She Treads Softly: It Ended Badly

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

It Ended Badly

It Ended Badly by Jennifer Wright

Henry Holt & Company: 11/3/15
eBook review copy, 256 pages
ISBN-13: 9781627792868

It Ended Badly by Jennifer Wright is a hilarious yet historically accurate account of thirteen of the worst breakups in history. Very highly recommended! One of the best, most notable, books of the year!

Did I mention that each of these memorable, irreverent essays is side-splitting-laugh-out-loud-funny and yet still presents all the historical facts surrounding the breakups? True. Not only are you guaranteed mirth and laughter with each breakup story you are also going to learn a plethora of facts along the way. And it is extraordinarily well written! Educational, well written, and funny: a wonderful combination!

"It Ended Badly is for anyone who's ever loved and lost and maybe sent one too many ill-considered late-night emails to their ex, reminding us that no matter how badly we've behaved, no one is as bad as Henry VIII."

Rather than explain the contents, look at the chapters for just a peek of the wonder that is It Ended Badly.

Introduction
1. If you have been replaced by a surprising choice Read about Nero and Poppaea
2. If you are accomplished and independent and fierce Read about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II
3. If your family didn’t like your ex and thought you could do better Read about Lucrezia Borgia and Giovanni Sforza
4. If you have ever made the same mistake twice Read about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard
5. If you have started snickering at happy couples on the street Read about Anna Ivanovna
6. If you believe in ghosts (and love social media) Read about Timothy Dexter
7. If you have just sent your ex a very intense emotional e-mail Read about Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron
8. If there were body image issues Read about John Ruskin and Effie Gray
9. If it was just a sad affair Read about Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas
10. If you were dumped Read about Edith Wharton and Morton Fullerton
11. If you are struggling to find anyone as good as your ex Read about Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler
12. If you deserve an apology Read about Norman Mailer and Adele Morales Mailer
13. If you want to believe it will all work out for the best in the end Read about Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor
Epilogue; Sources; Acknowledgments

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Henry Holt & Company for review purposes.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.