"When Your Marriage Ends: The First Months After Divorce" by Vivian Hodges

If they get nothing else, readers of Vivian Hodges’s When Your Marriage Ends: The First Months After Divorce will come away with healthy advice and practical insights for a more realistic way of looking at life in general, and an unblinking assessments of oneself. But what a shame that would be. Hodges’s book is so much more than simple prescriptive checklists. Throughout it, I could feel the support, the empathy, and the desire to help that only a woman who has been through the wringer of divorce can feel.

Written primarily for women, this book does provide a practical and comprehensive guide to getting through a wrenching, maybe devastating, time. It’s complete, with practical, no-nonsense exercises that require the reader (or sufferer) to honestly assess everything from changes in finances to changes in our own self-image. The language is down-to-earth, satisfyingly direct, and sprinkled not only with hard-won wisdom but with enough humor to remind the reader that this author knows her readers will come all the way back. And wants like crazy to be part of that process.

I envy this: I envy the actualizing effect this book had on its author. Her good will, generosity, and love come through on every page, and I exult in the satisfaction this gave her. Her hope that she helps others through a crappy experience shines through every section, every page. I admire the flow, the organization, and the combination of logic and sympathy this author shows.

I hope I speak in plain enough terms. For the person in need, this book is a treasure trove.