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Separation Anxiety: A Novel
by Laura Zigman

Published: 2020-03-03
Hardcover : 288 pages
3 members reading this now
2 clubs reading this now
1 member has read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members

“Separation Anxiety is a hilarious, heart-breaking and thought-provoking portrait of a difficult marriage, as fierce as it is funny.... My advice: Start reading and don’t stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel."  —Alice Hoffman 

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Introduction

Separation Anxiety is a hilarious, heart-breaking and thought-provoking portrait of a difficult marriage, as fierce as it is funny.... My advice: Start reading and don’t stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel."  —Alice Hoffman 

From bestselling author Laura Zigman, a hilarious novel about a wife and mother whose life is unraveling and the well-intentioned but increasingly disastrous steps she takes to course-correct her relationships, her career, and her belief in herself

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

The Sling
I start wearing the family dog, a mini-sheltie, a little Lassie, in an unbleached cotton baby sling across the front of my body like a messenger bag, a few weeks shy of fall. Until I slip the sling over my head and feel a strange surge of relief run through me, a liquid narcotic from an unknown source, there’s nothing special about the day. It’s no one’s birthday, it’s not the anniversary of someone’s death or a reminder of an ancient career milestone, long gone and unsurpassed. Nothing in particular is reminding me more than usual of life’s quick passage of random moments, some good, some not so good, some very very bad, disappearing like train cars into the vanishing point of a distant horizon. It’s just an opaque Thursday in late August, a month before New England is ready to give up the thick haze of summer, a day I randomly pick to try to radically de-clutter the basement using a book everyone is swearing by. The ruthless purging of possessions to the point of self-erasure is what I’m after. I already feel invisible; why not go all the way? ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

What did you think of Judy’s decision to invite the Puppet People to stay with her?

The term SEPARATION ANXIETY has many applications and meanings, what does it mean to you? Has that changed now that you’ve read the book?

Laura Zigman writes what she calls “semi-autobiographical fiction.” What parts of this book feel real to you? Have you had any similar experiences?

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

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Book Club Recommendations

Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
  "It was an okay read, but I expected it to be funnier."by Gail R. (see profile) 12/03/20

Separation Anxiety, Laura Zigman, author; Courtney Patterson, narrator
Picture a sling with which to carry a newborn baby. Now, put it on a middle-aged woman, and place a dog in it! That’
... (read more)

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