Ellen Hawley

The style of this book seems simple and repetitive at first glance, but I was never bored. The style put me into the reality of Abigail as she goes through having been rejected by her husband and dealing with her new situation. The humor sprinkled in liberally made me laugh out loud more than any book I can recall. I knew from the author's blog that I enjoy her humor, and I was not let down with this book. The style is very different and very good for this story. It leads the reader through show more this time of change with the crazy thoughts, the fears and trials, and the tenderness of love that holds her together. show less

I still carry baby weight from all three of my babies. Too bad they are 17, 16 and 12 years old respectively. That means it's probably not legitimate to call it baby weight anymore but that doesn't mean I don't still have hopes of it coming off, eventually. Abigail, the main character in Ellen Hawley's novel, The Divorce Diet, really can call her excess weight baby weight, and while losing the 170 pounds of lying, cheating husband is not what she had in mind when she decided to lose the show more weight, it is in fact what happens.

Abigail is going to start a diet to finally lose the weight she is still carrying from her pregnancy with 7 months old Rosie. She's certain this will help bring some action back into her marriage. As she cooks an amazing dinner and a decadent cake for husband Thad's birthday, she delves into her new diet book for the first time, making an alternate, plasticky meal for herself. But when Thad comes home late and only picks at the food, it is clear that something is wrong. Apparently the whole marriage thing isn't working for him and he wants out. Abigail is completely gutted. Without Thad and her marriage, she is penniless and doesn't know who she is so she takes baby Rosie, the shining sun in her world, and moves back home to her parents' house.

Unwilling to give up the diet, ahem "lifestyle plan," she's started because she doesn't want the diet to have been for Thad, she continues consulting the book and even having long conversations and discussions with the invisible diet guru she imagines to have written it. This guru keeps feeding her advice to make her the best, new, thin Abigail she can be while Abigail complains about the ghastly meals and the woe-filled life she's inadvertently come to inhabit. Before she met Thad, Abigail had worked at a gourmet kitchen store and hosted underground dinners to showcase her culinary skills. With Thad, she used only the finest ingredients and tinkered with gourmet recipes. After Thad, at her parents' house, she is faced with frozen meals and bland, flavorless, processed foods while she does the only work she can find, and even that she isn't even qualified for: being a waitress at a chain restaurant. She sees her life having taken the same disheartening trajectory and spends a lot of time wallowing in her unhappiness and vowing to change. It's only when she really examines her past life objectively and sees it for what it was rather than for what she thought it was, that she can move towards becoming the person she wants to be and to find happiness again.

This is very much a novel of reinvention. Abigail is forced to make a change she doesn't see coming nor which she wants but in weathering it, she becomes a much stronger woman. In fact, she moves from being a whiny teenager type to being a fulfilled woman in charge of her own life and directing her own destiny. Her character starts the book off with little to no self-esteem, finding her self-worth in her husband and the upwardly mobile life that they lead. Once he shatters this world for her and moves his girlfriend into Abigail's very bed, she must learn to rely on herself and to be capable on her own. Although living with her parents allows her to regress, it also gives her a bit of breathing room and a safe place in which to tentatively learn independence and self-sufficiency.

Most chapters cover one day in Abigail's life following Thad's dismissal of their marriage and are set up in a sort of diary format. Abigail records her food intake and her daily exercise as well as mocking the largely inedible recipes offered up by her diet book. Her tone is snarky and the exercise entries, in particular, are fairly entertaining. She is clearly depressed though as there is a flavoring of guilt threaded throughout the entries as well, such as when she eats half a tasteless Pop Tart and discards the other half on her passenger seat day after day after day or when she separates the clothes scattered across her floor into clean on one side and dirty on the other, unmotivated to pick them up, wash the dirties, and hang up the clean. In fact, Abigail is just treading water for much of the novel, barely keeping her head above water emotionally. She's helped in the latter by arguing with her invisible guru and by the wonderful babysitter, Dell, she finds to watch Rosie for her and who selflessly provides Abigail with a sympathetic ear and sometimes even some gentle advice every day after work.

The diary entry format of the novel is a bit choppy and can be repetitive although sometimes that repetition is intentional to highlight the joyless drudgery of Abigail's life. Abigail, as a character, is incredibly immature and naïve for a twenty-five year old woman. Seeing the other characters only through her eyes makes them rather one dimensional. Thad is a jerk all the way around and her parents, while allowing her to move home without much conversation, are strangely uninvolved in her life, content to sit unspeaking in front of the tv every night. Dell, although providing a necessary outlet for Abigail, never becomes much of a character. And aside from being cautionary, Abigail's fellow waitresses are simply types. The majority of the novel tracks the days and weeks immediately following the breakup of the marriage but once Abigail starts to consider who she really wants to be and what would bring her happiness, the pace goes from slow to blazing fast, wrapping up a much changed Abigail's life in just a short chapter or three. There's definitely humor woven throughout Abigail's struggle, especially in reference to her weight, which helps to lighten the over all mood of the story a fair bit. A quick and easy book to read, a nice tale about change, reinvention and finding the joy in life, it was generally enjoyable although some of the repetition could have been dispensed with for the reader's sake. show less

