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166th out of 589 books
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Heartburn
by
Nora Ephron
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.Seve...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
August 17th 2011
by Vintage
(first published March 12th 1983)
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Heartburn tells the story of a woman while in her second marriage realizes that her husband has been having an affair while she is seven months pregnant. It is stated at the start of this book that this story is not entirely fiction and her now ex husband went to the extreme of having a court order put against Nora Ephron to ensure she could not write about him or their children again.
I can think of no better revenge then to tell the story to the world about how he betrayed her. But this b...more
I can think of no better revenge then to tell the story to the world about how he betrayed her. But this b...more
I like this just fine for an afternoon of conking out on the couch, feeling awful, needing something undemanding yet decently written and funny. I've had a copy of Crazy Salad for years; that is much more dense, considering the pervasive Issues Of The 1970s inherent in the heavy journalistic subject matter. So, because that sort of exploration is not generally what I'm looking for while lying around feeling awful, it hadn't occurred to me to seek this one out. It was a total coincidence that ...more
Heartburn was a book about a relationship that happens to go wrong. This book didn't seem that interesting at first since it was in really small font and was hard to get into. It was hard to understand the story unless you concentrate and had patience with it. Overall this book had some humor into it and a quite weird storyline.
Rachael the main character of this story seems to be going through a lot of pain after finding she is pregnant for 7 months and her husband Mark decides to leave he...more
Rachael the main character of this story seems to be going through a lot of pain after finding she is pregnant for 7 months and her husband Mark decides to leave he...more
Nora Ephron's new movie, 'Julie and Julia,' rode into its nationwide opening last weekend on a such a wave of publicity I'm almost too tired of all the Ephronmania to mention anything about her here. But I just read 'Heartburn' and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I liked it so much that I lay in bed after finishing it and thought, "Three stars? Four stars? Three stars? Four stars?" I decided on three, but it's really a three-and-a-half. And it's almost a four.
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This didn't have nearly as much about food as its reputation suggests, but it was a super fun (and fast) read regardless. It probably really helps to remember the early 80s, including politics. Along with this being very autobiographical, I recognized lines from several of her movies, but they were great lines that deserved further use. And the father certainly seemed like what I remembered of Walter Matthau in the trailers to Hanging Up.
It's written in the style where the narrator a...more
It's written in the style where the narrator a...more
Rachel Samstat writes cookbooks interspersed with essays about the recipes. When the novel opens, she is seven months pregnant and has just discovered that her husband, Washington columnist Mark Forman, is having an affair with a mutual friend. Over the course of the novel, she looks back over her relationship with Mark and looks ahead to her future, considering whether it should include Mark or not. (The book was to some degree based on Ephron s own failed marriage to Carl Bernstein.)[return][...more
A light little snack between heavier books, Heartburn is the story of food writer Rachel Sandstadt's divorce. I had seen the movie, which I know was supposed to be funny but always left me feeling more sad. And at this point it also feels very dated. But a friend left me her copy of this book, so I picked it up while waiting for other deeply sought-after things to arrive from the library and realized:
1. It's much funnier than the movie.
2. Nora Ephron is a damn good writer. Okay...more
1. It's much funnier than the movie.
2. Nora Ephron is a damn good writer. Okay...more
My friend gave me this book a few years ago when I going through chronic depression. He said it was pee your pants funny.
Honestly, didn't think that their was anything funny about a woman whose husband runs off with her best friend and all of her money.
It did make me get off the couch and go out and reinvent myself.
The one funny part is when she talks about her late lush of a mother who made the worst casseroles in the history of casseroles) who pretended to be dead to sc...more
Honestly, didn't think that their was anything funny about a woman whose husband runs off with her best friend and all of her money.
It did make me get off the couch and go out and reinvent myself.
The one funny part is when she talks about her late lush of a mother who made the worst casseroles in the history of casseroles) who pretended to be dead to sc...more
By now we all know this is about Ephron's divorce from Carl Bernstein (whom I met once at San Francisco State University: she does not mention that he has terrible skin, but it's the only thing she doesn't mention).
I don't know. It's like there isn't enough story here so she has to fill it out with the kreplatch story and charcters that never go anywhere (the lover who took huge bites out of raw onions; her maid who gave up men for Jesus) and the recipes. The recipes don't seem to h...more
I don't know. It's like there isn't enough story here so she has to fill it out with the kreplatch story and charcters that never go anywhere (the lover who took huge bites out of raw onions; her maid who gave up men for Jesus) and the recipes. The recipes don't seem to h...more
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Many features about the movie "Julie and Julia" make reference to director Nora Ephron's landmark 1983 novel that combined recipes with a plotline. Perhaps it was for this reason that my expectations were raised too high. Sure, the story is compelling, but Ephron's Rachel can be a whiner of the highest degree. At times, I found myself understanding why she had such rough relationships.
