Heartburn

Jul 09, 2012 Nancy Cours rated it 2 of 5 stars

The week before Nora Ephron died, I happened to order this (used) book, which I've been meaning to read for quite some time since she referenced it often in her essays & interviews. Apparently I'm the only woman in America who thinks this is not particularly good.

Even the previous recipient had a note written to her on the first page that says as much: "...No woman's bookshelf should be without this!" Seriously? Well, maybe there's one other woman out there who didn't like it also, because...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Auntjenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've always liked the movie based on this book. Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and a soundtrack by Carly Simon... what could be better than that? The book is very similar, although I would not necessarily say the book is better. Occasionally that happens, i.e. I liked the movie Wonder Boys better than the book. Maybe simply because it is hard to relate to rich Jewish people living in New York, as I am not Jewish and definitely not rich and I've never even been to New York. The movie kind of whitew...more I've always liked the movie based on this book. Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and a soundtrack by Carly Simon... what could be better than that? The book is very similar, although I would not necessarily say the book is better. Occasionally that happens, i.e. I liked the movie Wonder Boys better than the book. Maybe simply because it is hard to relate to rich Jewish people living in New York, as I am not Jewish and definitely not rich and I've never even been to New York. The movie kind of whitewashes that stuff though, for better or for worse.

Overall takeaway from the book: I found myself marveling at how CURRENT it felt. Fads really do happen first in New York, and much later for the middle of the country. Rachel, the narrator, talks about a pesto craze and I found myself thinking... back in the 70s, my parents had surely never even heard of pesto. They were eating Pizza Hut! Definitely no presto or arugula. Also, all the talk about group therapy and riding subways and everyone having sex with everyone else. On the other hand, certain aspects felt dated. For example, Rachel is pregnant throughout the book, and yet she drinks a LOT. Wine. Bellinis, hard alcohol I think. Rachel also leaves her two year old son with the maid seemingly most of the time in the book, and unapologetically. In fact, the little boy is a very peripheral element of the plot. I think that's fine, actually-- I don't think our lives HAVE to be consumed by our children(and this little boy was clearly very loved), but today, in the midst of so-called "mommy wars" and "helicopter parenting" and the only good moms being SAHMs... this would not go over very well. They would say Nora Ephron was a terrible mother. (I looked it up-- her kids seem to have turned out just fine.) The book was based on actual events in her life, when she was married to Carl Bernstein (and boy, does he sound like a creeper.)

One of the funniest parts of the book-- and one I really related to-- was a scene when Rachel is flying on an airplane with her two year old son, and he throws up all over her. She says the business men near her looked at her like she was a 14th century leper. Haha... yeah...been there.

By the end of the book, the flippant feel gives way to a sadder tone. I think hindsight would say that Nora Ephron just married a guy who wasn't very good at being married, and also, he's fat and ugly now (looked that up, too).

Sad to think that Ephron is no longer with us. I'll probably be reading more of her books in the future.(less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Bybee rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book when it first came out, and this is my first re-read in almost 30 years. As is usually the case, this was a very different book. I was really struck this time by how rich Mark and Rachel are. This time, I could really see the anger simmering below the surface. This time, fully aware of the novel as being a roman a clef, I was wondering who the real-life counterparts of some of the characters are. Still laugh-out-loud funny in places. There's never been a more withering, funny co...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: just-fun

Loved this book. Contributed greatly to my delusion that I could be a writer because NE makes it look so easy to be brilliant and entertaining and wise all at once.

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Jan 30, 2013 Debbie Hall rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the 3rd Nora Ephron book I have read with my book club. I am going to miss her. She is such a wit. This books tells the disastrous story of her marriage to Carl Bernstein. Would love to hear his side, but I think he is a cad, alas. Nothing he could write could possibly move me from this conclusion.

Another fabulous thing which I neglected to mention when I first posted this review is the recipes from Heartburn. I have made the spaghetti recipe and this summer plan on trying the peach pie...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Meh. I was inspired to read a little Ephron after reading a recent NY Times article about her written by her son. And naturally, I chose this one, not for the biting humor, but because I really wanted to know what went down between her and Carl Bernstein. Apparently this book was her "revenge dish best served cold" and was so close to the truth that there were lawyers and restraints and all kinds of nonsense as a result.

