Customer Reviews

We Used To Be Wives: Divorce Unveiled Through Poetry

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a contributor to this book, I must, from the get-go, admit to bias. However, as a poet and frequent contributor to anthologies and literary journals, I'm also a pretty tough critic. When I received my copies of We Used to be Wives, I almost expected the kind of work often found in some anthologies (work that would possibly not make it into literary journals and magazines, or at least not high quality publications.) I was very pleasantly surprised to find the poetry therein to be of the highest quality work from extremely talented and accomplished poets. I've truly enjoyed each of these poems about the times before, during, and after the trauma of divorce. There's no whining here, but a great deal of honesty and insight about divorce and the losses incurred therein in these very accessible heartwarming poems. I recommend this great collection to anyone who has gone, is going through, or is considering divorce. I also recommend it to any unmarried woman dealing with the end of a relationship. Loss is loss, regardless of one's marital status. Perhaps not surprisingly, one finds a good deal of humor here, and is dazzled with the level of maturity evident in these poems. Read We Used To Be Wives. You'll love it.

This book is a far cry from the "male bashing" that one might expect. I found many of the poems poignant and uplifting. Divorce, like life, is not all black and white/good and evil. This book does a good job of demonstrating the many complex layers of divorce. What I liked best about this book is that each poem gives insight not only to divorce, but also gives a snapshot history of each marriage which allows the reader to care about the authors. I have bought several copies of WE USED TO BE WIVES as gifts for friends going through the divorce process and would recommend it to all going down this path on the way towards a new life.

As a family lawyer, for many years I listened to women who were getting a divorce.I wish I could have given a copy of this book to each of them. I think it would have brought them comfort and assured them that they were not truly as alone as they sometimes felt.I know that's what it will do for readers who are going through a divorce today.

Even though as a happily married man, I'm not exactly the target audience, I loved "We Used To Be Wives." It is a beautifully crafted book from cover to cover that is touching, disturbing, and uplifting all at the same time. Although some of the poems have a harsh, ugly edge to them, they end on a note of hope or beauty and even humor. And that's what I loved about the book. By helping heal the wounds of divorce, "We Used To Be Wives" grows hope out of ugliness and despair.

In her anthology, "We Used to Be Wives-- Divorce Unveiled Through Poetry" Jane Butkin Roth explores the emotional terrain of divorce.In their writing, over seventy women poets map this territory of pain, rage, doubt and profound growth.All have undergone divorce, all have forged their pain into poems of sensitivity, beauty and humor.
The collection is unique in several ways. First of all,there is the perceptive introduction by Roth in which she traces her own process, and how the therapeautic process of writing gave voice to her own pain and confusion during her own divorce. She also discusses the wider significance of divorce in the modern world and its implication for women.
Secondly, the poems themselves. They ring with truth and the integrity of experience, woven into word-images of an old world lost and new worlds found.A must for the divorcing and divorced,their children,for helping professionals, and for lovers of high-quality poetry.

I'm hardly an unbiased observer, as the author is my younger sister. But Jane Butkin Roth has created a wonderful compilation of poems by women who have gone through the experience of divorce. As one might expect, the voices are diverse--some painful, some humorous, some terribly sad, others with a note of relief--yet all convey an intensity and an honesty not often found. I think this is probably the best single book out there for women who may be contemplating or going through a divorce.

Apart from its content, this is a handsome volume, well designed and put together. Keep it on your bedside table to remind yourself that you're not alone; give a copy to a friend whose marriage is in trouble; or use it in a women's support group. (I guarantee it will provide material for discussion.) Most of the poems don't complain, but they don't exult either (though naturally there is a little vengefulness). They are simply poems, thoughtful explorations of experience and what can be salvaged from it.

WE USED TO BE WIVES, edited by Jane Butkin Roth, tells it all. Things happen, and that's a story in itself; how over seventy wives who have lived this wrenching experience view it through poetry tells seventy stories with the same happy beginnings, disappointing middles but each with a different twist on the endings. The power of the collection is the assurance that these women are not handicapped because they used to be wives;
in fact, their souls speak volumes to the process of their healing.

I was so touched by "We Used To Be Wives." It should be required reading for every divorcing woman. There was alot of healing happening on those pages and in the hearts of the readers, too. I feel recharged, invigorated and free at last. Also, there wasn't a trite or mundane poem in the bunch. GOOD GOING!

Many Thanks for a healing and fun "read", Susan

We Used to Be Wives, edited by Jane Roth, is a vivid and startling collection of poetry that picks up the jagged pieces of divorce and offers a sparkling mosaic of candor, grief, insight, and healing. Featuring some of the most important female voices in the world of poetry today, including Marge Piercy, Jane Roth, StellaSue Lee, Andrena Zawinski, and others, this book adds a whole new dimension to the word "liberation." From the ashes of tragedy rises a Phoenix that belongs on the bookshelf of every woman in America and beyond.

What touched me the most was the fact that there were no pity parties for one, no cases of craft gobbled by the demon of lost consciousness. The sorrows are as sharp as the rays of light which follow them. If you've ever loved and lost, this book belongs to you.