Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me and was a DNF but I am sure other readers will feel differently! Thank you for the ARC!

Really good. I enjoyed reading it but often got stuck on the fact the author calls it nonfiction but openly acknowledges that she fabricates pieces of the story. I liked the tone and the form and I was really entertained. I liked how she allowed herself to dive into the ways she failed in the marriage, too. I was less interested toward the end in the third section, but both parts 1 and 2 our fantastic.

This is a divorce memoir. I enjoyed this book in the sense that I enjoy reading about other peoples personal business. This book really scratched that itch for me with a light sprinkling of thought provoking situations and hopefulness. It made me interested in reading Pittard’s novels. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

We Are Too Many: A Memoir, (Kind Of) – Hannah Pittard – (2023) -
This is a sensational dialogue driven narrative memoir of friendship and betrayal. The author had a decades long friendship with her best friend, Tish—and knew Tish was drawn like a magnet to unavailable married men. When Tish announced that she and her husband had an “open marriage” and she wanted to have her newest lover’s baby. It did not immediately occur to Pittard that Tish’s new lover was her husband, Patrick.

While working her way through college waiting tables, Pittard and Tish became fast friends while enrolled in a University Creative Writing Program. Trish seemed to be popular, attractive, and boldly confident (especially with men). Pittard was overworked, shy, and grieving and the potential loss of her beloved stepfather from cancer. Perhaps to cheer her up, Tish encouraged her to meet a handsome, hot, musician friend of hers, Patrick. While Tish could have gotten involved with Patrick herself, Pittard was warned by Patrick’s former drug addict girlfriend that she would end up paying for everything. After he and Pittard were married, Patrick likely used her connections to advance his own career.

However, where does Tish’s story factor in? Pittard revealed that her sister strongly disliked both Tish and Patrick. In the narrative, we learn very little about Tish to form an opinion, or the reasons for her solid history and preference for married men. Over the years, didn’t Pittard have plenty of time to distance herself from such a devious “untrustworthy” best friend? It was challenging to feel sympathetic, and readers may get a sense that this pair of cheaters rightfully deserved one another. With thanks to Henry Holt via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review. (3.5*GOOD)

This was an...interesting choice by the author, writing specific conversations from memory that led to the ultimate demise of her marriage and her friendship. The format of the book is dialogue-heavy, lacking context and introspection. I was not convinced that her marriage or her friendship had flourished at any point.

The whole experience seems overly simplified and the opposite of what I was hoping for. I wanted vulnerability, emotion, and self-reflection, and I feel like AI could have produced a more emotive text. I did like the Introduction, but that gave me the wrong idea of what the actual book would be like.

The way this book was written was incredible. Just such an interesting style, for all 3 parts. Really loved the author's voice and perspective.

Thank you for letting me read this book. I was disappointed in that I had expected to become involved in the characters and care about their difficulties. I did not find that to be the case. I will not be blogging about this book because another person may react entirely differently, and I don’t want to take away their pleasure.

I've been a fan of Hannah Pittard since 2014, and have read all of her novels, so I was intrigued when I saw she was releasing a memoir - not something I would have necessarily expected but I can see what she dove in. Pittard, who has been accused by friends and family for writing fiction that is closer to non-fiction all of her life, has been betrayed by both her husband and her best friend and in turn, feels like a memoir made up of relocated conversations is the way to process what was happened (instead of turning it into a novel like she has in the past). It is an interesting exercise, and propels the reader into this the aftermath of the affair between two of her most trusted companions.

The book will certainly make you appreciate the relationships you have in your life that are healthy and rooted in honestly and communication. Pittard going back and remembering how both of these relationships deterred must have been so difficult, but the cracks are easy to see from a mile away. The book must have been very difficult to write, and I hope it helped her process the grief of losing these two people thanks to their ultimate betrayal. The end of the book veers a bit into Pittard's eating disorder, which is both a CW and also made me wonder why she felt that was an important part of the book because I did feel like it stopped the momentum, but again, I greatly appreciated Pittard's unwavering honesty.

We Are Too Many is Hannah's take on her marriage and the affair between her husband and her best friend. I kept debating whether to rate this a three or four star, but ultimately decided to give it three stars. The first part was a little too slow paced for me. The second and third parts of the book were really great. I enjoyed the format of the book. There were some parts that was funny and plenty that enraged me. Patrick and Trish are the absolute worst. There were some moments where I felt like Hannah wasn't as angry as I thought someone who was cheated on would actually be. Overall, it was an interesting read.

