his memoir, Lyz Lenz proudly claims her status as an ex-wife. She starts with the tipping point, when she finally realized her marriage was over. On the surface, it seemed like a normal mess at home, an annoyance and an inconvenience. But it was emblematic of the thousands of small tasks and messes that fell to her, and of the way she was taken for granted and lost her identity within the marriage and family.

But this is less about the end of her marriage than about the start of her life as a single woman. Lenz describes the freedom she feels in her home, as a parent, and as a woman. Between her personal reflections, she examines marriage as an institution, as well as divorce. While not encouraging divorce for women in healthy marriages, she instead reframes it as a viable and positive step for the women who need it to feel ownership over their own lives. Not for everyone, but well worth the read for many women.