Book of the Week: Heartburn

Nora Ephron wrote/co-wrote three of my favorite chick movies, When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle, so when I saw the book Heartburn at my library last week, I grabbed it up. Though she wrote Heartburn, I actually had no idea that it was autobiographical prior to reading it!

I researched it a bit after I finished reading, and though she changed some details (names, professions, gender of her kids, and other little details about the people in the book), it was very interesting to read about her personal life from the perspective with which she wrote! It was a pretty sad story (the premise of the story is her discovery of her husband's, Carl Bernstein, affair while she was seven months pregnant with their second child, and the resulting end of their marriage), but at the same time she made it very humorous and quick.

I enjoyed the book so much that I searched Netflix and found the movie adaptation, and watched that, as well. Meryl Streep has never been a favorite of mine, nor has Jack Nicholson, but I tell you what! Meryl's role in this movie turned my opinion of her around! Her performance was so great, and she was so elegant and humorous and graceful, that it almost made the whole terrible situation in the book/movie better. 

At any rate, this has only solidified my love for Nora Ephron as a writer and director, and has made me come to appreciate her as a human being, as well!

One of my favorite Nora quotes: 

"...if I tell the story, I control the version.

...if I tell the story, I can make you laugh, 

and I would rather have you laugh at me than feel sorry for me.

...if I tell the story, it doesn't hurt as much.

...if I tell the story, I can get on with it.”

And some words to live by, "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." 

- Nora Ephron, 1941-2012.