Nora Ephron was brilliant in her belief that if you take a bad situation (l...more Meh. I was inspired to read a little Ephron after reading a recent NY Times article about her written by her son. And naturally, I chose this one, not for the biting humor, but because I really wanted to know what went down between her and Carl Bernstein. Apparently this book was her "revenge dish best served cold" and was so close to the truth that there were lawyers and restraints and all kinds of nonsense as a result.

Nora Ephron was brilliant in her belief that if you take a bad situation (like, say, your husband's affair) and craft a funny story around it, people are no longer laughing at you, but laughing with you. So here we are. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Rachel Samstat SUCKS. We already know Ms. Ephron was a full-on narcissist and completely unlikable, but does Rachel have to be too? (Somewhere, Carl Bernstein is going, "Uh, YES.") In Rachel's defense, the affair between Mark and Thelma was awful. It's bad enough she was 7 months preggo when she found out. But Mark and Thelma went well beyond clandestine afternoon delight and were actually seeing a psychologist together. And Thelma's husband knew about it and engaged in deep discussions with them about it. It's all so ... '70s. But let's face facts -- the demise of her marriage wasn't the tipping point that made Rachel cold and selfish. She was already there. And for someone who makes a lot of noise about having kids, the toddler is NEVER AROUND. I'm not talking "off playing somewhere" kind of absent. This child is nowhere in sight while Mommy goes from DC to NYC to one adult's house, to therapy, to another adult's house, to a bar, to another adult function, to a dinner, to see another friend, etc. etc. Maybe it's a generational thing. (She *was* drinking at 5-mo preggo, which was totally a generational thing) I doubt it, though. Treat your babysitter well, Mother of the Year, because she's *really* the one you can't afford to lose.

A mediocre read at best. I still think Nora Ephron was brilliant, but think I'll stick with her movies.

(less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Karen Laird rated it 4 of 5 stars

Heartburn is a tonic for anyone who finds themselves in need of a laugh, and famously so for anyone going through a divorce. Do not, however, even think of reading this book if you were the party who had a marital affair. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny so much as constantly being in the delightful presence of someone who allows you to see the absurdity of social life. Patricularly strong here is Ephron’s instantly recognizable voice, characteristically intelligent, witty, and sparkling with self-...more
Heartburn is a tonic for anyone who finds themselves in need of a laugh, and famously so for anyone going through a divorce. Do not, however, even think of reading this book if you were the party who had a marital affair. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny so much as constantly being in the delightful presence of someone who allows you to see the absurdity of social life. Patricularly strong here is Ephron’s instantly recognizable voice, characteristically intelligent, witty, and sparkling with self-deprecating humor.

I did actually laugh out loud at three points when reading Heartburn, but did not think my husband, who asked what was so funny, would relate. I share my three LOL moments from the novel here, hoping that they speak for themselves to someone else:

ON ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

" 'You picked the one person on earth you shouldn't be involved with.' There's nothing brilliant about that - that's life. Every time you turn around you get involved with the one person on earth you shouldn't get involved with. Robert Browning's shrink probably said it to him. 'So, Robert, it's very interesting, no? Of all the women in London, you pick this hopeless invalid who had a crush on her father.' Let's face it: everyone is the person on earth you shouldn't get involved with. "

ON DIETING AND STAGES OF RELATIONSHIPS

“Sometimes, when a loved one announces that he has decided to go on a low-carbohydrate, low-fat, low-salt diet (thus ruling out the possibility of potatoes, should you have been so inclined), he is signaling that the middle is ending and the end is beginning.”

ON SENSITIVE MEN

"The second thing I want to say is this: beware of men who cry. It's true that men who cry are sensitive to and in touch with feelings, but the only feelings they tend to be sensitive to and in touch with are their own."

