STUPID Divorce

In this follow-up to his first relationship guide, SMART Love, Vincent Fudge II takes a personal approach to offering advice for men about divorce. In STUPID Divorce, the narrator explores the reasons for his divorce, laying bare his emotions while providing a helpful and insightful approach to separation. Fudge's narrative suggests that divorce is STUPID-selfish, time-consuming, unnerving, painful, inconsiderate, and debt-inducing. He confronts his and his wife's flaws and regrets and mines from them not only hard-won wisdom about love, communication, pride, and acceptance but also practical advice about mediation, amicable separation, child custody, money, lawyers, and more. Presented as a quasi-fictional memoir punctuated with poignant scenes at a funeral, the author shares his journey to accepting the failure of his relationship and how he worked through his grief, navigating the dissolution of his marriage in unsparing detail. In a deft blend of practical advice plus emotional impact, Fudge provides men with the essential educational guide to divorce. "STUPID Divorce is an educational narrative that focuses on navigation through the dissolution of marriage; detailing how it feels to undo a marriage, and distills reflections into lessons learned. A companion piece to SMART Love, "Edward" (the narrator and main character,) describes the journey through which he worked through the stages of grief to reconcile with the loss of his wife after they failed to improve their relationship. With chapters established to describe who they were, why divorce happened, what happens in divorce, and how it felt. Each chapter is transitioned into with a revisits to a funeral wake where Edward has conversations that provide context to how he and his wife wound up where they were at the end of their marital journey. Key instances of rationalization of grief and deconstruction of thoughts and emotions ultimately driving to reconciliation and acceptance inspire Edward to accept the failing to make his marriage work. Conceptually, STUPID Divorce is designed to do two things: 1. Tell a story about a man's grief journey to accept the failing of his relationship and describe very vividly what that experience felt like, and 2. Share a realistic visual of what the dissolution of marriage looks like." -Vincent Fudge II