Rachel Statson is 38 and on her second marriage when she discovers her husband is cheat...more
Rachel Statson is 38 and on her second marriage when she discovers her husband is cheat...more
trina
rated it
perfectly in accordance with the peanut chorus on this one. book is funny, witty, clever, heartbreaking, and mouthwatering all at once. tackles the big questions like 'how do you make love stay?' and 'what is the best way to mash potatoes?' reads easily, lightly, but has a lot of emotional depth. of course i knew ahead of time that the book is mostly autobiographical, and that made it sad even as our main character cracked jokes and spun stories out of the truly shitty turn her life took when he...more
Just felt like laughing, so picked this book up to visit with again. Fave quote: " Show me a woman who cries when the trees lose their leaves in autumn, and I'll show you a real asshole."
If I had read this before (as I had said in my lists), I do not remember it. Although the writing style and story telling style is rather different than most, it was an enjoyable character-driven story about the realities of marriages and how they devolve. Anyone who has been through a divorce will recognize the feelings and thoughts that Ephron presents. Peppered with real recipes that the character talks about as part of her life story, there are little jewels of wisdom and worth in the tellin...more
Intersting work of fiction that is loosely based on Ephron's life. The same sharp wit you see in her non-fiction is present here. Funny stuff.
Ephron, who after publishing this novel went on to success as a movie screenwriter and director (“Sleepless in Seattle,” etc.), is funny and insightful in describing the meltdown of a marriage when a 7-months-pregnant wife learns her husband is having an affair. The story allegedly is based on the demise of Ephron’s marriage to Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein. Ephron shows exactly where and how betrayal hurts, but makes readers laugh at the same time. I wish she had omitted the many recipes,...more
Heartburn, the novel about the breakup of Nora Ephron's marriage to Carl Bernstein, is wickedly funny. The section called "Potatoes and Love: Some Reflections" alone is worth the price of the book. That section is one of the best written things I've ever read. It starts: "The beginning --- I have friends who begin with pasta, and friends who begin with rice, but whenever I fall in love, I begin with potatoes. Sometimes meat and potatoes and sometimes fish and potatoes, but always...more
I do love opportunities to disagree with Nigella Lawson.Sobbingly funny this is not nor is it bittersweet.The sense of betrayal comes through loud and strong especially in the introduction where the passage of years has done little to diminish the anger.How horribly selfish and callous can people be is amazing and also foolish to put up with behaviour that is contemptable.
The recipes seemed to be fillers in the marital breakdown sandwich and I gained very little from their inclusion....more
The recipes seemed to be fillers in the marital breakdown sandwich and I gained very little from their inclusion....more
I picked this book up on a whim. I had no idea that Nora Ephron wrote any books. I only knew her from her screenplays and movies. While this book is definitely chick lit and not particularly off the beaten path as far as those books go (main character is 7 months pregnant when she finds out her husband is cheating on her, hilarity ensues), Ephron's signature humor makes the book fun. One of my favorite parts was when one of the characters was talking about how they believe heaven is when you rec...more
8/5/09 - I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could, but I don't love it enough for 5. I also couldn't separate Mark from Carl. Also interesting - Mark Feldman - Ephron knew who Deep Throat was & always told everyone it was Mark Felt (I guess nobody really listened to her). It's definitely an interesting choice of name for the character.
8/4/09 - I wanted to pick this up because I think Nora Ephron is hilarious and because she's been in the news a bunch withthe release of Julie & Julia. I...more
8/4/09 - I wanted to pick this up because I think Nora Ephron is hilarious and because she's been in the news a bunch withthe release of Julie & Julia. I...more
As I sit here contemplating a rating for this book I can honestly say that I don't know why I liked it but I did. I had these moments of laughter, you go (to the character), don't be a dummy (again to the character), and REALLY!!!!
All in all I think it did catch the confusion and heartbreak really of betrayal by spouse, which is real life.....she makes it funny, heartbreaking, reveals some of the idiotic things that can happen, the stupidity, and betrayal......all the while insertin...more
All in all I think it did catch the confusion and heartbreak really of betrayal by spouse, which is real life.....she makes it funny, heartbreaking, reveals some of the idiotic things that can happen, the stupidity, and betrayal......all the while insertin...more
Good story, Fabulous receipes!
I picked this up second-hand a few days ago.
Something smart, witty and short is just what I needed!!
And on one of the most painful of subjects!!!
Betrayal and Unrequited Love!!!
Nora pulls no punches - all the suffering and disbelief, anger and feelings of betrayal, revengeful thoughts and outrageous behaviour - its exactly spot on and most of us have been there.
