No happy endings : a memoir

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

McInerny, Nora

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

ix, 269 pages ; 24 cm.

Summary:

In this, her second memoir, Nora McInerny offers a tragicomic exploration of the tension between finding happiness and holding space for the unhappy experiences that have shaped us. No Happy Endings is a book for people living life after life has fallen apart. It's a book for people who know that they're moving forward, not moving on. It's a book for people who know life isn't always happy, but it isn't the end: there will be unimaginable joy and incomprehensible tragedy. As Nora reminds us, there will be no happy endings, but there will be new beginnings.

Subject Term:

Journalists -- United States -- Biography

Widows -- United States -- Biography.

Grief

Additional Credits:

McInerny, Nora

Publication Info:

New York : Dey Street Books, an imprint of William Morrow, [2019]

Subject:

Journalists -- United States -- Biography

Widows -- United States -- Biography.

Grief

McInerny, Nora

Purmort, Nora McInerny

Mourning

Sorrow

SAILS ISBN:

9780062792402

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Easton - Ames Free Library	BIO MCIN 2019	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Francis J. Lawler Branch	B MCINERY 2019	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Somerset Public Library	B MCINERNY NORA	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Taunton Public Library	B M459N	3RD FLOOR STACKS	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The author of It's Okay to Laugh and host of the popular podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking--interviews that are "a gift to be able to listen [to]" (New York Times)--returns with more hilarious meditations on her messy, wonderful, bittersweet, and unconventional life.

Life has a million different ways to kick you right in the chops. We lose love, lose jobs, lose our sense of self. For Nora McInerny, it was losing her husband, her father, and her unborn second child in one catastrophic year.

But in the wake of loss, we get to assemble something new from whatever is left behind. Some circles call finding happiness after loss "Chapter 2"--the continuation of something else. Today, Nora is remarried and mothers four children aged 16 months to 16 years. While her new circumstances bring her extraordinary joy, they are also tinged with sadness over the loved ones she's lost.

Life has made Nora a reluctant expert in hard conversations. On her wildly popular podcast, she talks about painful experiences we inevitably face, and exposes the absurdity of the question "how are you?" that people often ask when we're coping with the aftermath of emotional catastrophe. She knows intimately that when your life falls apart, there's a mad rush to be okay--to find a silver lining, to get to the happy ending. In this, her second memoir, Nora offers a tragicomic exploration of the tension between finding happiness and holding space for the unhappy experiences that have shaped us.

No Happy Endings is a book for people living life after life has fallen apart. It's a book for people who know that they're moving forward, not moving on. It's a book for people who know life isn't always happy, but it isn't the end: there will be unimaginable joy and incomprehensible tragedy. As Nora reminds us, there will be no happy endings--but there will be new beginnings.

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

A memoir of finding a new way forward following significant misfortune.In The Hot Young Widow's Club (2019), her recent TED book, McInerny (It's Okay to Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too), 2017, etc.) told the story of her life after she suffered three tragedies in one year: a miscarriage and the deaths of her father and her husband, Aaron. Her latest book is a continuation of sorts, chronicling her relationship with Aaron and her new relationship with Matthew, a divorced man with two children. With both witty humor and profundity, the author addresses the harsh reality of death and the life-changing effects of her grief, especially that critical first year when every day was an anniversary of some sort that needed to be lived through as best she could. Her story is also a celebration of life, sexual desire, and learning to love what is right in front of you, regardless of how others feel or react to the situation. The author, who hosts the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, openly shares her fears about potentially losing Aaron's extended family as members of her own, the difficulties and triumphs of blending Matthew's family with hers, and the gratefulness she has felt about having two different relationships with two extraordinary men. Additionally, within this tragic love story are minor themes of feminism, sexism, and religion. McInerny's best friends and their unwavering support through all the ups and downs are also significant factors in this perceptive tale. The author's love for both Aaron and Matthew is consistently apparent but, refreshingly, never maudlin. McInerny delivers a highly emotionalbut not overly somberstory that will appeal to anyone who has suffered a significant loss and is seeking a path toward life's next chapter.Reflective and tender writing on finding new meanings and a different life after heartbreaking loss. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

