Beautifully honest, raw, heartfelt. You cannot help but have all these feelings as you read this book.
Thank you to both the publishers and NetGalley for gifting me this book

A beautiful, honest and comforting memoir that speaks from the heart and I'm sure will help to give many hope. Hynes speaks from her own experience of her marriage falling apart and I felt she was speaking directly to me through her accessible style. I came away feeling grateful for the support and female friendships I have in my own life.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

Written in the aftermath of the end of Liadán Hynes' marriage, How to Fall Apart is a heartfelt memoir about navigating her way through the grief that followed and adjusting to life as a single parent.

Hynes writes with compassion and warmth, providing a reassuring experience for people facing a similar situation. Your life will change, but you can and will be OK.

The end of a marriage can be many things - a heartbreak or a relief, a betrayal or a mutual decision, a long time coming or a total shock. No one goes into a marriage hoping that it will end, but unfortunately for many of us that is what happens. It is what is happening to me, and of course I've turned to books to find solace, advice and guidance. I found all those in How To Fall Apart.

Liadan Hynes is a journalist who has written about her life as a single mother following the end of her marriage. In this book she takes us back to the time of her break up, how she made it through the fog and sharing the lamps that lit the way until she was able to see her path more clearly.

I drank this book up, I read it in a day. Liadan's writing is so personable, so open and just so easy to connect with. Although this is based on her own experience, the emotions and struggles she went through are fairly universal - my situation is different in that my marriage hasn't ended mutually (it ended due to infidelity) and yet I could still identify with all of the feelings. And with that foundation, as the book turned to the things that did (or didn't) help in the healing process, I trusted that these are also fairly universal. There are, of course, things that Liadan had access to which are not within the reach of every individual - life coaches, yoga courses, even private therapists which could be beyond many budgets...I know they are out of mine! But even in these, I really took a lot just from the insight she gained and shares with the reader.

And in that insight I really appreciated how this isn't just a book for those left floundering after a relationship ends. Many of the healing approaches could be applied to any sort of loss or trauma, because they focus on the person and aim to soothe and build them back up from whatever it is that has changed the trajectory of their life and left them feeling lost.

At the core of both book and healing is something that we can all do with more of and happily can all find ways to seek out - the strength, love, support and help of other women. Friendship is such a strong theme throughout much of the healing discussed, and I thought that was incredibly refreshing. Whether it's a local book group, a bougie yoga retreat, or just your mum/bestie/sister giving you a hug in the jammies you've been wearing for four days straight, this can be a transformative love. It is often something that gets overlooked, but connection to the women around you can be far more healing than throwing yourself back into the dating game. That's a reassuring message that I will take with me, and has been the push I needed to stop isolating myself but to instead seek out deeper bonds with the women in my life. I will definitely keep dipping back into this book as I continue on my own path through the fog.

Oh, and this book also persuaded me that *right now* is probably not a good time to get a puppy. My mum is very relieved.

Beautifully written an open honest memoir ofbthe authors divorce.How the life she led her family changed and now it was just her and her daughter.She shares her navigating through her new life her Friday nights Saturday’s Aline.Facing dinner parties friends advice her feelings.
A memoir that is emotional and moving and she also shares a guide to help anyone in similar circumstances to deal and cope,#netgalley #How to fall apart.

All I could think as I was reading How to Fall Apart was that this book is going to mean the world to so many people. Liadan Hynes is a great writer, so I was very happy to get a copy of this book, though I knew it was about things I hadn't experienced myself. Having said this, I think this book could be a lifeline to anyone going through separation or divorce, losing a partner or facing the challenges of being a single parent.

Hynes wrote How to Fall Apart after she and her husband decided to separate. She writes warmly and respectfully about her ex husband, and explained the particular heartbreak of a loving relationship that just ran its course, but how they resolved to do their best by their young daughter. She is a really gifted writer that can make you feel really keenly what this was like for her, and I got to know all her family and friends. She goes through the different stages of this loss and coping, and most notably talks about how "coping" can only go so far, and how you have to fall apart to heal.

My favourite thing about this book is Hynes' love letter to her friends, who were able to keep her afloat and got what she was going through. I laughed at her descriptions of friends she met who she called "head tilters" who are sympathetic but make you feel worse than you already feel - if nothing else, I learned I'm probably a head tilter and resolved to try and actually help people if that's what's needed of me. Instead, she had friends who she didn't have to pretend for, who didn't care if she was in a mess but just helped where they could. I loved how important her friends and family were to the story, as well as the women she met through yoga, through work and all the hobbies and interests she developed when single again,and how having these interests and friends made her a better role model to her daughter.

How to Fail wasn't immediately relevant to my life but I still felt I learned a lot from Hynes, and I could see how this book could be a lifesaver for people facing into separation or divorce, especially while caring for a child. It made me want to check out her podcast and column of the name, where she speaks to people about a variety of experiences. I think this would be a great book for fans of Elizabeth Day's How to Fail.

How To Fall Apart is part memoir, part a how-to guide on how to put your life back together when it feels like your world has fallen apart. When any marriage or long-term relationship falls apart, it is a loss and any loss necessitates a period of grief. You grieve for the loss of the future you had envisioned. You grieve for the loss of the person you thought you were, and you have to be prepared for a torrent of emotion - from anger, to sadness, to relief, to loneliness and back again, over and over.

This book will make you feel less crazy, less alone and it will show you that if you put the time in to nurture your self, you will be ok. Use anger to propel you forwards from stasis. Allow the sadness to come, don't fight it. Surround yourself with friends you can be completely honest with, with friends who get it. Take time to create new habits and rituals that will get you through the loneliness of a Saturday night without your significant other. If you need a day in bed doing nothing, allow yourself that.

As we read about the time following the break down of the author's marriage, we discover that even when life doesn't work out the way we thought it would, there is joy to be found in the small things. That when you listen to your heart and your soul, you can find true contentment and you can look to the future without dread or fear. But you have to work through every emotion that comes up - you cannot squash them or ignore them - they will find a way to make you listen however hard you may try to suppress them.

A truly wise, warm and useful guide to finding your way through loss and grief and it will leave you feeling uplifted.