And, as a bonus, an inspired thought for 30-somethings ON BIKINIS from I Feel Bad About My Neck:

"Oh, how I regret not having worn a bikini for the entire year I was twenty-six. If anyone young is reading this, go, right this minute, put on a bikini, and don't take it off until you're thirty-four.”(less)

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Dec 03, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is kind of a funny story about this book. I was in a book club briefly for a few months when I lived in Florida. The book club met once a month and was attended by about 4 - 5 women. Each month, we discussed the book for about 6 minutes and then the conversation transitioned into home improvement projects and travel plans, which dominated the discussion for the rest of the hour. Now, none of us had children at the time, but we all had recently purchased our first homes so maybe that was co...more There is kind of a funny story about this book. I was in a book club briefly for a few months when I lived in Florida. The book club met once a month and was attended by about 4 - 5 women. Each month, we discussed the book for about 6 minutes and then the conversation transitioned into home improvement projects and travel plans, which dominated the discussion for the rest of the hour. Now, none of us had children at the time, but we all had recently purchased our first homes so maybe that was completely understandable that we focused on the home improvement projects. I won't claim trying to steer the discussion back to book, I have never been good at leading discussions (it always sounds as if I am reading directly from index cards). The books that I remember reading were The Joy Luck Club and some book about a woman who is an anthropologist and lives in Indonesia or something like that. About half of the attendees never actually read the book in the first place and would say things like,"well, I didn't read it but based on your comments, I don't think I would like it anyway." Each time, during our 6 minute book discussion, everyone said that they could not relate to any of the main characters, there was murmur of general agreement, and then a brief silence, and then a "hey, do you guys know how to remove popcorn ceilings?" UNTIL... I got up the nerve to suggest a book to the group. Having attended about 4 months in a row elevated me to book suggesting status. It was summer and I was 7 months pregnant. I had heard a respectable commentator on NPR (I mean, they were being asked by NPR to suggest books for a summer read so really that seemed like a proper vetting)recommend Heartburn as a great summer read. Perfect for book club, I thought! It's short, too! Not only did everyone actually READ the book, we discussed the book the ENTIRE time. I consider that to be a personal triumph. Of course, everyone hated the book. Well, I didn't hate the book. I liked it. Other than seeing When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle, I hadn't much experience with Nora Ephron, which seemed like a wrong that I should right. I was surprised that it had taken me that long to read her. Like her, the book is witty and sharp but not cold (I won't say warm - about the book, I am sure she was quite warm to her friends). Her story had more of a bite than I was expecting based on her movies, which was welcome. I appreciated how she had the confidence to write such a selfish, flawed yet sympathetic (frustrating, infuriating) main character who was about 7 months pregnant, too. Because I don't think I could have the confidence to do that. (less)

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Sep 11, 2012 Clare Herbert rated it 3 of 5 stars

o break up my non-fiction reading regime, I recently picked up Nora Ephron‘s ‘Heartburn’. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Nora Ephron (famed for Sleepless in Seattle & When Happy Met Sally) died recently.

As has become my habit, I read this in one sitting. This devilishly funny story is based on the break-up of the author’s second marriage after her husband (Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame) had an affair.”I always thought during the paid of the marriage that one day...more o break up my non-fiction reading regime, I recently picked up Nora Ephron‘s ‘Heartburn’. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Nora Ephron (famed for Sleepless in Seattle & When Happy Met Sally) died recently.

As has become my habit, I read this in one sitting. This devilishly funny story is based on the break-up of the author’s second marriage after her husband (Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame) had an affair.”I always thought during the paid of the marriage that one day it would make a funny book.” And it does.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, it reads like a screenplay. Funny scenes are strung together loosely and a little incredulously, though the heart of the story remains authentic. At it’s core, it’s about a woman who suffers the indignity and humiliation of public betrayal by a man who’d ‘have sex with a venetian blind‘.

Ephron is a master of character; finding the singular detail that defines each players in this book. Like the hapless civil servant who ‘never takes anything personally; he always sees himself as a statistical reflection of a larger trend in society’. Her mother who moved to New Mexico to find God and then married him: God named Mel. And her actor father who lives in the 9 Clouds loony bin and recites dialogue from past films in an effort to comfort her.

