How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told

(Hardback)

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From Harrison Scott Key, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, How to Stay Married tells the hilarious, shocking, and spiritually profound story of one mans journey through hell and back when infidelity threatens his marriage.

One gorgeous autumn day, Harrison discovers that his wifethe sweet, funny, loving mother of their three daughters, a woman whos spent just about every Sunday of her life in a churchis having an affair with a family friend. This revelation propels the hysterical, heartbreaking action of How to Stay Married, casting our narrator onto the factory floor of hell, where his wife was now in love with a man who wears cargo shorts, on purpose. What will he do Kick her out Set fire to all her panties in the yard Beat this man to death with a gardening implement Ask God for help in winning her back

Armed with little but a sense of humor and a hunger for the truth, Harrison embarks on a hellish journey into his past, seeking answers to the riddles of faith and forgiveness. Through an absurd series of escalating confessions and betrayals, Harrison reckons with his failure to love his wife in the ways she needed most, resolves to fight for his family, and in a climax almost too ridiculous to be believed, finally learns that love is no joke. How to Stay Married is a comic romp unlike any in contemporary literature, a wild Pilgrims Progress through the hellscape of marriage and the mysteries of mercy.

Reviews

An exceptional memoir of a humorists attempts to deal with his wifes infidelity. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for Congratulations, Who Are You Again:

Key humorously and tenderly mines his own life to understand why on earth anyone would want to become a writer. Garden & Gun

Key is as wise as he is funny. Christian Century

Consistently funny . . . For all of his biting wit, Keys love of writing is what shines through. . . . Congratulations, Who Are You Againwill have readers looking for more from this talented author. Kirkus Reviews

A keenly observed account of the publishing process . . . Hilarious and illuminating. Booklist

Praise for The Worlds Largest Man:

Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor

An exceptional memoir. New York Journal of Books

Keys talent is all his own. . . . Consistently seasoned with laughs, this memoir is adroitly warm and deep when it is called for. An uncommonly entertaining story replete with consistent wit and lethal weaponry. Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

[Key has] a comic voice that puts him in the choir with other humorists you may have heard ofsuch as P.J. ORourke, Roy Blount Jr., Garrison Keillor, Lewis Grizzard, Dave Barry and others. Maybe even Mark Twain. The Worlds Largest Man is a triumph of a comic memoir. Mississippi Business Journal

Funny as well as tender. New York Times

Both laugh-out-loud funny and observant about the ways we become our parents while asserting ourselves, The Worlds Largest Man is a wise delight. BookPage

Smart, funny, and wildly engaging . . . Fans of memoir, personal essays, and humor writing will devour this in one sitting. Library Journal

Author Bio

Harrison Scott Key is the author ofThe Worlds Largest Man, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, andCongratulations, Who Are You, Again. Harrisons TEDx talk about the challenges and rewards of creative ambition (The Funny Thing About the American Dream) is featured on TED.com, and his humor and nonfiction have appeared inThe Best American Travel Writing,Oxford American,Outside,The New York Times,McSweeneys Internet Tendency,Bitter Southerner,Town & Country,The Mockingbird,Salon,Readers Digest,Image,Southern Living,Gulf Coast,Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere. He has spoken and performed on radio (Snap Judgement, WNYC Studios) and for hundreds of festivals, bookstores, conferences, variety shows, and universities. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.