It Ended Badly
By (Author) Jennifer Wright
Henry Holt & Company Inc
Henry Holt & Company Inc
3rd November 2015
United States
General
Fiction
302.0207
Hardback
256
Width 145mm, Height 215mm, Spine 23mm
368g
If you are lying in bed right now, a pint of ice cream in one hand, a bottle of scotch in the other, and this book clenched between your teeth (one tooth is missing from last night's bar fight), with tears streaming down your face over how much you loved, loved, loved your ex, let me commend you on how well you are coping. You could be doing so much worse. So much worse. You could be beheading your ex, or castrating strangers, or starting an exciting new life with a sex doll. YOU ARE A HERO. In It Ended Badly, New York Observer columnist Jennifer Wright guides you through thirteen of the worst breakups of notable figures in history-from Emperor Nero (sadist, murderer several times over), to Viennese artist Oskar Kokoschka (he of the aforementioned sex doll), to Norman Mailer (public stabbing). With her conversational tone and considerable wit, Wright digs deep into the archives to bring these terrible breakups to life. It's fun, pop history that educates, entertains, and really puts your own bad breakup behavior into perspective. It Ended Badly is for anyone who's loved and lost and maybe sent one too many ill-considered, late-night emails to their ex-reminding us that no matter how badly we've behaved, no one is as bad as Henry VIII.
Wright combines a deep knowledge of her subjects with an abiding love for their depravity; she chronicles their breakups with a wit as sharp as a guillotine's blade.--People
The tone--intimate, whimsical, smart, and silly at once--continues through two millennia of stories of love lost and found... Wright dishes dirt on all of them...with the gleeful irreverence of your wittiest friend recapping a particularly juicy episode of reality television.--The Boston Globe
Immensely entertaining... If you've gone through a breakup, stock up on Haagen-Daz, block your ex's number, get drunk with your friends and buy this book.--BUST Magazine
This is balm for the brokenhearted: we are laughing! We are learning!...Above all, It Ended Badly offers hope: for the late-night drunk texters, the doughnut smashers, and everyone else currently exhibiting bad breakup behavior.--Kirkus
Although the 13 stories feature heartbreaking and horrific tales, Wright leaves the reader with positive and hopeful thoughts on love... The writing fits right in with the work of comedian authors Tina Fey and Chelsea Handler.--Library Journal (starred review)
"Delightful... funny, irreverent... The book teaches even as it entertains, and applies modern psychology to the behavior of its subjects, providing both amusements and consolation to people likely in need of both." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"When it comes to love and desire, conquest is thrilling, revenge is delicious, but does anything really satisfy like schadenfreude Here, have a heaping plate of it, courtesy of the wittiest writer on the beat." --Ben Ryder Howe, author of My Korean Deli
"I took It Ended Badly and a bottle of wine to the couch, and I didn't get up until both were finished." --Alexis Coe, author of Alice+Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis
"From Nero's narcissism to Oscar Wilde's heartbreak to Debbie Reynolds drama with Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Wright provides an illuminating chronicle of love, heartbreak and everything in-between. It's a must-read for anyone who loves history or a good story, especially when accompanied with a pint of ice cream and romantic angst. And unlike the tumultuous relationships she covers in these pages, you'll be sad when It Ended Badly is over." --Mary Pilon, author of The New York Times bestselling The Monopolists
"Heartbroken Jennifer Wright has the antidote. A compassionate, dishy, and very funny tour of the unbelievable but true antics of the world's most legendary exes, It Ended Badly is the perfect break up cure. You will cry until you laugh." --Iris Smyles, author of Iris Has Free Time
"This fantastic book will make you feel so much better about your break ups!" --Danny Strong, creator, writer, and director of TV's Empire
Jennifer Wright is a columnist for the New York Observer and the New York Post, covering sex and dating. She was one of the founding editors of TheGloss.com, and her writing regularly appears in such publications as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Maxim. Her breakup cure is gin, reruns of 30 Rock, and historical biographies. She lives and loves in New York City.