Heartburn

Every year or so I re-read "Heartburn," one of my favorite novels of all time. It is fall-on-the-floor-funny, and possibly the best and most memorable form of revenge that a spurned wife ever had. Today's re-reading of "Heartburn" was inspired by the revelation that Mark Felt is the real name of Deep Throat, the former FBI mole who fed Watergate information to Ephron's former husband, Carl Bernstein. In this roman a clef, the chatacter based on cheating-husband Bernstein is called "Mark Feldman." Today I read Ephron's admission, in the Huffington Post blog, that living with the knowledge of Deep Throat's true identity was a "very heavy burden." So, was her estranged husband's character name inspired consciously by Deep Throat's name, or subconsciously? I don't really need an answer to that question. However, it does prove that the novels we love are gifts that keep on giving. Thanks, Nora. Thanks, Mr. Felt--for everything.

At the 7th month of her pregnancy, Nora Ephron learned that her husband had fallen in love with someone else. "The most unfair thing about this whole business," she writes, "is that I can't even date." That line sets the tone for this novel that Ephron based on her own marriage breakup. A court case resulted from the publication of this book, which tells you just how funny and potentially devastating it is. Her ex got a court order that she could never again write about him or their children. In the novel, instead of being a journalist, essayist, and humorist, the protagonist is a cookbook writer, so there are plenty of recipes sprinkled throughout. Published in 1983, Heartburn marked a turning point not only in Ephron's personal life but also in her writing career as she immediately gained entry into the film world as a writer, director, and producer. She wrote the screenplay for the movie based on this book - but don't see it. It's too angry; all the hilarity and subtle humor and caustic asides are missing.I own a 1st edition of this book, and I'm NEVER selling it.

HEARTBURN is Nora Ephron at her finest. Through her pain, she manages to find the comedy. This thinly-disguised autobiography makes for compelling reading; it almost could be a primer on surviving a spouse's marital infidelity. As always with Ephron, her writing is facile and her insights are overwhelming. Through the darkest moments, her own acute sense of the absurd shows through, and this humor is her salvation.Anyone who merely saw the film into which this book was turned can have no sense of how wonderful the printed text proves to be. And Ephron's recipes are fabulous, too. HEARTBURN probably was the first novel which had recipes integrated into it. After twenty years, I still use many of them.HEARTBURN offers solid clues to the genius that Ephron is, as evidenced in her subsequent career as a screenwriter (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, to name just one film) and as a director.

Nora Ephron's "Heartburn," is one of my all time favorite novels. I read it whenever I'm feeling blue, especially if I'm blue about relationships. Ephron writes funny, and does it better than just about anyone, with many dead-on observations about life. She is a true romantic disguised in cynic's clothing, and a food lover to boot. I've adopted several of the recipes that are sprinkled throughout the book, keeping my dogeared copy in the kitchen for years until it became too grease-stained and precious. It reminds me of Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking," only with more bite. It is true that Ephron tends to recycle some of her best material: readers will find quips from this novel popping up in Ephron's screenplays. No matter; for fans of Ephron, they play just as well the second time around. The movie "Heartburn," didn't do this book justice.