Rating: 
Summary: Placing the Blame
Review: As a divorced father of two, I tried to share the author's pain as she slowly delves into her own experiences. However, as I read chapter after chapter, I found out more about her own emotional problems than her husband's supposed ones. How could any good mother publicly denigrate the character of her children's father? One day her poor sons will realize how she put their pain on display in order to satisfy her fear that she was as much responsibile for the failure of her marriage as her husband.
Rating: 
Summary: What to expect when you are "Breaking Apart"
Review: As a person going through the process of divorce after 25 plus years of marriage this is uncharted territory for me and obviously countless numbers of others. As Wendy Swallow states in her introduction, not much is out there as a personal memoir of the process and pain of the separation and divorce. "Breaking Apart" is a book which helps me to see beyond my own pain. What the effect the divorce has on the children has been documented, but what dire predictions for the children of divorce! People usually do not divorce their spouses without much soul searching. Especially when there are children involved. "Breaking Apart" maps the territory of how Ms. Swallow and her ex-husband charted the minefield of emotion and the court system to do what was best for their two young sons.
This is a must read book for both parents before, during and post divorce. There is a possibly of a good divorce if both partners want the best for their children and ultimately, for themselves as individuals.
Rating: 
Summary: A godsend!
Review: For anyone who is going through a divorce, or who has already gone through one, and is feeling alone, this book will be a lifesaver! I am in the process of getting a divorce and although I have a large network of friends, no one truly knows what you are going through unless they've gone through it as well. The author, Wendy Swallow, writes so elegantly and from the heart. I actuall felt like she could see what was in my heart and wrote about it. I have highlighted half the book and plan to reread those passages whenever I feel sad or alone. I thank Wendy for writing this book and shedding such a real light on the harshness of divorce.
Rating: 
Summary: A Horrible marriage memoir is more like it....
Review: I can't believe I had 25 pages to go before her 4 year separation was finally over! I finished it just so I knew she did get divorced. I wish I had put it down after the first chapter like I wanted to do. She went into 200 pages of detail on her marriage before she talked about what this was supposed to describe.I was hoping to read a memoir about what someone goes through while separated/almost divorced, and all I read was a poor me story on what her marriage was like. I can read that in a magazine and don't have to waste as much time. If you want a good book on what you could go through, don't read this, but if you want to hear a story on what a bad marrige can be like, perfect!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Look At Divorce
Review: I checked out the book at the library for personal research on how divorce affects family. In this memoir, the author writes candidly about her family and her marriage to her ex-husband. She had fantasies of marriage as well as divorce only to be hit with the reality of both. Despite how tedious the book could be at times, one can't help but get delved into the story of her marriage and divorce.
It's sad that most divorces can't work out amicably. There are just some people who make these cases more difficult for those around them and our legal system just adds gasoline to the flames not even thinking of those most affected by it--children. Ms. Swallow had to realize that not only did she want was best for her children, so did her husband. Both had to seek therapy in order to make the best out of their worst situation. This book was worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Look At Divorce
Review: I checked out the book at the library for personal research on how divorce affects family. In this memoir, the author writes candidly about her family and her marriage to her ex-husband. She had fantasies of marriage as well as divorce only to be hit with the reality of both. Despite how tedious the book could be at times, one can't help but get delved into the story of her marriage and divorce.
It's sad that most divorces can't work out amicably. There are just some people who make these cases more difficult for those around them and our legal system just adds gasoline to the flames not even thinking of those most affected by it--children. Ms. Swallow had to realize that not only did she want was best for her children, so did her husband. Both had to seek therapy in order to make the best out of their worst situation. This book was worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Uncomfortably dramatic
Review: I had considered reading this book after finding on this site an odd mix of older, mostly negative reviews, immediately followed by a cluster of positive comments. I have to say, despite my best intentions, I wasn't particularly moved by the end. I'm uncomfortable with the overly sentimental style Swallow throws out, particularly in relation to her personal problems. This is not material that lends to melodrama if children of divorce are meant to read and apply to their own lives. I fear all they will come away with is more than they needed to know about not divorce, but the author.
Rating:
Summary: A Banal Attempt at Self-Pity
Review: I have a problem with books like this. Although the world certainly has an overabundance of people with "problems" that can neither be ignored nor assumed to simply patch themselves up over time, it seems rather unfortunate that Ms. Swallow has determined to openly flay her ex-husband (in and of itself a rather cold, heartless, and calculated move against someone who - according to Ms. Swallow herself - does not have the emotional capacity to defend or redeem himself) as well as display her children's trauma to the world. There are reasons for the psychological and psychiatric professions. I'm going to safely bet that if going through a painful divorce, it would be much more cathartic (and much more advantageous for the family as a whole) to actually visit a professional of some sort, rather than attempt to self-diagnose and engage in the "woe is me" fest that books like this represent. There is nothing even remotely helpful in Ms. Swallow's book - unless you find it helpful to have yet another example of the self-absorbtion of many divorced parents. Ms. Swallow's children will eventually grow up - when they do, I can only hope that they will seek professional guidance, rather than following in their mother's footsteps and foisting more atrociously self-serving writing onto us all.
Rating:
Summary: Confirmation that I was not the only one to experience this.
Review: I have never written a review here, but I just looked at the negative reviews and I felt compelled to defend this book that was my life-line at a certain point in my life. I think, that unless you have experienced something similar to this -- and not all divorces or marriages mirror this -- it is difficult to understand. I was married to a very intelligent, charming, and bi-polar man as well. It really helped me to step outside myself and see the situation from a different vantage point to understand why I made the choices I did, like having a second child, then a third. I cried, nodded and talked to the book the whole way through. It was such a close mirror to what happened to me. It was also a great book to give to my mother, my best friend and my sisters who were never privvy to just how bad things were until it was over. It helped them understand what it was like for me. She ended it with hope for me that the future was going to be OK. Now I have just discovered her sequel, memoirs on remarriage. Once again she is a step ahead of me in the same life path. I remarried last weekend. This book may not be great for someone who has never had a similar experience. But for anyone who has clung to a dream of the way life should be despite being emotionally battered, and then faces reality, will definitely appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T READ WHILE EATING!
Review: I only got through half of this book before the overwhelming desire to escape from the rampant self-pity consumed me. Believe it or not, Ms. Swallow is quick to point out how she had been mistreated and how she suffered, and it appears she had little to no fault in the "breaking apart" of her marriage. Why do I think her ex-husband and the poor children who will one day read this self-important nonsense might disagree? If Ms. Swallow is indeed such an acclaimed journalist, she should know the art of being objective by now. Maybe her ex-husband will use it if he decides to defend himself and come out with his own version of the truth, maybe one that will be a little easier to digest.
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