At times, this book ventures into a commentary on modern gender roles and the challenges of marriage. She discusses “those withering looks that are meant to make you feel as if your thoroughly understandable rage is merely female hysteria“. Once you’re married, stuff stop’s happening to you. You get on with the ‘peanut butter and jelly-ness’, of life. There are no new stories in the everydayness, she argues, eventually realizing that her philandering husband stole her stories and converted them into his in his syndicated column. “My entire marital disaster reduce to a 180-word column in 109 newspapers”

Stories are important; they’re how we understand the world. Ephron’s therapist wonders when she must always make a story out of her problems. “Because if I tell the story, I can get on with it”, she responds. I can relate.

A wonderful, funny read from a writer I’ve grown to really admire.(less)

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Aug 12, 2012 Kelly Hager rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is shelved as fiction but is pretty much the account of how her second marriage (to Carl Bernstein) ended in pretty spectacular fashion. He cheated on her when she was pregnant with their second child.

There's a lot to love in this book but my favorite part is at the very end when she talks about how her therapist says, "Why do you have to turn everything into a story?"

And she says (and I'm paraphrasing) that when she does that, she can control the story. And, what's even more important, is...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Jennyjojo rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've always liked the movie based on this book. Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and a soundtrack by Carly Simon... what could be better than that? The book is very similar, although I would not necessarily say the book is better. Occasionally that happens, i.e. I liked the movie Wonder Boys better than the book. Maybe simply because it is hard to relate to rich Jewish people living in New York, as I am not Jewish and definitely not rich and I've never even been to New York. The movie kind of whitew...more I've always liked the movie based on this book. Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and a soundtrack by Carly Simon... what could be better than that? The book is very similar, although I would not necessarily say the book is better. Occasionally that happens, i.e. I liked the movie Wonder Boys better than the book. Maybe simply because it is hard to relate to rich Jewish people living in New York, as I am not Jewish and definitely not rich and I've never even been to New York. The movie kind of whitewashes that stuff though, for better or for worse.

Overall takeaway from the book: I found myself marveling at how CURRENT it felt. Fads really do happen first in New York, and much later for the middle of the country. Rachel, the narrator, talks about a pesto craze and I found myself thinking... back in the 70s, my parents had surely never even heard of pesto. They were eating Pizza Hut! Definitely no presto or arugula. Also, all the talk about group therapy and riding subways and everyone having sex with everyone else. On the other hand, certain aspects felt dated. For example, Rachel is pregnant throughout the book, and yet she drinks a LOT. Wine. Bellinis, hard alcohol I think. Rachel also leaves her two year old son with the maid seemingly most of the time in the book, and unapologetically. In fact, the little boy is a very peripheral element of the plot. I think that's fine, actually-- I don't think our lives HAVE to be consumed by our children(and this little boy was clearly very loved), but today, in the midst of so-called "mommy wars" and "helicopter parenting" and the only good moms being SAHMs... this would not go over very well. They would say Nora Ephron was a terrible mother. (I looked it up-- her kids seem to have turned out just fine.) The book was based on actual events in her life, when she was married to Carl Bernstein (and boy, does he sound like a creeper.)

One of the funniest parts of the book-- and one I really related to-- was a scene when Rachel is flying on an airplane with her two year old son, and he throws up all over her. She says the business men near her looked at her like she was a 14th century leper. Haha... yeah...been there.

By the end of the book, the flippant feel gives way to a sadder tone. I think hindsight would say that Nora Ephron just married a guy who wasn't very good at being married, and also, he's fat and ugly now (looked that up, too).

Sad to think that Ephron is no longer with us. I'll probably be reading more of her books in the future.

(less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Bookguide rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nora Ephron died recently, so I decided it was time to read this book, and took it with me to the USA. Apparently she also wrote the screenplays for 'When Harry Met Sally', 'Silkwood' and 'Sleepless in Seattle', so I was expecting great things. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, but I think this was probably just because my expectations were raised too high by the films mentioned on the back cover, which I loved. This is based on her second husband's affair while she was pregnant with their seco...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Everyday eBook rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Everyday by: Amanda Aleksey

