Customer Reviews

A Perfect Divorce

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Avery Corman, the author of "Kramer vs. Kramer," has done it again. In "A Perfect Divorce," he has created a recognizable modern family, Karen and Rob Burrows and their son Tommy. Karen and Rob, who are based in New York City, both have fulfilling and satisfying careers, but their jobs leave them little time for one another. When their marriage finally breaks down completely, Karen and Rob have a civilized and amicable divorce, and they pray that their son will not suffer because of their failure to stay together.

What makes "A Perfect Divorce" stand out is Corman's determination not to resort to theatrics and melodrama. Rob is a respected and stable businessman who owns a company called MayPole that manufactures and sells playground equipment. Rob's only vice is that he travels a great deal and spends too much time making contact with clients all over the country. He is community-minded and even donates playground equipment to underprivileged kids. Karen cultivates American craftspeople and she sells their unique wares in her beautiful store. Tommy is a good and reliable kid, who is talented artistically but only average academically. These are all fine and decent people who, mostly for logistical reasons, no longer function together as a unit.

Corman encapsulates the dilemma of the modern, well-to-do family--too much time spent on careers, too little time devoted to family. In flashback, Corman shows how Rob and Karen got together and how much they loved one another, and this makes their divorce all the more distressing.

Much of the book focuses on Tommy, who does suffer greatly when his mother and father split up. He is shuttled from one parent to the other until he can't take it anymore. Karen and Rob pressure him to raise his SAT scores so that he will get into a good school. Finally, much to his parents' horror, he decides to go his own way, ignoring Karen's and Rob's plans for his future. While Tommy struggles to find himself, Karen and Rob seek new relationships, hoping that they can do better the second time around.

The writing in "A Perfect Divorce" is wonderful. All the characters are beautifully developed, the dialogue is funny, touching, and natural, and the plot is lively and nicely paced. Corman shows how well-meaning people can mess up their lives without realizing how much damage they are causing. It may take a village to raise a child, but it doesn't hurt to have two loving parents, with common goals and a deep commitment to one another. With their determination to "have it all," no matter what the price, many modern couples have created obstacles for themselves that may be difficult or even impossible to overcome.

If you've read any of Avery Corman's books, you know of his strong ability to make you feel that you are right there with his characters feeling their every emotion. Well, Corman once again demonstrates this special skill in A Perfect Divorce, in which he masterfully tells a story of well-intentioned parents of a teenage son attempt to lessen the impact of their failed two-career marriage with an intelligent, successful divorce. It is a very special tale of life, love, child-rearing and divorce. At times it will make you smile with joy, feel like crying (if not actually cry) out of happiness and sadness, and, at times, break your heart due to the disappointment the divorced parents experience as well as the pain felt by the divorced child. Corman is an excellent writer and one you should not miss. All of his books are well worth reading -- the best of which are Kramer Vs. Kramer, The Old Neighborhood, 50, and Prized Possessions. Do yourself a real favor and get a copy of A Perfect Divorce. I'm confident you'll be very glad you did.

At last! A book that holds my interest! Recently I have picked up and put down again several books that were not well enough written to hold my interest. This book has enough action and good character development to keep me reading. I have not read his other books nor seen the movie "Kramer vs Kramer" adapted from his other novel on divorce. I plan to read more by this author.

This book made me feel sad for children with the kind of parents in this book. The parents were very worried about and disappointed in their child. If the child was mine, I would be really proud of him. He tried hard, he had 2 true friends, he was good with children, he was polite and respectful to his parents, he had good sense when it came to drugs/alcohol/sex, he had the courage of his convictions, he was nice to the step-siblings. The list could go on. Why he seemed a failure to them is beyond me. Rich NYC kids sound like they have way too much pressure on them, and I feel bad for them.

The son is unlikeable and boring. The parents are unsympathetic and ordinary upper-middle-class pseudo-sophisticated New Yorkers. The divorce upsets the son, and they probably shouldn't even have gotten divorced in the first place. Okay, now what? Who cares about the people in this book?
I've handled some serious custody cases, and some that were not as intense, just like the one in this book. Of course everyone's adversely affected. That's stating a non-sequitur. The effect of divorce and custody on kids is a story that definitely needs to be told. But someone needs to do a better job than this. As for the hyper-sentimental ending? We should all be so lucky and have our underachiever kids get "discovered" by a famous artist while they're living in the boonies. Seriously.

This novel can truly be considered to be the sequel to Kramer vs Kramer.

Why? because whereas that novel (by the same author)was the definitive story of divorce in the 70's, this one is the definitive story of divorce in the 21st century. Mr Corman is an excellent writer who conveys the complex emotions of a fractured nuclear family with thoughtful yet simple prose.

What I loved about this novel was that all of the characters- the divorced parents- their college aged son- their subsequent spouses and lovers- were three dimensional. There are no villains in this work ( the characters are more balanced than even kramer vs kramer), only real people dealing with real situations as best they can.

Since the movie rights have been sold, a note to Hollywood- This would be an excellent vehicle for a reteaming of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan...

The title of this book is a perfect oxymoron. Despite this, Karen and Rob Burrows do their best to create a good atmosphere for their son Tommy, even after their divorce. They start off with shared custody until they see that shuffling Tommy back and forth is causing a strain on him and they revert to having him live with his mother most of the time, with frequent visitation from his father. They work together to help Tommy through the aftermath of the divorce and then again collaborate to counsel their average-student son into the college application process. They keep their cool, do everything right, and are sure that Tommy is doing fine. When he goes off to college and encounters problems, they are in denial and don't want to think that their divorce has anything to do with it. Author Corman writes convincingly and sensitively about an all-too-relevant subject for today's world. A pertinent question seems to be, if these well-educated and well-grounded parents do everything right for their child and he still has problems, what is happening to families where the parents are not as well-equipped to handle trauma? My only objection to the book is a too neatly tied-up ending, but getting there was well worth the read.

After having heard Avery Corman interviewed about the book on a radio program, I couldn't wait to get my hands on his newest book. It was wonderful, ending with my crying tears of joy. The author did a great job in describing the process of college applications and the tension and stress it brings to parents and children, Having endured this process three times with my daughters, I recognized the familiar feelings. The divorce and the effect it had on young Tommy was written beautifully and with sensitivity. The journey from high school to college, to dropout, to success, kept me turning the pages until the end, when I needed kleenex to be able to see the print. A fine job from a gifted writer. You will not be disappointed in this book.

It was difficult to top something as well done as "Kramer vs. Kramer", but Corman has done it. You've met New York parents like Karen and Rob who do their best to work out a "perfect" arrangement in the aftermath of their divorce. His writing on the effects of the divorce on Tommy stir strong emotions...his descriptions of the upper-class Manhattan lifestyles provide comic relief.