No Happy Endings

A Memoir

By: Nora McInerny

Narrated by: Nora McInerny

The author of It’s Okay to Laugh and host of the popular podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking - interviews that are “[A] gift to be able to listen [to]” (New York Times) - returns with more hilarious meditations on her messy, wonderful, bittersweet, and unconventional life.

Life has a million different ways to kick you right in the chops. We lose love, lose jobs, lose our sense of self. For Nora McInerny, it was losing her husband, her father, and her unborn second child in one catastrophic year.

But in the wake of loss, we get to assemble something new from whatever is left behind. Some circles call finding happiness after loss “Chapter Two” - the continuation of something else. Today, Nora is remarried and mothers four children aged 16 months to 16 years. While her new circumstances bring her extraordinary joy, they are also tinged with sadness over the loved ones she’s lost.

Life has made Nora a reluctant expert in hard conversations. On her wildly popular podcast, she talks about painful experiences we inevitably face and exposes the absurdity of the question “How are you?” that people often ask when we’re coping with the aftermath of emotional catastrophe. She knows intimately that when your life falls apart, there’s a mad rush to be okay - to find a silver lining, to get to the happy ending. In this, her second memoir, Nora offers a tragicomic exploration of the tension between finding happiness and holding space for the unhappy experiences that have shaped us.

No Happy Endings is an audiobook for people living life after life has fallen apart. It’s an audiobook for people who know they’re moving forward, not moving on. It’s an audiobook for people who know life isn’t always happy, but it isn’t the end: There will be unimaginable joy and incomprehensible tragedy. As Nora reminds us, there will be no happy endings - but there will be new beginnings.

©2019 Nora McInerny (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

sweet and uplifting

I've been a fan of Nora's podcast for the last year, and this books is a bitter sweet taste of her creation. I wasn't expecting to feel empower and it is actually quite feminist.

Simple unmissable

Dear Nora,

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.

Biggest of hugs,

Camila.

Amazing and soul touching

Thank you for sharing your talent and honesty. This book spoke to me softly and with self relief.

Just listen to it—you won’t regret it!

Nora has a way of telling stories. She makes you laugh, cry, and think all within a span of—however long this book is. She keeps you company while she does it. Just listen to it. You won’t regret it.

Just okay

Two words - Brene Brown. It was Nora's story, but it read like a Brene Brown talk. Nothing "wrong" with it; just not my cup of tea. Even the light moments came across heavy.

Amazing!

You are such a great writer and orator! Thanks for writing this! ❤️ I enjoyed it immensely and hope many many more decide to read it!

Definitely Recommend

As a longtime fan of the TTFA podcast, I already knew parts of Nora's story. Listening to this audio book makes me adore her even more. It's impossible to predict how you'll react when tragedy strikes (and it will) but I sure hope to have the same amount of grace, strength and humor that she possesses.

Loved!

Nora never disappoints! Loved this so much! I can’t wait to read Bad Moms next!

Death (and life), big time

If you haven't done death big time in your life, then you may not understand this book--you're possibly going to think the author is a whiner or worse. In fact, she's got a lot of useful and loving information to impart, and she does it in an entertaining way. If you've ever grieved the loss of a partner or spouse, you will find this book worth reading--even if that partner has been dead for years.

I love Nora

A glimpse into lovely complications of beautiful blended family’s and broken but still pumping loving hearts. Well done Nora.