When I heard the recent news of Nora Ephron's passing, I was not only heartbroken, but in shock. I didn't know my heroine had been sick, but I think Sally Quinn put it nicely in The New York Times, saying: "She [Ephron] had this thing about not wanting to whine … She didn't like self-pity. It was always, you know, 'Suck it up.' " I am sure that I was not alone in immediately thinking, "Why have I waited this long to read all of her books?" So I picked up Heartburn and it captured the whole "suck...more When I heard the recent news of Nora Ephron's passing, I was not only heartbroken, but in shock. I didn't know my heroine had been sick, but I think Sally Quinn put it nicely in The New York Times, saying: "She [Ephron] had this thing about not wanting to whine … She didn't like self-pity. It was always, you know, 'Suck it up.' " I am sure that I was not alone in immediately thinking, "Why have I waited this long to read all of her books?" So I picked up Heartburn and it captured the whole "suck it up" sentiment perfectly. Ephron wrote Heartburn following her divorce from her second husband, Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein. It is a painful story, but it wouldn't be an Ephron novel unless it was also painfully funny.

The main character, Rachel Samstat, is a seven-months-pregnant food writer who has just found out that her husband Mark has been cheating on her during her pregnancy. Heartbroken, Rachel leaves Mark, a political columnist based in Washington, D.C., and moves back to her father's house in New York City. And things get worse: While dealing with the anger and pain she feels over Mark's betrayal, Rachel is robbed at gunpoint. Feeling vulnerable, and still very much in love with her husband, she decides to return to her husband in D.C. The reunion is anything but seamless, though, and in one classic Ephron scene, Rachel expresses herself pie-in-the-face style.

Here's the recipe for her key lime pie (in case you need to let someone know how you really feel):

"The key lime pie is very simple to make. First you line a nine-inch pie plate with a graham cracker crust. Then beat six egg yolks. Add one cup lime juice (even bottled lime juice will do), two fourteen-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk, and one tablespoon grated lime rind. Pour into the pie shell and freeze. Remove from freezer and spread with whipped cream. Let sit five minutes before serving."

Ephron takes the reader on an incredibly emotional journey and she does so while finding the ideal balance between brutal honesty, sentimentality, and complete absurdity, with a few recipes thrown into the mix. Who else can turn heartbreak into a best-selling novel and successful movie like Nora Ephron? No one, and that's the reason why she will be missed.

Head to www.EverydayeBook.com for daily eBook reviews!(less)

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Jun 28, 2012 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cookbooks, very-good-books, bad-women, for-the-sake-of-turning-pages

Surprised to see a character in the book is a dog names Pepito, because my dog is also named Pepito. How funny.

Love this quote:

That's the catch about betrayal, of course: that it feels good, that there's something immensely pleasurable about moving from a complicated relationship which involves minor atrocities on both sides to a nice, neat, simple one where one person has done something so horrible and unforgivable that the other person is immediately absolved of all the low-grade sins of slo...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 book a...more

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Nov 07, 2010 Eileen rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 it...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Phillip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advisory-10th

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 her for...more

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Aug 12, 2009 Molly rated it 3 of 5 stars

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.

It's a sassy, funny re...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Margaret Virany rated it 3 of 5 stars

Heartburn is written by an author who is laughing through her tears. At seven months pregnant, Rachel Samshat has discovered that her husband and father of their two-year-old son is having an affair with a woman she knows.
I got the book after reading Nora Ephron's obituary. She was a brave, funny, talented screenwriter and author, yet a sense of loss and even being jaded with life pervaded my reading of it. At the same time, it's wonderful light entertainment with hilarious characters and descr...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Jen A. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, re-read

Reading this book for school came along at just the right time -- I don't remember the dates, but I was either about to or just had ended a relationship that just wasn't working out. I was ending a relationship in which I'd played the role of Rachel Samstat -- hanging on for too long, waiting for a good "reason" and trying so hard NOT to be the reason that things just didn't work out. I remember that this book resonated with me then, and drove me to write this essay response in class (below). He...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Nancy Rossman rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is my second time with this book, having loved her others. This one shows the edgy, New York wit and sarcasm that she did so well...that I feel started to develop with this book. Of course everyone knows that there was big trouble, a lawsuit, etc because of the too close resemblance to her marriage break with Carl Bernstein and many of the characters to boot.

