Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this read. All opinions are my own.
Full disclosure; I am a big fan of Lyz Lenz and have read her other books.
Question; are married women truly thriving? I recently read Madame Bovary with a book club and our discussion wrapped up by considering in what ways is the modern married woman different than the 19th century protagonist.. Conclusion; marriage can be a trap no matter what century you were born into. And yet; many of us aspire to it! This book, part memoir, part journalism sharing statistics and interviews and analyses, captured my attention from the first page. Ms. Lenz has been open with sharing her personal story for a long time. In This American Ex-Wife, she collects the stories of other women who find some amount of dissatisfaction within a marriage. Alongside books like Fair Play, which suggests that partnered households should find equal distribution of labor, and trad wife TikTok trends which show wealthy women almost cos-playing at being 1050s housewives, or when the mini series Lessons in Chemistry argues "why should we assume he had a longer day that she did"; this book explores a cultural conversation taking place amongst generations of women and partnered people.

I love Lyz Lenz's work and this memoir is I think her best book yet. She takes an unflinching look at herself and marriage and family as well as gender norms linked to marriage in our current culture. There is sadness here but also humor and hope and light.

Happily divorced herself, journalist Lyn Lenz gives the institution of marriage a long-overdue, updated examination focused on the possibilities for increased autonomy, empowerment and equality for women in the U.S. Combining reportage, research, personal experience and pop culture, Lenz makes a stereotypically somber topic downright inspirational to reimagine. This book is about so much more than marriage or divorce; it tackles issues such as labor, intimacy, structural inequality, conditioning, expectations, fairness, rage, and more.

This was so much better than I anticipated! I loved how Lyz wove together her personal story with facts and details about women's roles in history. The details really worked to create an important book. I felt connected to the things she wrote about with her ex. I believed much of what she described. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.

A funny, heartbreaking, real, honest look at a woman going through a divorce. While a personal account, it also examines the larger cultural and societal factors that play into the everyday lives of women.

The author writes with such a candid, conversational tone that this was a very easy book to read, in spite of nonfiction not generally being my first choice. Though we may differ on several political issues, the points the author makes throughout the book illustrate that at our core, we are the same. We are women who want the chance to be ourselves, to have both roots and wings, as well as the freedom to use them. Divorce is not the answer for all troubled marriages, but it's also not the root of all evil, the way many of us have been taught. It's a complex issue, and the author does a good job of breaking down its components and dissecting them for all, men and women, to better consider as they move forward in their relationships.