The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays

Hauser (Family of Origin) enchants with a gorgeous short essay memoir about love in many forms. Hauser builds off her viral success of the titular story of canceled wedding plans turned bird-watching expedition. Each narrative is so rich with detail and emotional honesty that listeners will surely be enchanted by Hauser’s take on life’s many messes. Ever the English teacher, Hauser uses literary and cultural texts as a talisman for her personal relationships. Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story explores self-actualization, the book Rebecca becomes an examination of her current lover’s relationship with his ex-wife, Shirley Jones’s old house becomes a meditation on her sister’s new motherhood, and John Belushi’s death is a connection to her late grandmother. Hauser is as charming as she is sensitive, so each story requires listeners to take care and not overdose on emotional rawness. Hauser delivers her sharp sentences delicately with brushes of sardonic wit. The audio is edited without many pauses, so each chapter flows into the other at an uninterrupted pace.