04/04/2025
The dissatisfactions of heterosexual marriages have been the focus of many recent memoirs by women chronicling the dissolution of their relationships. On the whole, these books “present divorce as liberation and marriage as oppressive,” Molly Fischer writes. “No Fault,” by Haley Mlotek, stands out for its measured, equivocal tone. Mlotek and her husband separated after 13 years together, with none of the complicating factors that often accompany separations—no kids, no entangled finances, no debts, no pets, no blame, no malice. “The whole experience took place under circumstances so neatly constrained as to resemble a thought experiment,” Fischer notes. What does the end of marriage, in itself, do to a person? Fischer writes about the zero-sum narratives we often hear about divorce, and how Mlotek’s memoir complicates them: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/31/no-fault-haley-mlotek-book-review?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=app.dashsocial.com%2Fnewyorkermag%2Flibrary%2Fmedia%2F516421441
