Heartburn (novel)

Last updated
Heartburn
Author Nora Ephron
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Literary fiction
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date
March 12, 1983
Pages179
ISBN 978-0679767954

Heartburn is an autobiographical novel based on Nora Ephron's marriage to and divorce from Carl Bernstein, her second husband. [1] Originally published in 1983, the novel draws inspiration from events arising from Bernstein's affair with Margaret Jay, the daughter of former British prime minister James Callaghan. Ephron also wrote the screenplay for the 1986 film adaptation.

Contents

The novel is a vivid depiction of the breakdown of a marriage. Its strong autobiographical content provides insight into one of the "power couples" of the late 1970s. It is Nora Ephron's first published novel but in it she mentions subjects that she would go on to feature in future work such as When Harry Met Sally... and Julie & Julia .

Plot

The narrator of the novel is Rachel Samstat (based on Nora Ephron), a food writer who is married to Mark Feldman (based on Carl Bernstein), a political journalist. Rachel is a Jewish New Yorker who has moved to Washington, D.C., to support her husband's career. They have one son, Sam, and Rachel is pregnant with their second child as the book begins. The book wittily describes the life of an upper middle class intellectual couple replete with neuroses—Rachel is in group therapy, Mark agonizes over the mystifying disappearance of his socks. Threaded through the whole are recipes [2] and anecdotes which drive the story along and humanize Samstat.

Rachel's self-esteem takes a huge battering as Mark has an affair with Thelma Rice (based on Margaret Jay) and she takes her revenge by telling the Washington grapevine that Thelma has a venereal disease.

Rachel's diamond ring, given to her by Mark after the birth of their first son and stolen from her while at group therapy, is pivotal to the plot. Remarkably she gets it back when the police catch the robber. The stone is loose in its setting and she takes it back to the family jeweler for repair. Here she discovers that while she had been in the hospital giving birth, Mark had bought an expensive necklace for his lover Thelma. She sells the ring and the money enables her to go back to New York and start afresh.

Reception

In a New Yorker piece on novels that include recipes, Adam Gopnik writes, "in Heartburn, the recipes serve both as a joke about what a food writer writing a novel would write and as a joke on novel-writing itself by someone who anticipates that she will not be treated as a 'real' novelist." [3]

Related Research Articles

Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians.

<i>When Harry Met Sally...</i> 1989 film by Rob Reiner

When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they meet in Chicago just before sharing a cross-country drive, through twelve years of chance encounters in New York City. The film addresses but fails to resolve questions along the lines of "Can men and women ever just be friends?"

<i>Sleepless in Seattle</i> 1993 Nora Ephron film

Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Nora Ephron, from a screenplay she wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who, despite being newly engaged, becomes enamored with a recently widowed architect (Hanks), when the latter's son calls in to a talk radio program requesting a new partner for his grieving father. In addition to Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, and Rob Reiner, the film features an ensemble supporting cast also consisting of Rosie O'Donnell, Gaby Hoffman, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, Barbara Garrick, and Carey Lowell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nora Ephron</span> American writer and filmmaker (1941–2012)

Nora Ephron was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Silkwood (1983), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). She won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally..., which the Writers Guild of America ranked as the 40th greatest screenplay of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Bernstein</span> American journalist (born 1944)

Carl Milton Bernstein is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for The Washington Post in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. The work of Woodward and Bernstein was called "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time" by longtime journalism figure Gene Roberts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington</span> British baroness (born 1939)

Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington,, is a British politician for the Labour Party and former BBC television producer and presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paracosm</span> Detailed imaginary world

A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world thought generally to originate in childhood. The creator of a paracosm has a complex and deeply felt relationship with this subjective universe, which may incorporate real-world or imaginary characters and conventions. Commonly having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is often developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time, months or even years, as a sophisticated reality that can last into adulthood.

<i>Heartburn</i> (film) 1986 film by Mike Nichols

Heartburn is a 1986 American comedy-drama film directed and produced by Mike Nichols, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. The screenplay, written by Nora Ephron, is based on her novel of the same name, a semi-biographical account of her marriage to Carl Bernstein.

<i>The Jackpot</i> 1950 film by Walter Lang

The Jackpot is a 1950 American comedy film directed by Walter Lang, with James Stewart and Barbara Hale in the lead roles. It features a young Natalie Wood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey Poupon</span> Brand of mustard originating in France

Grey Poupon is a brand of Dijon mustard which originated in Dijon, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aline Bernstein</span>

Aline Bernstein was an American set designer and costume designer. She and Irene Lewisohn founded the Museum of Costume Art. Bernstein was the lover, patron, and muse of novelist Thomas Wolfe.

<i>Mixed Nuts</i> 1994 American film

Mixed Nuts is a 1994 American Christmas dark comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, based on the 1982 French comedy film Le Père Noël est une ordure. Co-written by Ephron and her sister Delia, the film features an ensemble cast which includes Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rita Wilson, Anthony LaPaglia, Garry Shandling, Rob Reiner, Juliette Lewis, Adam Sandler, and, in his first film role, Liev Schreiber.

Phoebe Ephron was an American playwright and screenwriter, who often worked with Henry Ephron, her husband, whom she wed in 1934.

<i>Julie & Julia</i> 2009 film by Nora Ephron

Julie & Julia is a 2009 American biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina. The film contrasts the life of chef Julia Child in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days, a challenge she described on her popular blog, which made her a published author.

Lucky Guy is a play by Nora Ephron that premiered in 2013, the year after her death. It was Ephron's final work and marked Tom Hanks's Broadway debut, in which he earned a Theatre World Award. It depicts the story of journalist Mike McAlary beginning in 1985 and ending with his death at the age of 41 in 1998. The plot covers the high points and tribulations of McAlary's career as he traverses the clubby atmosphere of the New York City tabloid industry in what some regard as its heyday. The play includes his near fatal automobile accident and devotes a large portion to his recovery.

<i>See Now Then</i> Book by Jamaica Kincaid

See Now Then is the fifth novel of author Jamaica Kincaid first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2013. Though reviewers were quick to note the many similarities between the characters in the novel and events in her life, Kincaid denied that the book was based on her divorce with Allen Shawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Arlen</span> American screenwriter and producer

Alice Arlen was an American screenwriter, best known for Silkwood (1983), which she wrote with Nora Ephron. Her other film credits include the scripts of Alamo Bay (1985), Cookie (1989), The Weight of Water (2000) and Then She Found Me (2007).

<i>Everything Is Copy</i> 2015 American film

Everything Is Copy — Nora Ephron: Scripted & Unscripted is an American documentary film that premiered on March 21, 2016 on HBO. Directed and written by Jacob Bernstein and Nick Hooker, the film explores the life and legacy of legendary writer and film director Nora Ephron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Field (food writer)</span>

Michael Field was an American food writer and critic. Earlier in his career he had been a concert pianist, but from 1964 until his death he concentrated on his work as an author and teacher of cooking.

"A Few Words About Breasts" is an essay by the American writer Nora Ephron that appeared in the May 1972 issue of Esquire. Written at the height of the second-wave feminist movement, the essay humorously explores body image and the psychological effects of being small-breasted. Numerous writers have suggested that "A Few Words About Breasts" functions as a sort of origin story for Ephron's career as a humorist.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.