Men on Divorce: Conversations with Ex-Husbands

Wymard follows her Divorced Women, New Lives with this companion for distraught men facing divorce. Part case history, part self-help manual, it features 45 ex-husbands speaking candidly about the downward spiral of their marriages and their struggles to rebuild their lives and recover their self-esteem. Wymard covers all the bases with sections devoted to child custody, support groups for men, even what to look for in a therapist. Her piercing insights provide the connective tissue binding diverse experiences ranging from infidelity, to verbal and physical abuse, to coping with a mentally and/or physically ill spouse. While some men undergo a kind of emotional rebirth as a result of divorce, others remain bitter and mistrustful. As one man put it, ``When a woman starts saying that we should be more open and vulnerable, I think of Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown.'' Much to her credit, Wymard emerges as an unbiased moderator in a gender war, debunking the stereotypes of the macho male ego and proving that in the end, heartache is heartache whatever your sex. ``The Locker Room and the Women's Room will continue to remain mysteries to each other, when, in fact, their territory is much the same.'' Wymard's study is not so much about emotions particular to men or women but rather to the human condition. (Sept.)