability to find humor in an otherwise devastating situation. She shows us that indeed there are times when we just need to laugh at our own follies...or take a small measure of revenge on a man who deserves it!

To help keep the situation light, and to keep the narrative from becoming too heavy, Ephron adds just the right amount of quirkiness to keep you reading without feeling like you're reading someone's final paper in a creative writing class. She describes, for example, her first husband's ridiculously deep attachment to hamsters. She predates Seinfeld-style humor with comments like those about she and her husband "dating" another couple.

Much of what's in the book is both funny and honest, showing the human side of human nature. She makes you believe that truth is indeed often stranger--and so much more annoying!--than fiction. I also found myself admiring the underlying strength beneath the humor of her ability to leave a toxic relationship, seven months pregnant or not.

Heartburn is a quick and satisfying read. It makes great airplane or beach reading.
March 13, 2008

Palatable but Dated

I'm not really a fan of Nora Ephron -- I find her films to be terribly schmaltzy, and whenever I've heard her on NPR, she inevitably says something inane. So, needless to say, I was not particularly looking forward to reading this novel of hers for my book group. It wasn't until after I picked it up and mentioned it to a friend that I learned it's basically a roman a clef about the dissolution of her marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein (of Woodward and Bernstein fame). That gave the brief story a little more resonance and made it somewhat more interesting to read.

The gist of the story is that Rachel (Nora Ephron) is seven months pregnant with her and Mark Feldman's (Carl Bernstein) second child when she discovers that he's been cheating on her with a serial adultress (in real life, British politician Margaret Jay). Over the course of the rest of the book she attempts to deal with this in alternatingly comic and pathetic turns. She flees "home" to mid-town Manhattan, commiserates with her therapy group, commiserates with close friends who may or may not have already known of the infidelity, reminisces about the failure of her first marriage, soldiers on with her semi-celeb cooking career, reminisces about her oddball parents (presumably modeled on her real-life parents who were playwrights, screenwriters, and alcoholics), and sprinkles in various recipes along the way.

It's all perfectly palatable, if rather slapstick and dated, as the idealists of the '60s must confront the banal bourgeois behavior they've slipped into in the '80s. I suspect that readers of that generation may find it rather more entertaining and meaningful than Gen Xers like myself and those in my book group (none of whom were particularly taken with it). I guess the best I can say is that it's brief, and to my surprise I didn't hate it. The book was made into a film of the same name (scripted by Ephron herself), but I doubt I'll be seeing it as it stars two of my least favorite "icons" -- Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep (yes, I know, heresy...).
February 12, 2008

Pesto is the quiche of the nineteen seventies

When Rachel Samstat was seven months pregnant, she learned her second husband had not been faithful. Her husband had used the excuse he had to go out to buy socks, among others. Rachel's husband Mark admitted that he loved the other woman. Rachel contacted her therapist. She let herself be persuaded that Mark was not what she wanted in a husband. Then she changed her mind.

Rachel describes her parents amusingly. She characterizes her sister as a good and patient and caring daughter. Rachel had remained with her first husband, Charlie, for six years. She didn't accept his offer to her of one of his pet hamsters. She had met Mark in Washington, D.C. The had separated once before marriage. Later, Mark decided that he had made a terrible mistake and sought Rachel's return. After the latest fiasco Mark wants to have Rachel back once again.

I can't describe the ending, tell the jokes, copy out the recipes, but I can assure the reader the writing is excellent in every instance. The book is delightful.
January 28, 2008

Painful and Funny

This book is painful and funny in equal parts and brings the breakup of a marriage to it's best conclusion. I enjoy most of Nora Ephron's writing. I also enjoyed the DVD of this book starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. Also has a great song by Carly Simon.
July 05, 2007

A Perfect Revenge

Good for Nora! Makes a lot of divorced wives wish they could write like she does about a marriage gone sour. I'll bet her former husband and Hero of Watergate really squirmed and suffered.
March 22, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman (Vintage)
by Nora Ephron

Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women (Modern Library Humor and Wit)
by Nora Ephron

Wallflower at the Orgy
by Nora Ephron

Imaginary Friends
by Nora Ephron

We Are All Fine Here
by Mary Guterson