Review: The Break-Up Diet

I'm hosting author Annette Fix on my blog today, and was excited to receive a copy of her book, The Break-Up Diet, a Memoir.

Annette has a truly crazy sense of humor, so you can only imagine how much I enjoyed reading this book. I admit, it took me a little while to get used to the diary-style entries done in sometimes seemingly unrelated vignettes. Each one could nearly have stood alone as a "Life in These United States" type story, but were interlinked by the thread of sadness at the loss of the man she thought was the love of her life.

Cleverly written, the book tells the story of how Annette slowly recovered from being unexpectedly dumped (via PHONE no less) by the man she thought she'd be marrying. I loved her chapter titles -- "The Wishbone's Connected to the Guy Bone", or "Does Mapquest Give Life Directions?" and "Landscaping and Other Acts of Foreplay".

We've all been through the types of things she describes to effectively -- the dumping and heartbreak. The depression and angst. Pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and moving on as best we can. The fix-ups. The failures. The frustration.

The author is able inject irony and humor into nearly every part of her recovery and even includes recipes for each section like "Doubt Cake" and "Envy Pie".

If you're looking for a light, fun trip through someone else's break-up, break-down and recovery, I can't recommend a book more. My time is tight, and it usually takes me quite a while to read a book these days, but I finished this one in only two nights: record time. It's an easy read, but one I found myself returning to, now and then, to re-read little bits of her life.

Help yourself to a bit of the Break-Up Diet. I think you'll enjoy the stay.

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