How to Leave

May 21, 2018
Comedic writer Clune shares her experience of moving from Manhattan back to her hometown of Madison, Wis., in this clever and amusing memoir–cum–“practical coping guide.” Clune divides the book into four parts: “Deciding to Go,” “Settling In,” “Learning to Adapt,” and “Mastery,” with chapters describing her transition from New Yorker to Midwesterner. For her, the “tipping factor” in deciding to move after 20 years of living in the city was when her first child entered kindergarten, and she and her lawyer husband decided it would be easier to relocate to a more family-friendly environment and enroll the kids in public school. Clune soon misses fresh shellfish, chance encounters with celebrities, and other Manhattan perks, and finds that her irreverent, sarcastic communication mode doesn’t work so well in the Midwest, where one should not indiscriminately “drop the f-bomb.” She advises her readers to resist the urge to be “judgy,” to curse, or to complain after a move, for there is “no perfect place.” Clune’s helpful narrative is peppered with entertaining anecdotes and humorous asides (“It also became apparent during that first year that my friends from New York were never going to visit”) along with such sagacious observations as “moving is a process, not an event.” This is a hilarious and comforting book for the recently relocated.

September 15, 2018
A wry debut by a humorist and journalist that combines memoir with tongue-in-check self-help.The book is set up as a guide for those who want to leave the coastal cities where they have established their careers for smaller and cheaper towns in mid-America. Clune (co-author: Sh*tty Mom for All Seasons: Half-@ssing It All Year Long, 2016, etc.) left New York City for her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, once she was married and had two young kids and, not coincidentally, was faced with the horrifying prospect of paying private school tuition for them. While the author's insights into New York ("a people-watching paradise, with absorbing human dramas everywhere you look") and the Midwest (which has "a preponderance of three things: snow, alcohol, and white people") are more predictable than surprising, her self-deprecating persona has its charms. Her pleasure with the newfound benefits of suburban living ("in Wisconsin, we could do the laundry whenever it was dirty") is evident, though some may find her taste for four-letter words less enchanting. Clune has a gift for quirky and thought-provoking overstatements ("nobody in America considers moving without, at some point, looking at Seattle") and telling details: After she moved to Madison, she writes, "the number of weekly conversations we had about quilting went from zero to five." The author divides the book into four sections, dedicated to "deciding to go," "settling in," "learning to adapt," and "mastery." Sandwiched among the snarky observations on food in the Midwest, where "the two main cooking seasons are grilling and Crock-Pot," and rants about some of her pet peeves, which include Target and gratitude journals, are some useful bits of advice for those contemplating or engaged in a major move. "I do sincerely hope that before you move," she writes, "you'll say good-bye to all of those baggy, ripped undies you've held on to for years 'just in case.' "Even readers with no intention of uprooting their lives will likely be amused by Clune's low-key and relatable adventures.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2018
Clune had vowed never to return to Madison, Wisconsin, once she grew up. But after almost 20 years in New York City, thrilling to the remarkable culture while surviving giant water bugs and sketchy subway riders, she made the difficult choice to return to her hometown. She presents her journey?from the decision to leave through the challenges of moving and the long process of adjustment once she returned?as a real-world guide for anyone considering trading the big city of their dreams for somewhere more manageable. For Clune, it was the no-holds-barred competition for kindergarten placement that ultimately tipped the scales in favor of her urban exit, but she shares other women's stories of the reasons they left various cities and the obstacles they faced in adjusting to their new lives. From the passive-aggressive code of the midwestern I'm sorry to the challenges of learning the local food culture, Clune walks through the four stages of relocation shock (and the many setbacks along the way) with the humor, empathy, and helpfulness of a good friend.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)