SOCIAL MEDIA

Review: Perfection

After seeing this book on many websites as a recommended book club selection I wanted to read it as a potential book club selection for the Omaha Bookworm's.  I have been enjoying memoirs over the last few years ago - I have always read them but I have been enjoying memoirs written by people, not famous but people with stories worth sharing. 

From author’s website: I am a writer, graphic designer, and artist. In addition to Perfection I have written essays and commentary for publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Hemispheres, Glamour, and mr bellers neighborhood. I received a MacDowell Fellowship in 2008 where I completed work on Perfection and began work on a novel. I live in Brooklyn, N.Y. I am the world’s biggest skeptic, but try me.

Synopsis: A breathtakingly honest, gloriously written memoir about the complexities of forgiveness when a young widow discovers her husband's secret life after his death Julie Metz seemed to have the perfect life—an adoring if demanding husband, a happy, spirited daughter, a lovely old house in an idyllic town outside New York City—when in an instant, everything changed. Her charismatic, charming husband, Henry, suffered a pulmonary embolism and collapsed on the kitchen floor. Within hours he was dead, and Julie was a widow and single mother at 44. Just like that, what seemed like a perfect life melted away. But the worst was yet to come.

Six months after his death, Julie discovered that her husband of 12 years, the man who loved her and their six-year-old daughter ebulliently and devotedly, had been unfaithful throughout their marriage, going so far as to conduct an ongoing relationship with one of Julie's close friends. This memoir—moving, simple, filled with incandescent images—is the story of coming to terms with painful truths, of rebuilding both a life and an identity after betrayal and widowhood. ltimately, it is a story of rebirth and happiness—if not perfection.

Type: Memoir, 352 pages, Hardcover

Quick Take: It’s no secret that I enjoy memoirs, some of my 2009 favorites fall into this genre. I didn’t love this one as much as some but it’s very good, I found the book jumped around a bit for my liking but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. It’s VERY honest and at times maybe too raw (I felt like I was intruding at times). I can’t begin to imagine how anyone would handle the news that a spouse had over 10 affairs… and is dead so you can’t ask questions! This would make closure difficult. You will like the ending, the author is in a good place.

Links worth clicking:
Author Q&A
Audio Interview
GMA Appearance

While I was reading Perfection, Nicole of Linus's Blanket emailed me, mentioned she enjoyed this book, click here to read her review.

Source: Personal copy