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List Price: $16.95 | | Publisher: Seal Press
Salesrank: 78401
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| Our Price: $9.65 |
| Used Price: $6.85 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
While wide awake in the middle of the night (welcome to menopause!), Amy Ferris began chronicling every one of her funny, sad, hysterical, down and dirty, and raw to the bones stories. Along with fantasizing about marrying George Clooney, Ferris is faced with a plethora of other insomnia-induced thoughts and activities. From googling old boyfriends to researching obscure and fatal diseases on the web; from scouting five-star spa destinations to having angry, bitter, e-mail exchanges with her brother. She worries endlessly about her husband, relies heavily on Ambien, and tries to arrange care via the Internet for her mother (who has both severe dementia and a massive love-bubble crush on Jesus Christ)—all while refraining from lighting up just one more cigarette. Marrying George Clooney explores a range of emotions experienced through this life-altering period. In this candid look at "the change," Ferris offers a humorous spin on a not-so-funny topic.
Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis Reviews:
Anything that both breaks my heart and makes me laugh is all right by me. 
2009-11-05 - I'm a sucker for laugh-out-loud memoirs and this book is one of them. Marrying George Clooney, which reads a bit like a blog, is written by Amy Ferris who somehow manages to make the hell that is menopause funny. She has insomnia and most of the chapters were written at 3am when the rest of the neighborhood, including her husband, are sound asleep.
And her mother has dementia, which is no laughing matter, except Ferris pulls it off anyway. While most of the people who can relate to this book would be midlife women who take care of their parents, Ferris' writing is poignant enough to pull in any member of the audience, whether young or male. She does not alienate; she sucks you in. And then makes you laugh.
I could have done without the whole preface, though. Seven pages of blah, blah, blah that I didn't need to know and was misled into thinking the book was going to be a dud, because she doesn't turn it on until Chapter 1 on page 16.
Also? She didn't need to change up the font all the time in order to emphasize what she was trying to say. Her writing was the most beautiful woman in the room who felt compelled to put on too much make-up when she could have arrived to the party clean-faced. Her use of language is gorgeous; the important lines stand out all by themselves and don't need any help. In other words, don't put A1 Steak Sauce or ketchup on that filet mignon; it's delicious just the way it is.
But maybe that's just me and all those italic interruptions and ALL CAPS asides wouldn't bother you at all. I'm just barfing out my own opinion. Either way, I highly recommend this book for a touching and hilarious look at a midlife crisis.
AAAAAAAND.....it's available on Kindle. Yay!
BUY THIS BOOK!!
2009-10-19 - So I thought to myself -- "Oh no, another middle aged woman complaining about how hard it is to get a date...." But a friend gave me the book, and boy, was I wrong. Actually Amy Ferris has a wonderful husband, a difficult mother, and an amazing amount of talent. This is a wonderful, life affirming, uplifting book by a woman who I would love to have as a friend. Buy it!
A MUST READ
2009-10-16 - This is a must read for ANY woman. Amy Ferris made laugh out loud and cry my eyes out ... at the same time! All her meanderings are utterly hilarious and relatable and made me feel a lot less crazy. She is especially poignant when she writes about her mother's dementia and growing to love her more deeply toward the end of her life. Women need more books like this ... TRUTHFUL. Amy Ferris bared her soul and you can't help but fall in love with her for doing so.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK!
"Marrying George Clooney" - Beyond the Blurb
2009-09-08 - This week, "Marrying George Clooney: Confessions From a Midlife Crisis" by Amy Ferris, is hitting the bookstores. On the back will be my blurb of recommendation:
"Amy Ferris has successfully combined a rip-roaringly funny page-turner, with an unvarnished account of the personal history that formed her. This gut-wrenching look at intimate relationships will resonate with readers because of the universality of its raw emotion, clarity of vision and self-revealing courage."
Blurbs are relatively short, pithy comments on why a potential reader should pick up that particular book as opposed to the hundreds of others that are displayed besides it. It is an invitation. It also serves as a reference to those who have already taken the plunge, as they take a break from their reading to see if they are in sync with those who had the privilege of an advance look.
In my case, not only did I get to peruse the manuscript in its final form, I also witnessed its birth and evolution.
I met Amy Ferris at The Women's Media Center in 2005. We were part of the start-up team for a new venture founded by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan. The goal was to ensure that women were more "visible and powerful in the media." The two of us were quite vocal about how important women's cultural contributions were - a necessity to honestly reflect women's stories in our society. As we laughed at each other's jokes, which we considered über hilarious, we forged a friendship.
Many of the issues we discussed in serious moments - family, relationships, and life changes - would find their way into Marrying George Clooney. Amy's writing voice is distinctive; first person conversational. In opening herself up to reveal her deepest thoughts and feelings with an audience beyond her personal friends, Amy's insights no longer remain within a small circle. They have been amplified to enfold others, in the way a wave encompasses the shore.
Amy shares plenty...without reservation. The themes that I knew so well - her struggle with menopause, the shattering decline of her mother from dementia, her beloved husband Ken - were merged with new revelations about her past I had no knowledge of. It was a crash course in Amy. Some of it filled in the gaps that all relationships have, while adding a new depth of understanding.
There is already talk of different iterations of the text being considered, from television to Broadway (I think she should put her foot down if there is a suggestion of a musical). Marrying George Clooney could very well become the quintessential book of the season. Speaking to those women born between the years of 1946 to 1964, it is poised to become a literary version of the 1970s Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress.
Amy and I have different lives. She has a husband, a home in Pennsylvania, and two cats. I have a teenage son, an apartment in New York City, and a dysfunctional dog. We both lost parents this year. She found out about her mother's death the day she was driving in to pay a condolence call for my father. We call ourselves the "Yahrzeit Twins."
Needless to say, women who pick up Amy's book will live in various geographical locations, come from diverse backgrounds, and have disparate experiences. But they will recognized themselves in Amy's efforts to come to terms with her mother's illness, the conflict of a sibling relationship, and the struggle to reconcile with the physical and emotional changes each woman faces as she ages.
Amy's audience will follow her as she tries to make sense of her past, while looking to her future. They will root for her. When they put the book down, they will feel less alone as they search for their own personal answers and resolutions.
Welcome to Amy's universe.
This review originally appeared on Huffington Post.
Read this book!
2009-09-07 - I just recommended this book to a bunch of friends, and said about it, among other things: "It flaunts the worst torments of the midlife puzzle and spins them into a golden thread that glistens with glimpses of what an ambitious task it is to be a modern human being." Not hyperbole. This is the kind of humor and reflection on life's difficulties that locates and extracts bliss from chaos.
