Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has "a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs" is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wiching him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes. Heartburn is a sinfully delicious novel, as soul-satisfying as mashed potatoes and as airy as a perfect soufflé.

Rating : - Heartburn...pun intended
Heartburn is the thinly disguised version of the break up of Ephron's second marriage. Part of the magic of Ephron's writing is her conversation-with-a-best-girlfriend style. The other part is her ability to find humor in an otherwise devastating situation. She shows us that indeed there are times when we just need to laugh at our own follies...or take a small measure of revenge on a man who deserves it!

To help keep the situation light, and to keep the narrative from becoming too heavy, Ephron adds just the right amount of quirkiness to keep you reading without feeling like you're reading someone's final paper in a creative writing class. She describes, for example, her first husband's ridiculously deep attachment to hamsters. She predates Seinfeld-style humor with comments like those about she and her husband "dating" another couple.

Much of what's in the book is both funny and honest, showing the human side of human nature. She makes you believe that truth is indeed often stranger--and so much more annoying!--than fiction. I also found myself admiring the underlying strength beneath the humor of her ability to leave a toxic relationship, seven months pregnant or not.

Heartburn is a quick and satisfying read. It makes great airplane or beach reading.