We Are Too Many
A Memoir [Kind of]
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4.5 • 8 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Hannah Pittard’s memoir is so exquisitely crafted — I loved it.”
—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful
“I loved this book, which I read in two breathless sittings. An intimate, bold, exquisite exploration of marriage, friendship, rivalry, betrayal.”
—Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Turnout and Beware the Woman
We Are Too Many is an unexpectedly funny, unflinchingly honest, and genre-bending memoir about a marriage-ending affair between award-winning author Hannah Pittard's husband and her captivating best friend.
In this wryly humorous and innovative look at a marriage gone wrong, Hannah Pittard recalls a decade’s worth of unforgettable conversations, beginning with the one in which she discovers her husband has been having sex with her charismatic best friend, Trish. These time-jumping exchanges are fast-paced, intimate, and often jaw-dropping in their willingness to reveal the vulnerabilities inherent in any friendship or marriage. Blending fact and fiction, sometimes re-creating exchanges with extreme accuracy and sometimes diving headlong into pure speculation, Pittard takes stock not only of her own past and future but also of the larger, more universal experiences they connect with—from the depths of female rage to the heartbreaking ways we inevitably outgrow certain people.
Clever and bold and radically honest to an unthinkable degree, We Are Too Many examines the ugly, unfiltered parts of the female experience, as well as the many (happier) possibilities in starting any life over after a major personal catastrophe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist Pittard (Visible Empire) recounts the marriage-ending affair between her husband and best friend in this bold and inventive memoir. In snippets of conversations—some real, some imagined—presented like scenes from a playscript, Pittard peels back layers of betrayal and deception to chronicle what comes to look like an inevitable end. As Pittard and her husband, Patrick, trade barbs over domestic matters, deep fissures over finances and professional success are revealed. Readers easily come to see why this was "a marriage that was destined to fail," but Pittard wisely doesn't dwell on the usual litany of faults of a bad ex. In the final section, where Pittard writes plaintively about her friend Trish, the full scale of her loss is felt, and it's here that she finds true pathos. She shows how she was captivated by Trish, a woman who radiated cool confidence and who seduced her with flattery but also exploited the insecurities that Pittard confided in her: "She was my balm and my diversion, even as her treatment of me as a possible competitor fueled my physical insecurities." Pittard's frankness stings, and the stripped-down format makes this all the more potent. It's a powerhouse.
