Today I’m sharing my review of How to be Married by Jo Piazza.
Synopsis
Everyone tells you marriage is hard, but no one tells you what to do about it.
At age thirty-four, Jo Piazza got her romantic-comedy ending when she met the man of her dreams on a boat in the Galápagos Islands and was engaged three months later. But before long, Jo found herself riddled with questions. How do you make a marriage work in a world where you no longer need to be married? How does an independent, strong-willed feminist become someone’s partner—all the time?
In the tradition of writers such as Nora Ephron and Elizabeth Gilbert, award-winning journalist and nationally bestselling author Jo Piazza writes a provocative memoir of a real first year of marriage that will forever change the way we look at matrimony.
A travel editor constantly on the move, Jo journeys to twenty countries on five continents to figure out what modern marriage means. Throughout this stunning, funny, warm, and wise personal narrative, she gleans wisdom from matrilineal tribeswomen, French ladies who lunch, Orthodox Jewish moms, Swedish stay-at-home dads, polygamous warriors, and Dutch prostitutes.
Written with refreshing candor, elegant prose, astute reporting, and hilarious insight into the human psyche, How to Be Married offers an honest portrait of an utterly charming couple. When life throws more at them than they ever expected—a terrifying health diagnosis, sick parents to care for, unemployment—they ultimately create a fresh understanding of what it means to be equal partners during the good and bad times. Through their journey, they reveal a framework that will help the rest of us keep our marriages strong, from engagement into the newlywed years and beyond.
Why I Decided to Read this Book
I randomly saw this book on Instagram on Jo Piazza’s page (I love her!) and the cover drew me in as well. I am so glad I picked it up!
Rating
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My Thoughts
This book reads like Fiction! I loved it so much and can’t recommend it enough. So what is so special about this book you may ask? You’re probably thinking you don’t need to read a book to tell you how to be married. Well, let me tell you this is not a guide of how to be married but more of how people in different countries approach marriage and what the author learned travelling the world and as a newly married woman. I think of this book as a memoir and not a self help book. The only thing I would change about the book is the title because I think more people would read it.
While reading this book I was taking notes of places to travel to. Piazza didn’t only talk about what she learned while traveling but she also talked about where she went and what she did there. So many of these places are on my list of places I want to go to so I felt like I also got travel recommendations. It definitely gave me the travel bug and I can’t wait to travel places soon!
There are many things that I took away from this book and so many things that resonated with me. Also there were things people do or advice that she got that I questioned and definitely got me thinking. At the end of the day she’s not telling the reader how to be married or even saying she is the best person to provide advice. What I got from it was a raw and honest story with some perspectives of marriage from different point of views.
Who I Recommend this Book to
I recommend this book to anyone. You don’t have to be married to enjoy it, it is more of a memoir than anything. I think this book would make a great gift for someone getting married.
Get the Book!
Did this review of Too Good to be True convince you to read it? Check out the links below to order it from Bookshop.org and libro.fm. Please consider ordering it from a Black owned independent bookstore. This list of Black owned independent bookstores accepts online ordering.
If you’ve read this book let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Can’t wait to read this one!