I am laughing just as hard as I did the first time, maybe more. She was the best at laughing at herself before anyone else could, and...more

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May 29, 2010 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, own, food

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 already knows...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Maggi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nora Ephron was so flippn' funny. This book was written almost 30 years ago but it wears damn well. Rachel, a thinly disguised Nora, is going through a marital breakdown, and though you feel for her, you can't stop laughing:
I had a list of what I wanted in a man. A long list. I wanted a registered Democrat, a bridge player, a linguist with a particular fluency in French, a subscriber to the New Republic, a tennis player. I wanted a man who wasn't bald, who wasn't fat, who wasn't covered with t...more Nora Ephron was so flippn' funny. This book was written almost 30 years ago but it wears damn well. Rachel, a thinly disguised Nora, is going through a marital breakdown, and though you feel for her, you can't stop laughing:
I had a list of what I wanted in a man. A long list. I wanted a registered Democrat, a bridge player, a linguist with a particular fluency in French, a subscriber to the New Republic, a tennis player. I wanted a man who wasn't bald, who wasn't fat, who wasn't covered with too much body hair. I wanted a man with long legs and a small ass and laugh wrinkles around the eyes. Then I grew up and settled for a low-grade lunatic who kept hamsters. At first I thought he was eccentric. And then I didn't. Then I wanted to kill him... I would imagine the plane crash and the funeral and what I would wear .. and how soon I could start dating after the funeral.
She calls her husband's shopping at Bloomingdales with his paramour "the ultimate perfidy" and hopes she can find a man who is "genuinely eligible and self supporting who didn't mind a little cellulite." And who can't relate to the "settling" process? What settling process, you ask?
You fall in love and you say to yourself, oh well, I never really cared about politics, bridge, French and tennis; and then you get married and it starts to drive you crazy that you're married to someone who doesn't even know who's running for president. Sorry, but I cant resist one more: There has been a lot written in recent years about the fact that men don't cry enough.. and it is generally believed that when little boys are taught that it is unmanly to cry, they grow up unable to deal with pain and grief and disappointment and feelings in general. I would like to say two things about this. The first is that I have always believed that crying is an overrated activity: women do entirely too much of it, and the last thing we ought to want is for it to become a universal excess. The second thing I want to say is this: beware of men who cry. It's true that men who cry are sensitive to and in touch with their feelings, but the only feelings they tend to be sensitive to and in touch with are their own.
There are so many more, and I could go on and on, but read the book, even thirty years later, and you will wish Nora was still here with her pithy and honest observations about life and love. I wish she had been my friend.(less)

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Oct 14, 2012 tina added it

In a quest for some comfort, i grabbed this off the shelf at the strand. am i happy i did that. i already saw the mike nicols movie based on this book, but it didn't matter. As much as i love movies, a movie just can't deliver eprhon's lines:
"Arthur makes coffees by putting eggshells and cinnamon sticks and an old nylon stocking into the coffeepot. His coffee tastes like a very spicy old foot."
Or
"Try flying any plane with a baby if you want a sense of what it must have been like to be a leper in...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Nov 07, 2010 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

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, that's not a rea...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Priyamvada Kowshik added it

I was making a mental note of everything around me. Page 64. My toes against the tubelight. The book lying open, face down and my eight-year-old sitting on it because he could not find a bookmark. Checking the potatoes after the sudden desire to eat warm buttery mashed potatoes gripped me. The unconscious getting-into-Nora mode and thinking like the author. But I cannot, for the life of me, remember what happened in my life on those couple of days that could make 'copy'. The way Nora can make ou...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Kristy rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 screw with people.
It was i...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Cheryl Klein rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: so-called-chick-lit, fiction

After finishing this book, I told C.C., "Nora Ephron is my new role model. She just has a good attitude, and a lot of that has to do with not trying too hard to have a good attitude." This is one of those classic tragedy-plus-time stories--kind to its protagonist and her tormenters alike, while not letting anyone off the hook (including therapists and fussy pie crusts). This is comfort reading at its best, slinging an arm around the reader's shoulders and saying, "I've been there, fucked that up...more

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May 23, 2009 Barbara Rice rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 have much to...more

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title link	preview: Heartburn
avg rating	preview: Heartburn Goodreads rating: 3.60 (3557 ratings)
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Heartburn

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