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Summary: "There are those who believe it is simple selfishness that leads people to divorce. For those of us who have lived it, its hard to see why anyone would rip out their veins for some immature or narcissistic desire to get what they want, because that is what it feels like." --from Breaking Apart Writing in a style that is both piercingly honest and profoundly moving. Wendy Swallow, in her gripping memoir of a divorce unfolding, traces the arc of her marriage to a complex man ten years her senior. She looks into her own heart and at her own childhood and young adulthood as a way of understanding the relationship and its ultimate breakdown. She also examines her struggle to balance her burgeoning career and the demands of motherhood. And then she writes of divorce: the hopeful fantasies she conjured while still in her marriage, as well as the harsh realities she faced when she and her husband finally separated. "People say marriages break up," writes Swallow, "but mine finally broke down." With heartbreaking candor, Swallow illuminates the overwhelming financial and emotional stresses of divorce, the daily, unforeseen difficulties. But she writes too of the joys of independence and renewal. Her journey through divorces rough terrain -- and the triumphant reconstruction of her life after divorce -- offer encouragement and inspiration to anyone struggling with a marriage, as well as an electrifying literary portrait of what it is to relinquish the comfort and security of a long-held dream.