LIFE IS CRAZY & WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE

An online marriage therapist and a woman struggling to navigate a life crisis share their emails, text messages, and reflections in this nonfiction book about “two strangers trying to figure out their place with life, God and the spaces between.”

Lanzone was devastated when Wayne, her husband of nearly 30 years, suddenly proclaimed he was not happy and left her without an in-depth explanation. She recalls that he simply “wanted to smoke weed, watch porn and be happy.” The final humiliation was when he opted for a “short and dumpy” girlfriend who was into video games and romance novels whom he met on Craigslist. An agnostic (“I grew up believing God was waiting for you to screw up so he could zap you”) and filled with self-loathing and self-doubt, Lanzone desperately turned to online counseling. With a background working in mental hospitals, homeless shelters, and church counseling centers, Blaine came to being “a late-night psychiatric crisis guy” thinking it would be easy money, but he grew weary of the “drama, divorce, depression or people problems.” Lanzone, he writes, shook him from his ennui: “She was mixed-up, messy, good-hearted, sarcastic and cool. She was real... I had to show up and try to be real too.” Lanzone and Blaine, an author of two faith-based memoirs, were blessed to find each other. Lanzone is to be commended for having the courage to reveal herself at her most vulnerable. Initially, she off-puttingly sounds like the desperate woman from the Vikki Carr song “It Must Be Him.” Less than empathetic parents, a bullying superior at work, and her admittedly desperate attempts to win back her husband drove her to suicidal thoughts. Lanzone’s redemptive journey, which ultimately embraced volunteerism and a Protestant church, is inspiring and moving, and Blaine’s intriguing guidance eschews jargons and platitudes. “Why not try totally changing your life instead?” he challenged her.

Raw and relatable, a positive and stirring roadmap for finding one’s way.