I could not put this book down. It was fantastic. The format of conversations took me a minute to get into, but I quickly adapted and really liked it. These real and imagined conversations lead the reader through the narrator’s life and the lessons learned from it. The shifts in time give an extra layer of complexity, providing backstories when needed and explaining current dynamics. I really enjoyed the introspection and openness of the book.
I received an ARC from NetGalley but I also bought the book because I lack patience and self control at times.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed the creative structure Pittard employed in her memoir. While unconventional, I think the style worked well for her story and tone. This is a very raw narrative, told with unflinching honesty and humor. I found her tone to be refreshing and unique.

This was a quick read, and I enjoyed it--really like this genre.

Recommended for readers who like creative nonfiction and tales of marriage/friendship/finding oneself. Trigger warnings: eating disorders.

This book packs a punch! I could not put it down, I was so pulled into her story. This is the author's memoir of a break-up of her marriage and it is extremely well-written. The first part is probably best described as scenes from a marriage - it is all short chapters of different scenes with stage-like directions and she recreates and sometimes invents actual conversations. These little vignettes are a very effective way to get to know the characters and background. Part 2 - which plays out the long simmering tensions between she and her husband was very painful for me to read but very well-written. The third part goes back in time to her childhood and to the present (post divorce) and leaves us with some hope. I really liked that this was not a traditional straightforward memoir and instead she used creative and novel techniques to tell her story. I recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an ARC and I left this honest review voluntarily.

A uniquely written memoir about love, delusion (self and otherwise) and betrayal, We Are Too Many is a reading experience unlike any other. Raw and real, inasmuch as any memoir can be.

One of the best books I've read this year, reminds me of Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Hilarious, clever, heartbreaking... can't say enough good things about it.

man, i really did not care for this one sadly. uniquely written no doubt, but the writing style got old and everyone felt so painfully one-dimensional. had i known the story would be written the short/choppy/dialogue-focused way it was i probably wouldn't have read it honestly - i was definitely hoping for more narration.

thanks for the arc anyway!

While I enjoyed parts of this, I couldn't really get into the way the story was written. It almost felt like an easy way out of telling the story, just he said, she said, line after line. I wanted more in depth descriptions and thoughts about what was going on, not just dialogue.

Read if you like your books deeply personal and betrayal laid bare. The author writes in a unique but well told style about finding out her husband and eerily competitive needs to be the center-of-attention best friend have been having an affair.

Pittard recounts her marriage and her friendship with the other woman, in several different formats giving readers a glimpse into what was rumbling under the surface during her courtship with her then boyfriend turned husband, married life, and a couple of imaginary conversations as if she is recalling or creating conversations she had with her spouse that are both astute and witty.

I don’t know who I disliked more. Hannah’s ex-husband or her ex-best friend. What I do know is, the tune “That’s What Friends are For” was not on Hannah’s mind. And fortunately, Hannah didn’t include anything in her vows that precluded her from this day forward, to love and cherish you, and never write a tell-all if you commit adultery.

Before going into this memoir, Pittard had already proved that she is a good writer, having read several of her novels. Now I know her ability expands beyond fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of this memoir in exchange for my honest review.

Pittard's latest is a memoir blending truth and fiction, as all memoirs likely do. Split into three parts, the book follows the dissolution of her marriage to her husband and the relationship with her "best friend" through the act of infidelity those two commit. The first section is formatted almost like a play or script, with a short prose introduction setting the scene and the scene given strictly through dialogue, each speaker's name given before their dialogue. This technique was used in a book Pittard quotes in an epigraph. This section jumps between time and years and while the time and place are given as headings before each piece of dialogue, it was slightly difficult to keep the progression straight, although perhaps Pittard is making a point here about time and relationships and relationships with time through this technique. The second section is an imagined conversation with her ex-husband. The third part, presented as a "Coda in Pieces" worked the best and gave the most weight and depth to the book. In the first section Pittard uses third person instead of first person when writing about herself and this technique didn't add much. Overall, this is a very compelling read, one that explores issues or trust, access, and what we give and withhold from those closest to us, as well how the past shapes our present. While the techniques employed don't add much to the work and the overall book doesn't push the memoir form (which it seems to be trying to do with some of the techniques employed) it is certainly a worthwhile read with very sharp writing.

I loved this. Inventive, unique, and incredibly engaging, this is unlike any memoir I've read before. I have already checked out Pittard's previous work, and look forward to reading what she writes in the future.

There was a lot of time jumping in this book and the literally conversational style took some time to get used to but I felt like it really painted a portrait of a failed marriage and what it's like when your best friend and your husband betray you. It's a lot but its dealt with in a way that's easy to delve in.