But Nora is armed with guts and humour.
"He/She who laughs, lasts."
I had comple...more
Something smart, witty and short is just what I needed!!
And on one of the most painful of subjects!!!
Betrayal and Unrequited Love!!!
Nora pulls no punches - all the suffering and disbelief, anger and feelings of betrayal, revengeful thoughts and outrageous behaviour - its exactly spot on and most of us have been there.
But Nora is armed with guts and humour.
"He/She who laughs, lasts."
I had comple...more
Reading Heartburn was an unwanted reminder of how awful the 1980s must have been. Ephron repeatedly dismisses and trivializes feminism, even as her protagonist (a thinly-disguised version of herself) blithely benefits from the hard-fought feminist achievements of no-fault divorce law and shared household responsibilities for men & women. The only reason I read Heartburn was because of how much I loved Julie & Julia. I realize now that the reason that movie was so great was Meryl Streep, plain an...more
Inspired by an interesting* review of Nora Ephron in the New Yorker, I picked up this book -- which is a fictionalized account of an awful period in her life. When Ephron was seven months pregnant with her second child, she discovered that her husband, Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, was having an affair with her good friend. According to the New Yorker, Carl & Nora were the Brad & Jen of their time. I have a soft spot for Ephron's movie "When Harry Met Sally," which I think is a ...more
This was my first foray into the "Chick Lit" genre. I have long been indifferent to its charms, but when I moved to Texas, my books were in storage and this book's... pinkness... beckoned from my mother's bookshelf.
I didn't expect to enjoy it overly much, despite the fact that it was written by a pretty entertaining screenwriter. I expected it to read as though it was about to be adapted into a movie... and I guess it does read that way, but it's pretty amusingly written ...more
I didn't expect to enjoy it overly much, despite the fact that it was written by a pretty entertaining screenwriter. I expected it to read as though it was about to be adapted into a movie... and I guess it does read that way, but it's pretty amusingly written ...more
This is one of the books I decided I might like to read after reading ‘The Reading Group’. And, I needed to read a different kind of book after ‘Natasha’s Dance’. It was a fast, fun book to read and it’s full of recipes I’m going to try.
It’s the story of the perfect couple, with perfect careers, about to have their second perfect child. It’s written in the first person from the wife’s perspective, who finds out that her husband is in love with someone else. She leaves, he begs her to com...more
It’s the story of the perfect couple, with perfect careers, about to have their second perfect child. It’s written in the first person from the wife’s perspective, who finds out that her husband is in love with someone else. She leaves, he begs her to com...more
I loved the movie starring Meryl Streep, so I was looking forward to reading the book it was based on. It's quite different, of course, but good. I felt sorry for Rachel, a mom of a two-year-old, another one on the way, and having to deal with a cheating husband. The author seems to want her readers to believe that this happens in all marriages. The cheating part I mean. It does make me wonder. Are all marriages doomed in one way or another? Is infidelity only a matter of time? I don't really th...more
I've loved every movie she's had a hand in, but for whatever reason I'd never read any of her books. My expectations were met with this short novel. The dialogue was written brilliantly- fast and funny- and it was impossible for me not to imagine the scene being acted out.
The plot was a little thin and I wished there was more of a solid resolution otherwise I'd give it a higher rating. But it was good enough that I plan on heading to the library and reading my way through the rest of h...more
The plot was a little thin and I wished there was more of a solid resolution otherwise I'd give it a higher rating. But it was good enough that I plan on heading to the library and reading my way through the rest of h...more
This book was really very good. It's about a pregnant cookbook author that discovers her husband is having an affair. Not only that but he loves the lady and thinks he should have a relationship with both of them. The main lady just because of the kids, and the other lady because he loves her. Eventually she can't deal with it. She leaves, tries to get on with her life, is depressed and cries a lot. Her friends tell her to wait it out, go back to him, the phase will pass... she doesn't wan...more
This is one of the books that I read backwards. It had looked interesting, a book about revenge. Oh yeah. I made it about 10 pages in and wasn't really enjoying the book, so I read the last ten pages. They were okay so I read three more pages in the front but still wasn't hooked. But I wanted to know how she got to the ending so I read the last thirty pages, then the last fifty, and so on until I had read the whole thing. Somehow it made the book way more enjoyable.
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Nora Ephron is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, and blogger.
She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes writes with her sister, Delia Ephron.
More about Nora Ephron...
She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes writes with her sister, Delia Ephron.
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“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world's greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.”
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23 people liked it
“And then the dreams break into a million tiny pieces. The dream dies. Which leaves you with a choice: you can settle for reality, or you can go off, like a fool, and dream another dream.”
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13 people liked it
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