On the one hand, I couldn't stop reading this. On the other hand, I kinda wanted to at times--it had a very dismissive attitude of some things that i've come to appreciate books taking seriously (#metoo especially, but not exclusively.). It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a great book. Highly highly readable, very fast read, it's probably a good beach read or for any time you want something light and (trying to be) silly.

Agnes Murphy Nash is the perfect Hollywood wife – she has the right friends, the right clothes, and even a side career of her own as a writer. Her husband Trevor is a bigshot producer, and from the outside it looks like they’re living a picture-perfect celebrity life, complete with tennis tournaments and lavish parties. ( )

BEEN THERE, MARRIED THAT is a rapid-fire snark fest, focusing on the vapid, silicone-laden, entitled, shallow, trophy wife, moneyed California star culture, where the assistants have assistants, the kids have multiple nannies, and appearances are everything.

Agnes is supposed to be above it all (as a wife who DARES to have a career as a writer) but she still indulges in SoulCycle and whatever other "in" fitness to keep her hubby happy. She's an odd mix of smart and clueless (in a world where divorces are common, she seems a bit daft to NOT take action.)

The storylines were both eye-rolling and ire-rasing; the characters' behaviors made me both laugh and exasperated (my eyes hurt from rolling them so hard). From the Triplets- the Spanish-speaking help (who I sometimes had a hard time keeping up with WHAT exactly their jobs were) to Agnes' "frenemies" to the outrageous attitudes (when her husband calls an intervention for her supposed eating habit problem - she eats too many almonds - and sends her to rehab in the midst of marriage issues and a possible divorce) Aggie views it as a bit of a "spa vacation" and agrees to go. (She's a writer - we generally have overactive imaginations, so I found it hard to believe she wouldn't read more into this attempt, but instead, she goes along with the insanity.

At times the story jumped awkwardly, but I admit, I couldn't tell if this was the writing or bad formatting in the digital ARC I was reading. (it could have been missing chapter breaks?) The first half of the book felt almost manic and a bit all over the place. (There is a lot of stream of consciousness coming from Aggie). However, once the divorce started to actually progress in the second half of the book, the pace grew steadier. The characters were outrageous in a fun-to-read/"glad I don't know them" way.

Perfect for fans of Laura Weisberger's THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA/WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LULULEMONS.

I’m giving this three-and-a-half stars, rounding up to four, because of the uneven and manic start, but I could overlook it because it was such a hoot.

I was provided a digital advance copy via NetGalley; all opinions are my own. ( )

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

Been There, Married That hurt my brain. It was like this book was written in an entirely different language - one that even Google was unable to translate for me. I didn't know what Agnes was saying most of the time, and her cultural references went over my head. I stopped reading this after eighteen pages, but would have stopped after ten if it'd been the end of a chapter (page breaks don't count). #BookReaderProblems #GottaFinishThisChapter

Examples: "Although, I thought, temporary blindness might be a relief. I find myself handicap-yearning lately. A fender bender that resulted in a broken-but-healable femur..."

"All anyone cares about is who you're connected to and Waze."

"I'm not sure why we named her Penelope. Neither of us is Brit-adjacent."

"He'd left his beloved Red Sox cap at home, his team a bright brushstroke in an otherwise gray, broken childhood that exists only in East Coast towns and Ben Affleck movies. Dad was wearing the only suit he owned and a mock turtleneck he'd bought in the '70s, a splurge in menswear, level three at Sears in Hollywood."

"We were hemmed in against the bar like cattle by whippets in black suits huddled around Tinder or Grindr (or both), their hungry faces and neat, solemn beards illuminated by iPhones."

"Great crowd!" she yelled. "We're soooo lucky because a lot of rapists couldn't come, you know."

I also felt like the author made a jab at the #MeToo movement when she called it "Hollywood's favorite hashtag." It was like she diminished its importance and insulted all of the people who've come forward because of the abuse they've suffered.

"I wondered how much of her hair was hers and how much was stolen off a sleeping teenage girl's head in Bangladesh."

"Aquaphor is the glue that held her face together."

I'm sure there were more, but those were the ones that stood out the most while I was reading (aka: trying to decipher whatever code Agnes was using). I know I didn't get very far into this book, but she wasn't likeable, and neither were any of the other characters she mentioned (fake, entitled, horrible people). Her jokes and commentary didn't land well, and every page was a chore to read through. Been There, Married That was a headache-inducing 15 minutes of my life that I really wish I could get back.

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This tongue in cheek novel will have you laughing out loud at times. Agnes tries to enjoy the lavish party thrown to celebrate her 48th birthday. She lives an almost enviable life married to Trevor, an Oscar winning producer in Hollywood. They have a tween daughter Pep with ADHD and very temperamental.

Agnes realizes that her marriage is rather unconventional with her husband feeling neglected. He resorts to having a “bed buddy” with whom to snuggle to assist his sleep. Clearly, the writing is on the wall that this marriage is in trouble. Although they have not been communicating effectively Agnes is not prepared for what happens next.

Agnes comes home one night to find she’s locked out of her gated community. She thinks this has to be a terrible mistake and proceeds to climb over the gate while arguing with security. She soon learns that her husband wants a divorce. Just as she settles into a guest room she is approached by Dorette to go over blueprints that will essentially create a map so that her soon to be ex husband doesn’t have to see her.

This book is loaded with the hilarious inner musings of Agnes as she evaluated her new reality. She begins to evaluate her past and how she ended up in this gossipy celebrity life. She ultimately decides how to save herself as well as her daughter from an unsettling Hollywood life.


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