Falling Apart in One Piece

January 25, 2010
Redbook
editor-in-chief Morrison offers a gooey, reassuring, roll-with-the-punches account of how she soldiered bravely on after her husband declared abruptly that he wanted out of their nine-year marriage. When Chris, an aspiring film writer stuck in a dead-end job, blurted out that he was “done”—with her; with the Park Slope, Brooklyn, townhouse they had recently bought; and, most heartbreakingly, with their plans for the future including their nine-month-old son, Zack—Morrison was floored. While signs of Chris’s growing emotional distance had been there, Morrison admits she was too distracted and eager to create a happy family to heed. Chris left to find himself, while Morrison got stuck cleaning up the mess, blaming herself for her unlovableness and going to astounding reaches to accommodate the wayward husband. However, the author is made of steely stuff, the product of a Southern controlling mother, and well versed in telling other women how to lead and love their lives through the many magazines she has directed. She buried her anger, found tremendous peace in self-direction, and presents her triumphant redefinition in fine form for editorial fodder.