Twenty five year old Abigail has a comfortable life, she is happily wed to her very own Prince Charming and is the adoring mother of their 7 month old daughter, Rosie. Sure she is still carrying a few extra pregnancy pounds, but the new diet she has started will take care of those. On the eve of her husband’s birthday she creates an exquisite meal and waits patiently for him to come home from work. Thad is nearly an hour late and as he picks desultory at the dinner she lovingly prepared, show more she gently asks him what’s wrong.
“It’s not you”, he says.”Really. It’s me.”

The Divorce Diet by Ellen Hawley is a story about one woman’s journey to reclaim and reinvent herself in the wake of her divorce. Thad has decided that ‘this whole marriage thing’ doesn’t work for him and Abigail suddenly finds herself homeless, jobless, and near penniless. Forced to move back in with her parents, Abigail is barely keeping it together and to distract herself, focuses her attention on losing those last few pounds with the help of the Natural Weight Loss Plan Book and her imaginary diet guru’s advice. She is fiercely clinging to the idea that Thad has simply made a mistake and will change his mind within weeks, if not days, until the moment she discovers him in their bed with somebody else. Devastated anew, Abigail wallows in a messy pile of laundry, bickers with her guru, and orders the Food Network to be added to her parent’s cable before finding the energy to face the future.

I have to admit I found the diary-like narrative a bit repetitive as Abigail stumbles through her days amassing half eaten pop tarts and piles of laundry. I can imagine though that her behaviour would not be unusual after being dealt such a crushing blow to one’s self image and esteem, and I found Abigail to be a very sympathetic character. I cheered her on as she slowly began to pull herself together, one small step at a time until she is able to stand proudly, and happily, on her own.

With biting humour and genuine compassion, Ellen Hawley has created a protagonist that should resonate with readers who have ever found themselves in a similar situation, and perhaps inspire those who are in the midst of their post divorce/break up journey. show less

A very special thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Divorce Diet by Ellen Hawley is a fiercely honest, hip, and edgy account of one woman’s journey of marriage, and motherhood to—life after divorce, dieting, single motherhood, survival, and search for an inspiring career; A reinvention--embracing life’s messiness, with hilarious wit and humor!

Abigail loves cooking, being a mother, and her husband, Thad—until one day when Thad decides show more this life is not for him (wife and daughter, not included). She previously left her job (cooking) years prior, to be a stay-at-home mom. Now she finds herself back at home, living with her mom and dad in a crappy room, (she said she would never come back), as she desperately wanted a different life. A better life.

Now she does not even have her own her possessions, she is jobless, no real job skills, no money or a future she can see, and worst of all, she finds herself overweight. And her husband’s new girlfriend is sleeping on her beloved down pillow!

This is not the life she wanted, or signed up for. Where did it all go wrong, and how did she arrive at this point in her life? She has no motivation, nor encouragement to be skinny and handle all of the above stresses at the same time. What if her husband would want her back?

As readers go on this heartbreaking journey with Abigail and baby Rosie (with the help of her imaginary friend and diet guru), she stumbles through her day, sharing with readers, her daily breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and exercise plan tidbits (which does not include a lot of exercise, plenty of animal crackers, pop tarts, and lots and lots of coffee).

As she begins to create her new life, she feels she is fighting a losing battle and sees no way out of this hole; with loser jobs, crappy people, no supportive group, and an uncooperative selfish cheating husband who does not want to pay child support, and to boot has to deal with his new girlfriend thrown in her face.

Until she reaches bottom, and digs down a little further to decide she can create her own life, climb out of this hole without the help of a man, and without dead end boring and uninspiring jobs. She begins to make a list of what she wants to do on her own. She knows how to be sarcastic, funny, write, and cook. So how can she put all these together, make money, and do what she loves best to reinvent herself and enjoy her new freedom with her daughter? After all, was her life really all that grand before? So what has she really lost, and what has she gained?

This was my first book by Ellen Hawley and cannot wait to read more! Think Ellen Lee DeGeneres comedian, wit, humor, sweet revenge, new attitude, The Food Channel, a food column, gourmet cooking, recipes, insights, plus some wise life lessons for a dazzling do-over—Your Life Journey.

Loved the quote: “I don’t even know what I did wrong, I say. “He’s having an affair,” she says. He’s not that kind of man.” “Does he have a penis?” He does. I admit he does. “Then he’s that kind of man.”

If you have ever been on a diet, divorced, and jobless (haven’t we all)….this poignant diary like story, mixed with humor The Divorce Diet is for you—leaving you smiling, inspired, and satisfied. show less