The world does break everyone that is a damn guarantee.... Families are snapped apart by death, money, drugs, divorce, the wrong thing said at the wrong time."" McInerny, author of It's Okay to Laugh (2016) and host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, knows about being broken. Within months, she lost her unborn baby, her father, and her husband, Aaron. What makes this book so powerful is the way McInerny shares the painful act of rebuilding her life with such honesty and humor. She isn't afraid to admit how hard it is to find joy surrounded by so much sorrow. She knows that when people ask others how they're doing, they may answer fine, even though their lives are falling apart. And she knows how to laugh with tears falling. When McInerny meets Matthew, a divorced dad with two kids, she is both frightened and intrigued. Can they combine families while still honoring Aaron's memory and that of the mother of Matthew's children? Everyone faces tragedy. McInerny shows you how to do it with strength and grace.--Candace Smith Copyright 2019 Booklist

Library Journal Review

In this follow-up to It's Okay To Laugh, -McInerny, host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking and founder of the Hot Young Widows Club, describes her efforts not to deny the past but make room for it. The author begins by covering similar territory as in her podcast and first book; shortly after having a child, she experienced a miscarriage and lost both her husband and father to cancer. With humor and vulnerability, McInerny illustrates the emotional toll of pretending that everything was fine. What does it mean to be a widow at 31? Is falling in love again a betrayal? Chapters on the author's blended family are the strongest and include discussions of becoming a stepmom and not liking the term, as well as raising a family with her second husband while making sure her son from her first marriage remained connected to her late husband's family. Yet, brief essays about feedback on her podcast feel out of place, interrupting the flow of the narrative, and reflections on the cultural expectations of her Catholic upbringing could have been expanded. VERDICT Spanning memoir and parenting, this supplemental purchase is best for large memoir collections; it can be read alongside the author's first book or on its own.-Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 1 How to Have a Total Breakdown	p. 7
Chapter 2 You Need Therapy	p. 11
Chapter 3 Don't Should Yourself	p. 19
Chapter 4 I Can't Even	p. 27
Chapter 5 Arranged	p. 33
Chapter 6 Baggage	p. 43
Chapter 7 Finders Keepers	p. 51
Chapter 8 In Between	p. 59
Chapter 9 Ready or Not	p. 67
Chapter 10 Smile	p. 77
Chapter 11 Sophie's Hot Dad	p. 85
Chapter 12 The Gift	p. 95
Chapter 13 Too Soon	p. 103
Chapter 14 Not That Kind of Christian	p. 111
Chapter 15 Flip the Nuggets	p. 119
Chapter 16 Meet the Parents (All of Them)	p. 127
Chapter 17 In the Darkness	p. 135
Chapter 18 Oops	p. 141
Chapter 19 Sad Nora and the Secret Baby	p. 147
Chapter 20 Memorial Day	p. 155
Chapter 21 Armless	p. 167
Chapter 22 Should I Marry a Boy with a Brain Tumor?	p. 177
Chapter 23 Feeling Myself	p. 183
Chapter 24 Options	p. 189
Chapter 25 All My Children	p. 191
Chapter 26 Sad and Lucky	p. 197
Chapter 27 Dear	p. 203
Chapter 28 Dear Ralphie	p. 205
Chapter 29 Dear Baby	p. 211
Chapter 30 Dear Sophie	p. 215
Chapter 31 Dear Ian	p. 221
Chapter 32 Feminist Agenda	p. 225
Chapter 33 Big, Gross, Angry Feminist	p. 229
Chapter 34 Destroy the Patriarchy After You Propose to Me	p. 233
Chapter 35 What I've Learned from Arguing on the Internet	p. 241
Chapter 36 Don't Read the Comments	p. 243
Chapter 37 35	p. 249
Chapter 38 Greatness and Goodness	p. 255
Chapter 39 She Persisted	p. 261
Chapter 40 Yes, And	p. 265
Acknowledgements	p. 271

Available:

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents