# Heartburn

By Nora Ephron

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/heartburn-325cd50d/

Rachel Samstat writes cookbooks and is seven months pregnant when she learns her husband loves another woman. Reconciliation and revenge each have their appeal as she tries to make sense of a marriage coming apart.

## What makes it funny?

Rachel has given her husband’s lover a carrot-cake recipe, complete with a smiley face. The betrayal leaves her furious about that small act of friendliness too: even her generosity in the kitchen now feels humiliating.

### The comedy at work

Rachel confides through digressions, insults and recipes. Her conversational telling gives her room to turn from marital pain to a practical matter of food, or to linger over an aggravating detail.

### Try this if…

A sharp narrator and food writing woven into relationship fiction are the attractions here. Readers in book groups especially recommend the Meryl Streep audiobook for its comic performance.

### Good to know

Infidelity during pregnancy and marital breakdown are central. Kirkus found the punchlines uneven and was unconvinced by the shifts between jokes and emotional pain, a reservation to consider if you want those elements closely integrated.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy · Dry wit · Satire
- The atmosphere: Irreverent
- Format: Novel
- Published: 1983

## A few distinguishing details

- A cookbook writer shares recipes while recounting her marriage’s collapse.

## Sources & further reading

- Reader discussion: [Reader discussion](https://facebook.com/groups/TwoGirlsMustReads/permalink/1773055946826889)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/46734/heartburn-by-nora-ephron-foreword-by-stanley-tucci)
- Book information: [Bibliographic listing](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/nora-ephron/heartburn.htm)
- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nora-ephron/heartburn)
- Review: [Candice Carty-Williams on Heartburn](https://cdn.penguin.co.uk/dam-assets/books/9781804991381/9781804991381-sample.pdf)