Judging a book by its title…and maybe its cover…

I ran across this gem while surfing the library’s ebook catalog and, based on the title and the fact that the subject headings included knitting, I HAD to check it out. It was more than curiosity, it was as if Crazy Aunt Purl whispered to me from the digital pages of this book and compelled me to check it out and read it. Hmm…I guess that makes Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat the knitter’s Necronomicon? ::shudder::  But as it turns out the memoir isn’t as much about knitting as it is survival and reconstruction.

Laurie did not have a great marriage, but it represented security and safety. When her husband decided to leave so that he could reclaim his creativity, Laurie was left floundering – emotionally lost and extremely vulnerable and the owner of four cats (most of her divorce settlement). She wasn’t even sure who she was anymore now that she wasn’t “wife.” Painstakingly Laurie took step outside of her comfort zone with a knitting group, and it was knitting that kept her sane as struggled to rebuild her life.

From the title and publisher’s summary of this book I really expected it to be a non-stop hysterical memoir. Instead it’s introspective, funny, often a bit melancholy, but, ultimately, triumphant. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s ever been dumped, or is in the process of getting over a dumping, or any fan of The Bloggess’ Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.

Perry, Laurie Beasley. Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit after He Split. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Incorporated, 2007.

Publisher’s Summary: If you've ever been dumped, duped, or three minutes from crazy, you'll love Crazy Aunt Purl. Side-splittingly funny and profoundly moving, Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair is the true-life misadventures of Laurie Perry, aka Crazy Aunt Purl, a slightly neurotic, displaced Southerner trying to create a new life after her husband leaves her to 'get his creativity back.' (Whatever that means.) But will she get her groove back in a tiny rented apartment, with a mountain of boxes, visible panty lines, and a slight wine-and-Cheetos problem?