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    Separation Anxiety: A Novel
    Separation Anxiety: A Novel
    Separation Anxiety: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    Separation Anxiety: A Novel

    Written by Laura Zigman

    Narrated by Courtney Patterson

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    “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.

    Judy never intended to start wearing the dog. But when she stumbled across her son Teddy’s old baby sling during a halfhearted basement cleaning, something in her snapped. So: the dog went into the sling, Judy felt connected to another living being, and she’s repeated the process every day since.

    Life hasn’t gone according to Judy’s plan. Her career as a children’s book author offered a glimpse of success before taking an embarrassing nose dive. Teddy, now a teenager, treats her with some combination of mortification and indifference. Her best friend is dying. And her husband, Gary, has become a pot-addled professional “snackologist” who she can’t afford to divorce. On top of it all, she has a painfully ironic job writing articles for a self-help website—a poor fit for someone seemingly incapable of helping herself.

    Wickedly funny and surprisingly tender, Separation Anxiety offers a frank portrait of middle-aged limbo, examining the ebb and flow of life’s most important relationships. Tapping into the insecurities and anxieties that most of us keep under wraps, and with a voice that is at once gleefully irreverent and genuinely touching, Laura Zigman has crafted a new classic for anyone taking fumbling steps toward happiness.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 3, 2020
    ISBN9780062983992
    Author

    Laura Zigman

    Laura Zigman is the author of Separation Anxiety, Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, Her, and Piece of Work. She has been a contributor to the New York Times and the Washington Post, and was the recipient of a Yaddo residency. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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    Reviews for Separation Anxiety

