Maggie Smith (5) (1977–)

Maggie Smith's husband cheated on her, and then he left her, and it was awful. Really, really miserable.

Okay, so I probably should have gone into this with a bit more knowledge than "I liked that viral poem" and "ooh, pretty cover," because the poem is incidental and the cover misleading. This memoir covers, very specifically, the time surrounding the divorce, from when she found the postcard and the notebook in his briefcase, to where she is several years later, with the divorce finalized, starting to move forward. It does end on a hopeful note, but the whole book is just misery, misery, misery. The language use is terrific, as one would expect of a poet, but it felt so repetitive to me. It's not the repeated segments, which are a device I appreciated, it's the emotion of the book, all anger and sadness. I imaging this hits different with different readers and their different experiences. I did appreciate that the author is the reader of the audiobook; I think that she's the best person to interpret both her words and her emotions. Recommended, but only if you go in knowing the limited scope of the book and are still interested.… (more)

I was a little frustrated with this memoir, which was indeed, not a "tell-all," but a "tell-mine." Meaning that the author was very selective in what she revealed. I wasn't even sure who she was trying to help with this memoir of some of her feelings and experiences as she moved from married to separated to divorced. There was something very fuzzy about it all. On the other hand, as someone who has been through divorce, there were moments of recognition, of sharp and painful recollection of something that happened to me more than 20 years ago.

One thing that she did not discuss, or seem to recognize, was her husband's jealousy of her writing achievement as a published poet, teacher, and speaker. After all, they met in a writing group, both wanting to be writers. He became a lawyer, a professional but not someone who makes his liviing as a creative person. His complaints about her being away from home seemed to be more to do with his jealousy than anything else.… (more)