Heartbreak countered by strength and courage

“I just finished listening to Everything is Perfect and I can’t stop thinking about it. Setting the political scandal aside, this is a book that every woman who has been lied to by an unfaithful partner should read. Let’s face it, it describes an (unfortunately) near-universal experience. Though Nason’s private heartbreak became fodder for the tabloids (which seems like the universe just piling on when it occurs in her narrative) Nason’s struggle to live through the experience and come out of it whole, is extraordinary.

Even if you are not partial to Nason’s specific sources of comfort and advice (the poet Rumi is one) or the tools she employs to express anger constructively (broken dishes anyone?) you will absolutely relate to her goal — to keep herself sane, and her children safe and out of the spotlight. (Particularly hilarious is her use of Groucho Marx nose-and-glasses as shields against the press.)

Lying is so insidious, and Nason highlights the ways in which it can break down self-esteem. The lies, coming on the heels of a horrific assault, could threaten the sanity of the strongest woman. Kate Nason tells the story of her world falling apart — and the spectacular circumstances in which it did so — with an eye not to bemoaning her fate or cashing in on scandal, but rather to learning something.

I should also add that this is among the most beautifully written memoirs I’ve ever read. In fact, it’s downright poetic. Three cheers (and five stars) for a woman who has spun her misery into a beautiful, helpful, kind memoir.”

-flimfrik