After 32 years of “daily arguments about gender roles”, Niklas walks out on his wife Bea. Instantly, Bea’s sense of simmering irritation with the man she perceives as in constant need of her guidance turns to concern. Yes, she’s annoyed that Niklas spends too much time at the hospital where he works as a doctor, even though his earnings allow her to “do something meaningful with her life” in a vanity job. But still, how dare he walk out and avoid doing the chores she assigned to him!
Bea hops on her bike and rides in search of the wayward Niklas. It does cross her mind that she should have brushed her teeth and combed her hair but she rejects the idea of making herself look good for her husband. Sweaty, stinky, in Birkenstocks over grubby socks, she confronts Niklas and is stunned by his refusal to scurry back home. I could have stopped reading right then because people who wear Birkenstocks over socks have nobody to blame when their marriages collapse but I’m very interested in the “wifely drama” genre.
Women use books like Moa Herngren’s The Divorce to run through all sorts of scenarios that can imperil a marriage and find solutions before a problem arises. “Husband suddenly walks out” is one of the favorite female scenarios to explore. Herngren makes it way too easy for her readers, though, offering up an image of such a sad excuse for a wife that one would have to try really hard to reach her level of marital uselessness. Bea’s inability to formulate a single sentence free of exasperation or demand is comical, and so is her shock at finding out that this approach doesn’t evoke deep sexual longing towards her in her husband.
Niklas is a piss poor husband, too, of course. He’s man enough to get himself a girlfriend but is so terrified of his wife that he fails to inform her of that fact for months, forcing the miserable, Birkenstocked Bea to beg him, again and again, to tell her why he isn’t living at home.
There are still some useful things one can pick up from The Divorce, though. For instance, Bea is shocked to discover that Niklas left her for Maria Axelsson, a woman with scented candles and animal-print cushions, whom Bea and Niklas had spent years ridiculing. Lesson 1: if a man spends years ridiculing some random woman, he likes her. She’s a source of danger, especially if she is armed with animal-print cushions and you wear sandals over socks and don’t use deodorant.
Lesson 2: telling a dude that you want him “to take initiative” by doing exactly what you want him to do while looking enthusiastic is not going to lead anyplace nice. When a man takes initiative, there’s a strong probability that you won’t always like how that looks, so don’t be a Bea and demand initiative when what you really want is slavish obedience.
I don’t know if we have any young, unmarried people around here but this novel is a veritable textbook on how to screw up a marriage. With anybody less beaten down than the miserable Niklas, it would take only a few years of Bea’s marriage-killing strategies to turn the relationship into a smouldering wreck. Read The Divorce and do the exact opposite if you want your marriage to thrive.
The novel is a lot of fun, people. Highly recommended, enjoyable, light reading that’s screaming fun. Read it in a day to get rid of the horrible aftertaste from Claudia Piñeiro’s The Time of the Flies, and the remedy worked.
Clarissa's Blog 
Hi Clarissa hope you enjoy good health. I would like to share with you my latest research if that’s ok.
How the theology of early 19th Century Reform Jokaism compares to French written UN Resolution 242 imperialism.
All 613 Mitzvot relevant today. Rejection of the revelation of the Torah at Sinai represents the Crux of Reform Jokaism. These utter fools did not understand the Av/toldoth relationship between Tohor time-oriented commandments in the Book of בראשית to both Halachic Talmudic mitzvot and Positive and Negative Torah commandments in the Books שמות ויקרא ובמדבר. Utterly moronic stupidity on the order of UN Resolution 242 which first coined the infamous: “Occupied Territories”, based upon the corrupt premise that it violates “international law” to acquire land through War. The absolute narishkeit of this Reform avoda zarah abomination likewise compares to UN Resolution 3379: Zionism is Racism travesty.
The utter nonsense of UN Resolution 242. The false premise: it violates International law for nation states to acquire territory through war. Trash in — Trash out Great Power States utter hypocrisy of Do As I Say BUT Not as I do arrogance.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919) and the Treaty of Trianon (1920) led to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had collapsed during the war. Austria-Hungary, split into several new states, including Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
Austria lost significant territory, including parts of present-day Italy, Poland, and the newly created Czechoslovakia. The breakup of that militarily defeated empire, left these new nations in need of financial assistance. British and French banks stepped in, providing loans and reparations. This economic involvement allowed the British and French to exert influence over the region. And therein dominate the balance of power across Europe.
Hungary suffered significant territorial losses, ceding land to neighboring countries. It lost about two-thirds of its pre-war territory, including Transylvania (which went to Romania), parts of Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia. The country had to pay reparations and struggled with the loss of valuable resources and industries.
The new nations emerging from the Austro-Hungarian Empire often required financial assistance. British and French banks provided loans and reparations, allowing them to profit through interest and economic influence. Much like the post WWII Pax American Empire Marshal Plan, exchanged loans for military bases in Europe and across the World.
This British/French dictated breakup, opened up access to markets & resources within the defunct empire’s territories. The resource-rich regions of Central Europe became easier for British/French exploitation. Post-war chaos prevailed across Europe. Britain and France became the pimps of a huge whore-house; they consolidated their ‘colonial rule’ over all the States of Europe.
Post WWI the British & French empires thus radically enlarged and expanded their dominance over the balance of power in Europe. Yet UN Resolution 242 revisionist history serves as the basis of all post ’67 UN condemnations of Israel. This corrupt post WWII institution condemns Israel as a rogue rapist of ‘international law’. Its unilateral UN 242 declares, with no historical precedents, that nations cannot acquire territories through war.
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