Love Is a Four-Letter Word: True Stories of Breakups, Bad Relationships, and Broken Hearts

Fron Junot Diaz, Lynda Barry, Gary Shteyngart, and Kate Christensen to popular up-and-comers like Dan Kennedy, Wendy McClure, and Brock Clarke, Love Is a Four-Letter Word is a contemporary collection of true stories of seduction, heartbreak, and regret. Fearlessly revealing their shattered hearts and crushed egos; their indiscretions and indignities; their delusions, desperation, and disappointments, these talented writers capture the dark side of love in prose ranging from comic to poetic, poignant to cringe-inducing. Also featuring three cartoon/graphic essays as a sixteen-page color insert, this anthology is perfect for anyone who's ever loved and lost.

"Honest, witty, sad, and fierce, here is a breakthrough anthology that will break your heart." ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

"These dispatches from the deep dark depths of romantic doom will make you cringe, laugh, wince, sigh, laugh again, nod along in I've-been-there empathy, and recoil in thank-Jesus-I-never-went-there chagrin. Here's the end of love, or what sometimes passes for it, in all its many forms: wistful, bitter, confused, tender, regret strewn, and sometimes freakin' deranged." Jonathan Miles, author of Dear American Airlines

"The song says breaking up is hard to do, but the superb writers in Love Is a Four-Letter Word say heartbreak is just a little more complex. These hilarious, poignant, and insightful stories trace the oft-inescapable journey from love's bliss to its brutal undoing and somehow, miraculously, back again. Read these tales to be moved, surprised, healed, and, most of all, transported from the wreck of your own heart." Jennifer Gilmore, author of Golden Country

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone who has ever ventured into a relationship has a messy breakup story to tell, and this anthology throbs with tales of heartbreak and woe by the best and brightest of today's literary scene. In these deft, funny, and honest tales you're apt to recognize yourself on the giving end, on the receiving end and, God help you, on both ends." Mark Sarvas, author of Harry, Revised

"An alluringly voyeuristic collection of romantic cautionary tales, without the predictable 'happily ever after' endings — at least fifty new ways to leave your lover." Amy Fine Collins, author of The God of Driving

"If I were able to write about my ex-girlfriends with this level of wit, passion, and insight, I probably would have a lot fewer of them!" Kevin Smokler, author of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times

"Love is laid bare in these absolutely human stories, and in so many different ways that I understood more about myself than I could have ever entertained. Love Is a Four Letter Word is an exquisite glimpse into the heart, into romance, into love. These words hurt and shine as much as the tales' many landscapes, and I am left with a less-broken heart for having read them." Brad Land, author of Goat: A Memoir and Pilgrims Upon the Earth

A contemporary collection of true stories of seduction, heartbreak, and regret, "Love Is a Four-Letter Word" gathers essays that capture the dark side of love.

Contributors include Neal Pollack, Junot Díaz, Wendy McClure, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Dan Kennedy, Kate Christensen, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Maud Newton, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Margaret Sartor, Michael Taeckens, Lynda Barry, Emily Flake, Patty Van Norman, Gary Shteyngart, Michelle Green, Brock Clarke, Jami Attenberg, George Singleton, D. E. Rasso, Pasha Malla, Amanda Ster, Dave White, and Wendy Brenner.

"Pretty irresistible. Some of that has to do with the subject, of course: literature and heartbreak go together like Anna and Vronsky. And a lot of it has to do with the tone--the usual regret, shame, and pain are leavened here with a generous tablespoon of wry humor."

-Greg Cowles, New York Times "Paper Cuts"

"The humiliating and occasionally hilarious break-ups described in Love Is a Four-Letter Word...run the emotional gamut from neediness and infatuation to rage and disgust."

-Wall Street Journal

"Heartbreak, humor, humiliation, and self-discovery--it's all here in this collection. With crabs. And poignancy. And Wonder Woman."

-Shelf Awareness

"Love Is a Four-Letter Word offers flashes of insights from well-known writers about love gone wrong... The pieces sparkle with wit, pain and honesty."

-Bookpage

"A book full of hits . . . Breakups are hard to forget, and this collection- surprisingly restrained yet full of emotion-is equally memorable."

-Publishers Weekly

"Honest, sad, witty, and fierce, here is a breakup anthology that will break your heart."

-ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

"Funny, poignant."

-Real Simple

"These dispatches from the deep dark depths of romantic doom will make you cringe, laugh, wince, sigh, laugh again, nod along in I've-been-there empathy, and recoil in thank-Jesus-I-never-went-there chagrin. Here's the end of love, or what sometimes passes for it, in all its many forms: wistful, bitter, confused, tender, regret-strewn, and sometimes freakin' deranged."

-JONNY MILES, author of Dear American Airlines

"As hard to avert your eyes from as a traffic accident . . . This is not a pity party. No, in the essays carrying the biggest charge here, the authors anatomize their own complicity and duplicity."

-Elle

"The song says breaking up is hard to do, but the superb writers in The Book of Exes say heartbreak is just a little more complex . . . Hilarious, poignant, and insightful."

-JENNIFER GILMORE, author of Golden Country

"Rewarding and worth dipping into . . . Standouts include Junot Diaz's 'Homecoming, with Turtle,' Gary Shteyngart's 'Texas' and Maud Newton's 'Conversations You Have at Twenty.' Humorist Dan Kennedy, author of the acerbic 2008 memoir Rock On, crafts a hilarious piece about dating a divorced aerobics instructor a decade older than he."

-Kirkus Reviews

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone who has ever ventured into a relationship has a messy breakup story to tell, and this anthology throbs with tales of heartbreak and woe by the best and brightest of today's literary scene. In these deft, funny, and honest tales you're apt to recognize yourself on the giving end, on the receiving end and, God help you, on both ends."

-MARK SARVAS, author of Harry, Revised

"An alluringly voyeuristic collection of romantic cautionary tales, without the predictable happily- ever-after endings-at least 50 new ways to leave your lover."

-AMY FINE COLLINS, author of The God of Driving

"If I were able to write about my ex-girlfriends with this level of wit, passion, and insight, I probably would have a lot fewer of them!"

-KEVIN SMOKLER, author of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times

"Love is laid bare in these absolutely human stories, and in so many different ways that I understood more about myself than I could have ever entertained. The Book of Exes is an exquisite glimpse into the heart, into romance, into love. These words hurt and shine as much as their many landscapes, and I am left with a less broken heart for having read them."

-BRAD LAND, author of Goat: A Memoir and Pilgrims Upon the Earth