TITLE OF YOUR BOOK: UNWIFEABLE
AUTHOR OF BOOK's NAME: Mandy Stadtmiller
AUTHOR'S EMAIL ADDRESS mandystadt@gmail.com
AUTHOR'S FAVORITE LINKS: https://mandystadtmiller.com/
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X I am the reviewer and give TNBR permission to print this review.
REVIEWER’S BYLINE: Abigail Adams
INCLUDE THE THE REVIEW ITSELF, of course!
Mandy Stadtmiller’s Unwifeable is an unrelenting book, which shows the limits of excessive hedonism as a fulfilling way of life. It also shows what is truly necessary for genuine personal fulfilment, and in that way provides inspiration and hope.
Newly divorced in 2005, thirty year old Mandy upped sticks and made her way to the Big Apple for a fresh start, taking on a role with the New York Post. She is driven to make a name for herself, but discovers that the world she has entered is nowhere near as glamorous in reality as it appears from a distance. In fact, the more she gets to know it, the less attractive it becomes. This separation between attractive appearances and raw realities is one of the dominant themes in Unwifeable.
Sharing an apartment with a couple, Mandy takes up her role as a dating columnist – though her own experiences in the dating scene are lurid to say the least. She lives a heady life of booze-filled parties and casual sex – a life which becomes progressively more shallow and meaningless to her the longer that she continues to pursue it. The deep sense of shame which she feels for living this way gnaws at her, yet she persists with it – largely because to stop would be to admit that starting to live this way was a mistake. Insights of this kind are constant in Unwifeable.
Mandy does not shy away from sharing the decisions she made, the consequences of those decisions, and her reflections on her experiences. She is very honest about her experiences, and about the fact that she was searching for something she had all along but neglected. She was looking for her soulmate, and her soulmate was none other than Mandy herself.
There’s a rawness to Unwifeable that can be uncomfortable, but this is what makes it credible. You don’t doubt that Mandy is telling you the truth, as there is way too much detail in her stories for it to be created by a fantasist. She doesn’t hold back on just how self-destructive her way of life was, and is harsher on herself than she is on anyone else.
It’s a very human story in a lot of ways – Mandy has her insecurities and fears, but lived as though these didn’t exist and embraced all the hedonism that was on offer to mask her inner doubts. Many readers will be able to identify with this trait, pursuing a way of life and acting fearlessly while being plagued with all sorts of doubts. It helps you to connect with Mandy and her journey, and maybe learn from her experiences in facing up to your own difficulties in life.
While you might not have the same colorful setting as the media world of Manhattan, it doesn’t mean that Mandy’s life experiences can’t be useful to you. Unwifeable is an uplifting and inspiring tale, and it is very, very funny. It’s also very poignant, for Mandy lays bare all her personal struggles and her efforts to overcome them. I won’t say too much more, but the ending is worth the price of the book alone. The journey to that ending, however, is also worthwhile. Very highly recommend.
Newly divorced in 2005, thirty year old Mandy upped sticks and made her way to the Big Apple for a fresh start, taking on a role with the New York Post. She is driven to make a name for herself, but discovers that the world she has entered is nowhere near as glamorous in reality as it appears from a distance. In fact, the more she gets to know it, the less attractive it becomes. This separation between attractive appearances and raw realities is one of the dominant themes in Unwifeable.
Sharing an apartment with a couple, Mandy takes up her role as a dating columnist – though her own experiences in the dating scene are lurid to say the least. She lives a heady life of booze-filled parties and casual sex – a life which becomes progressively more shallow and meaningless to her the longer that she continues to pursue it. The deep sense of shame which she feels for living this way gnaws at her, yet she persists with it – largely because to stop would be to admit that starting to live this way was a mistake. Insights of this kind are constant in Unwifeable.
Mandy does not shy away from sharing the decisions she made, the consequences of those decisions, and her reflections on her experiences. She is very honest about her experiences, and about the fact that she was searching for something she had all along but neglected. She was looking for her soulmate, and her soulmate was none other than Mandy herself.
There’s a rawness to Unwifeable that can be uncomfortable, but this is what makes it credible. You don’t doubt that Mandy is telling you the truth, as there is way too much detail in her stories for it to be created by a fantasist. She doesn’t hold back on just how self-destructive her way of life was, and is harsher on herself than she is on anyone else.
It’s a very human story in a lot of ways – Mandy has her insecurities and fears, but lived as though these didn’t exist and embraced all the hedonism that was on offer to mask her inner doubts. Many readers will be able to identify with this trait, pursuing a way of life and acting fearlessly while being plagued with all sorts of doubts. It helps you to connect with Mandy and her journey, and maybe learn from her experiences in facing up to your own difficulties in life.
While you might not have the same colorful setting as the media world of Manhattan, it doesn’t mean that Mandy’s life experiences can’t be useful to you. Unwifeable is an uplifting and inspiring tale, and it is very, very funny. It’s also very poignant, for Mandy lays bare all her personal struggles and her efforts to overcome them. I won’t say too much more, but the ending is worth the price of the book alone. The journey to that ending, however, is also worthwhile. Very highly recommend.
This review was originally published on Goodreads, and the link to the original review can be found here.
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER: I’m Abigail, and I’m a big book lover who is interested in all genres.
REVIEWER'S TWITTER MONIKER: @AAdams22700
REVIEWER'S TWITTER MONIKER: @AAdams22700
ABOUT THE AUTHOR WHOSE BOOK IS BEING REVIEWED: Mandy Stadtmiller is an author and columnist for New York magazine, former editor-at-large of xoJane, "Girl Talk" columnist for Penthouse and host of the comedy podcast "News Whore." She is also known for her dating column in the New York Post, called "About Last Night."
She is on Twitter/X at @mandystadt
