The Wrong Calamity - by Marsha Jacobson (Paperback)

About the Book

Marsha Jacobson's compelling, generous and inspiring memoir is for anyone who has faced adversity in their relationships, and shows how the effects of trauma need not last a lifetime.

Book Synopsis

An intimate and compellingly honest memoir of a woman coming into her own after profound pain and grief.

Marsha Jacobson agreed to marry a secretive and controlling man because she saw no way out. He compelled her to move to Japan with him, where a chance meeting led to a job at the Tokyo headquarters of Mattel Toys.

As she became successful, her husband became more abusive. When they were back in America, she grabbed their two toddlers and escaped from him chased by police. Years later, she had a successful career and a joyful second marriage-until terrible memories her husband buried in childhood came to get him. His PTSD and flashbacks shattered her marriage, her career, and many friendships.

With penetrating insight and writing that moves from gritty to glorious, Marsha gives voice to the often-misunderstood lived experience of loss and grief and explores how trauma spreads from generation to generation and person to person but need not last a lifetime.

Review Quotes

"Courageous...an affecting, personal exploration of toxic relationships."

-Kirkus Reviews

"Jacobson's debut is an elegant, engaging account of her life as a wife and mother facing a harrowing marriage, then as a single parent and eventual successful business executive.

Jacobson's excellent storytelling skills make the memoir riveting. She plunges us straight into the heart of things right from the beginning and is able to maintain this steady pace through the book. At the same time, the narrative is thoughtful and reflective when the story demands. Unpredictable and domineering, Peter is the most interesting character in the book, though for negative reasons. So is Judge Samuel. Marsha's second husband Jay, meanwhile, endures the far-reaching consequences of childhood abuse, sensitive material that Jacobson handles with insight and empathy. Minnie and Julia, Marsha's grandmothers, are incredibly strong and empathetic women who with their kindness and help support their neglected grandchild.

Jacobson's career takes her to fascinating places, such as Mattel headquarters in Japan, and she captures them and their cultures with nuance and welcome bursts of wit. She addresses work challenges and the several ways in which she tackled them. Her obvious passion for her chosen career is evident in these anecdotes. Jacobson's never-say-die attitude, her immense love for her two girls, and her strong narrative skills make this memoir an absorbing and rewarding read."

-BookLife

"Marsha Jacobson's existence has definitely never been a bed of roses. When she was young, her painful lack of self-confidence due to a weight problem led her into a marriage with an abusive, overpowering man, who harassed her for years by taking her to court after she broke free of him. She raised two daughters, put herself through Harvard business school and gradually built a successful career while battling serious health problems. She fell deeply in love and married a second time but did not find lasting happiness....What's refreshingly different about this memoir, however, is that Jacobson, rather than dwelling upon how much she suffered, gives us the facts rather briskly and then goes on to write about what interests her far more-the resourceful and courageous ways she coped with one crisis after another. The result is fascinating and compelling reading."

-Joyce Johnson, author of the prizewinning memoir Minor Characters

"Marsha Jacobson's The Wrong Calamity is a courageously written story of a courageously lived life. She takes us inside unexpected stress and pain to renewed hope with humane clarity."

-Walter Bode, former editor-in-chief of Grove Press and senior editor at Harcourt Publishing

"From her re-entry into dating and the snafus that led to new realizations about those she chose and her moral and ethical foundations to business and personal growth choices, Jacobson creates a powerful story of calamity, discovery, and change. This will serve as an inspiration (and road map) to other women facing similar conundrums.

Libraries and readers seeking stories of not just escape from abuse, but considerations of the financial, psychology, and social influences on their evolution, will find The Wrong Calamity enlightening, revealing, and hard to put down."

-Midwest Book Review