Book: One Happy Divorce: Hold the Bulls#!t
Author: Jennifer Hurvitz Weintraub
Genre: Nonfiction, Relationships
Basic Description: One Happy Divorce-Hold the Bulls#!t evolved from The Truth Hurvitz, the relationship blog by Jennifer Hurvitz Weintraub, and it’s as real as it gets. We all know divorce is tough, but it doesn’t have to be miserable! A happy ex equals a more peaceful life.
Jennifer serves up a trifecta of funny, insightful, and heartful anecdotes–a recipe for success. Through relatable stories and personal experiences, we learn that divorce doesn’t have to end in disaster. We all know a good marriage takes effort, well, so does a good divorce. And yes, there is such as thing as a “good divorce.” Mixing humor and heart, One Happy Divorce–Hold the Bulls#!t is a delicious slice of reality.
Arden’s Thoughts: Rarely do we get to see inside someone’s messy. Even in self-help relationship books, the messy we’re given is often the clean version of messy. The “my mom’s gonna read this so I better hold back on the 4-letter words and not tell all the nitty-gritty of my sex life” version.
Not Weintraub in One Happy Divorce. From the very first page, I can almost picture myself sitting on her couch, watching her crumble as she realizes her marriage failed, and growing into a different, stronger woman as she realizes she, and her children, will survive this mess.
Through humor and real-talk, our author gives actual strategies and tactics for those experiencing a divorce. From nesting with her ex to cleaning his house because she was bored to learning about dating in the swipe right world, our newly single friends will realize they aren’t alone in their antics while adjusting to their new lives.
An area that sparked particular interest with me was Weintraub’s loneliness. Her married friends didn’t know what to do with her anymore so they bailed. I’ve never been married, but I’ve experienced the same loneliness when friends gets married. I’m suddenly the forbidden friend; the one rarely called even though I came to the showers, bach weekends, rehearsal dinner, and wedding, the moment a couple says “I do” the single friends often get the “I don’t”… don’t wanna grab lunch or dinner, meet for happy hour, or do anything with you… I’ve never really understood this but I’m so used to it I’m numb to it.
However, it pricked at me that Weintraub would experience this same loneliness during such a traumatic time in her life. It left me thinking is that we all need to do better.
I truly believe One Happy Divorce will be a guidebook to helping all of us understand each other a little bit more. If a friend is going through a divorce, offer some grace, a cup of coffee, and this book. Your kindness goes a long way.
arden's book club 