This Is Not the Story You Think It Is...: A Season of Unlikely Happiness

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Overview

Laura Munson's essay in the New York Times, about the time she was tested in a way she never anticipated, created a firestorm-now here's the whole story.

When Laura Munson's essay was published, The New York Times was so flooded with responses that they had to close down the comment feature. Readers wrote in saying that they had sent the column to all of their friends. Therapists wrote Munson to tell her that they were passing it out to their clients.

What did Munson write that caused such a fervor?

Laura detailed what happened when her husband of more than twenty years told her he wasn't sure he loved her anymore and wanted to move out. And while you might think you know where this story is going, this isn't the story you think it is. Laura's response to her husband: I don't buy it.

In this poignant, wise, and often funny memoir, Munson recounts a period of months in which her faith in herself-and her marriage-was put to the test. Shaken to the core after the death of her beloved father, not finding the professional success that she had hoped for, and after countless hours of therapy, Laura finally, at age forty, realized she had to stop basing her happiness on things outside her control and commit herself to an "End of Suffering." This Is Not The Story You Think It Is... chronicles a woman coming to terms with the myths we tell ourselves-and others-about our life and realizing that ultimately happiness is completely within our control.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
A kind of colloquial diary composed during the rocky summer her husband was suffering a midlife crisis, debut author Munson aims to convince the reader, in her chatty, self-absorbed narrative, that her hard-won serenity helped conquer her husband's shakiness at committing himself to their future together. When her husband (who remains nameless) announced his uncertainty that he loved her, then embarked on bizarrely atypical behavior, leaving her and their two children, eight and 12, wondering where he was, Munson had her own notions about what was ailing him, reinforced by mountains of self-help books and therapists: his job was failing, he was drowning in debt, and he was worried about losing their fabulous 20-acre horse-and-ski farm in rural Montana. Munson hoped he could regain a sense of “gratitude” for what they had, namely 15 years of a loving family. Munson urged her husband to take a trip, as she had just returned from a month-long rejuvenating stint to Italy, or even helicopter lessons, yet his resentment of her ran deeper than she cared to confront. She concentrated on what she could control, namely creating a nice home and throwing herself into community activism, then witnessed with joy her husband's gradual coming around. Unfortunately, Munson's journey doesn't ring entirely convincing or forthright, and if the title truly reflected her marital crisis, the reader might run the other way. (Apr.)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780425238998
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 4/5/2011
  • Pages: 352
  • Sales rank: 209,698
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

Laura Munson

Laura Munson lives with her family in Montana, where she writes novels, memoirs, short stories, and essays. This is her first published book.

Table of Contents

Are You There, Clarence? It's Me, George Bailey's Wife 1

The Cloud of Unknowing 16

Rilke's World at Play in Rumi's Field 27

Reality, Cockroaches, Bums in the Basement, and Microbrew 37

Montana 55

My Father's Blue Duesenberg 72

The Italy Cure 91

Epiphany 105

No Grace Period 120

My Evil Twin Sister Sheila 140

The Supercool Wife 159

The God of the Fourth of July 173

The Conversation 192

Unlikely Happiness 207

Free Fall 224

Heart-Shaped Rock 243

Derailed 258

Community 277

His Sister's Gift 287

The Good Fight 303

Indian Summer 310

Two Balloons 323

Thanksgiving 329

Epilogue 336

The Perversely Vertical Half-Cracked and Sometimes Devoured Stack of Books on My Bedside Table 338

Acknowledgments 341

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 34 )

Rating Distribution

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4 Star

(7)

3 Star

(7)

2 Star

(6)

1 Star

(5)

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Sort by: Showing all of 20 Customer Reviews
  • Anonymous

    Posted March 11, 2012

    :(

    I couldnt even get a quarter of the way through. i do not recommend this book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted August 11, 2011

    An OKAY story

    This book is part self help, part memoir. The author is raw in her reflections and that is interesting. Her rambling writing style captures how the mind races when in crisis.

    However, for someone who has read a lot of self-empowerment books, and received lots of "enlightenment" from Sunday messages... this book really doesn't bring anything new to the table. Would I recommend anyone pay $10 for it? Probably not. Buy it used, borrow it from the library or something.

    Although, I will say that this book reminds me how important it is to communicate in a marriage and be each others mirror. If you think your husband is toiling away at a fruitless task... you really oughta help him re-evaluate before he has a midlife crisis/breakdown.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted June 21, 2011

    Medicine For The Journey

    As a horsewoman and therapeutic riding instructor, I know timing is everything. Reading this well scripted memoir was just what I needed to continue writing my own. As my partner and I struggle with the same life changes, I find solace in Laura's thoughts and ideals. She left out the 'gory' stuff and kudos for that. We can certainly fill in the blanks with our own gore. I' m not one to reread books--save that for the movies-- but I don''t think I'll archive this one just yet. Nice work, Laura.

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  • Posted March 6, 2011

    Honest and tender story

    not what I expected, as the title suggested - but better.

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