    3.5/5

    151 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      It's described as "hilarious." Quirky maybe. I wanted to cry from sadness at the main character's pain more than laugh at the quirks.
    • 4/5
      This was a sweet story that deals with mental health and loss in a real and appropriate way. It was an easy read, and I would look at reading other work by this author.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the narration, it was a good companion for long and short drives. I liked reading about the various ways the characters deal with anxiety. Overall, it was an easy book to listen to. There was a little bit of suspense to make you look forward to the next chapter.
    • 4/5
      I loved the recurrence of the “bird on the head” references by the protagonist. She seemed pretty hooked on her neuroses, but I found her a bit too whiny. Some good plot twisting. I recommend this novel.
    • 2/5
      I didn't like it. It's a book from when you have too much time and you want a story down to earth, without twists. It's about this woman that is divorcing or maybe isn't divorcing her husband and that is wearing her dog like a baby. All the story she was "she looked at me like i have a bird on my head" or "she has a bird on her head", which is annoying to read (or hear in my case). The story develops linearly and the little twist from the school is ... little.
    • 4/5
      I thought that it was a funny and clever approach to dealing with anxiety.
    • 3/5
      Good book, super all over the place though.
    • 3/5
      Separation Anxiety, Laura Zigman, author; Courtney Patterson, narratorPicture a sling with which to carry a newborn baby. Now, put it on a middle-aged woman, and place a dog in it! That’s right, a dog. Judy wears her dog, Charlotte. It isn’t the only unusual choice she makes. In fact, her judgment is often flawed, as she is hampered by feelings of inadequacy and has difficulty dealing with life’s inevitable loss of loved ones. Although she is a published author of a children’s book, she is apparently a one-book wonder. Her current life is abysmal. He marriage is in decline, she and Gary are living apart, but in the same house, her son Teddy is going through puberty and is rejecting her, her best friend Glenn has a terminal illness and her finances are in a shambles. She cannot cope with all that is on her plate. The problems of humans intimidate her, but embracing the dog is a comfort to her.From the description of the book, I expected to laugh out loud, even as I occasionally might also even shed a tear. I did not experience such a range of emotions. I wasn’t given to mood swings from the narrative, although I did chuckle and had a few aha moments when Judy’s experiences jogged my own memory. She knew someone named Michael Wasserman when she was in school, and I grew up with someone named Michael Wasserman. She went to Temple Sholom Hebrew school, and coincidentally, my children went to Temple Sholom Hebrew school. As a Jew, I also identified with the description and behavior of the stereotypical Jewish mother.However, the story didn’t seem that realistic to me, even though the problems suffered by the characters were very real. The situations they were in felt contrived, rather than authentic. Although genuine problems of life were introduced, like addiction, drugs, dementia, homosexuality, divorce, infidelity, death and illness, they didn’t feel fully developed. They just seemed to plop into the story to check off their inclusion. The characters seemed like caricatures of real people and the human puppets seemed to represent that theme. Gary had panic attacks and anger management issues, Glenn was the wise one who in spite of what life gave her, was the optimist, Michael married his girlfriend’s brother, Judy felt sorry for herself, Teddy was insecure and worried that his parents would divorce, Noah had dementia, and there were an abundance of virtue signalers like the ones who reported Judy for animal abuse or confronted her in the supermarket. Even politics was briefly mentioned. The book is mainly about Judy and her choices which are occasionally humorous in a slapstick sort of way, and sad in a bittersweet kind of way. The book explores relationships, those between husband and wife, parent and child, friend and friend, and even the interactions between strangers, some who seem well meaning and some who seem vindictive. Although grief and loss motivate Judy to require the comfort that she only seems to find in the closeness of Charlotte, her eventual epiphany doesn’t seem authentic, nor do the philosophical conclusions propelling the characters toward their destiny. I think I wanted more from the book than it provided. However, the narrator did a really good job identifying each character and portraying their personalities. It is a quick read, and it will please many readers.
    • 2/5
      None of the characters were likable and I could not muster up sympathy or empathy for any of them.
    • 4/5
      The situations are highly improbable, but so relatable.
    • 4/5
      Good read but wish there had been more focus on the solution rather than the problem.
    • 4/5
      “Life eventually takes away everyone and everything we love and leaves us bereft. Is that its sad lesson? That’s the only explanation I have for why I now wear the dog; my version of magical thinking: little tiny cracks are forming inside me every day and only the dog is keeping me from coming apart completely.”Judy is narrator of this book. Judy is “middle aged, lost and confused.” She feels that since she turned fifty she is invisible to everyone. In order to get through a separation from her husband, her failing career as a writer, the upcoming loss of her son who will be going to college and the fact that her best friend is dying from cancer, she turns to the family dog to help deal with “overwhelming sadness and longing.” “The loneliest feeling of all: having people around you who you could see but couldn’t ever reach.”All dog lovers will agree with Judy’s belief that a dog is “a long term companion, a provider of love and affection, a protector against loneliness and sadness and grief.” The dog is all those things to Judy. He provides her with comfort from the pain she is feeling as her life is falling apart. Perhaps she is going through some sort of midlife crisis? She begins to wear the dog in a sling around her neck everywhere she goes. That may seem a little crazy, but don’t we all turn to our dogs for comfort? I loved this witty novel and the quirky narrator and the adorable sheltie that got Judy through the tough parts of her life.
    • 3/5
      A woman, feeling a bit insecure, starts carrying her dog in a baby sling. And it gets pretty extreme. The poor dog – a pet store dog seems more a prop, a security blanket, rather than a being. And hubby is afraid of puppets. These people are pretty damaged. But I just couldn't like them. Despite their foibles, they just didn't seem like very nice people. The quest felt more like an escape. I finished this book, but was glad when it was over and I could move onto something interesting.
    • 4/5
      Oh boy, am I seem so normal when compared to Judy Vogel the narrator in this story. Her husband was an aspiring musician way back when he opened for Aerospace. She had a children’s book leap into the best seller lists and then made into an animated movie. But now, she’s just barely coping with life. Her son is now in a 7th grade Montessori school, she’s writing spiffy little positive pieces for an online wellness website. She’s taken to carrying their family dog in a baby sling wherever she goes. She and her husband are separated, but can’t afford separate living arrangements, so he sleeps and smokes his medicinal marijuana in the snoring room in the basement. She’s forced into hosting the people puppets stay performing at her son’s school and she can’t figure out where she belongs. Eventually she discovers an extended family that includes the people puppets and even her middle school crush and she’s happy. May it continue to be a happy life for her.
    • 4/5
      At first, I was a little confused about why she wore her shelty dog in a sling. Judy was 50 years old and had a teenager who was extremely non-communicative, a wonderful career of children's book author who hit writer' blog with a bang and her marriage was over. Judy and Gary were only living together in the same house because he could not afford to move out.Now I get it. Judy was overwhelmed with anxiety, grief both in the recent past and known future and it was too much to bear. especially aloneI remember when my parent's marriage had fallen apart and my mother was taking care of myseverely autistic brother and substituting for primary school part time. I had withdrawn, and did not feel accepted at school but did not want to ask my overburdened mother for help. What did we do? In the evening. when we gathered to watch TV together, we each had a warm, soft blanket around us. That really helped in more than one way in the winter but it seemed strange to outsiders in the summer. We too had been overwhelmed and needed the warmth and the feeling of weight against out bodies.I really connected with this book on many levels and want to read more from her.I received an Advanced copy of this book from the Publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review
    • 4/5
      This humorous novel is about getting old and life changing - something that happens to all of us but some people accept it better than others. As with many people, the main character feels that she is invisible to the rest of the world but she comes up with a strange way to handle her feelings. I empathized with her because I've had a lot of the same feelings so it was great to read a funny book about life changing as you get older.Judy is 50 years old. She has a surly teenage son who no longer talks to her and a pot-smoking husband plus her best friend is dying of cancer. Judy is an author who had a very successful children's book but is now in permanent writer's block. She and her husband are always in debt and have trouble with bills - like their son's tuition. They are separated and sleep in different rooms but they can't afford to get a divorce. One day as Judy is cleaning out the basement, she finds the baby sling that someone gave her at her baby shower and she realizes that she's never used it. So she puts it on and tucks her dog into the sling. All of a sudden life begins to feel better and she has the dog with her to help alleviate her anxiety over life. Carrying around the dog in a sling upsets her son and husband but it makes her feel wonderful so she continues to do it. The big question throughout the book is whether Judy will be able to find happiness in her life as she is faced with all of the struggles and set backs that seem to multiple as you get older. And if she does find happiness, will she be able to get rid of the sling or will it keep her set in her old ways and attitudes.It's hard to grow old and become invisible to the rest of the world but even if you are invisible, you can still find happiness. This is a funny but emotional look at finding peace and contentment as you grow older.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.