How to Fall Out of Love Madly: A Novel

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Annie is baffled by Joy’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she’s consumed by her own obsessions: she can’t stop parsing her commitment-phobic boyfriend’s texts in anexhausting mission to maintain his approval. At work, where she fully embraces her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But when an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, she is forced to decide who and what she’s willing to stand up for. Long-term partners also often go through major life changes together, and those changes can affect each partner in different ways. Sometimes, those experiences can bring two people closer together, but other times, they can create distance in relationship and, as a result, feelings of love may wane. JC: I know, I know, well, sometimes, I will like my own experience, I’ll like catch a glimpse in my face. I’m like, Oh, my God, exactly like my mom. And it’s like, so bizarre, almost Yeah, you really kind of don’t have that identity. I mean, that’s like kind of the idea to just like things being out of your control. Once again, like these forces kind of acting on you, instead of you acting on them. I think we really probably a bit of American thinking, too, that we have so much control and that so many, you know, we have the power to decide our future and be what we want to be. And I think anytime you can be reminded, maybe there’s all these things at play that really have nothing to do with you. And you really don’t have that say, it’s kind of just overwhelming, it’s probably best not to think too hard about it. B&N: Yes. So you know, How to Fall Out of Love Madly? Can you give us a little summary about what this book is about?

Joy hated the way Annie would rip into the apartment like that. It made Joy feel like Annie was just throwing everything away, or more accurately clearing it away like you would a dirty glass or a fogged windowpane. A blistering transparency of their little home would flash through Joy’s thoughts: the matching teacup and teakettle from a flea market they’d bought together, uselessly cheerful. The potted plant garden they’d spent entirely too much time planting. The blinds left half down in the dining room, suddenly with menacing abandon. Joy shook it from her mind.JC: Yeah. Yes, I think absolutely. I think we’re so affected by it. I think like body image, I mean, I think most of us have some memory. And I think usually it’s pretty like a deep set memory of our moms like dieting, or talking about something about their body they didn’t like, or not wanting to wear a swimsuit this season for some reason or another. That kind of stuff affects you as a child, even though you don’t really think about it necessarily, you know, especially if it’s not like a major part of the relationship between you and your mom. It’s just something in passing. When I’m saying body image issues, I connect that very closely to relationships women have with men, because I think it all falls under the same umbrella of wanting approval wanting to be desired, wanted, needed. And so absolutely, I think it’s so paramount in how we think of ourselves and act. It’s really sad is what it is. But not more than three months into the lease, both women became frustrated by their monthly expenses: the landlord had gone up a hundred dollars in rent, the heat was costing them a fortune—in the end they decided the smartest thing for them would be to rent out the third bedroom. singular to herself, and she could not tell if she were only the fragments or if she were ever anything bigger than that. She closed her eyes and the hospital ceiling was the last thing she saw. The last thing Jana Casale is a master storyteller—observant, witty, sharp, and funny. How to Fall Out of Love Madly is an hones B&N: Yeah. So even just kind of bringing those two up. What would you say? Annie’s take is on her image, because I’m not sure she was as concerned about it.

Joy was put on birth control at thirteen years old by her doctor, who was a man. He was old and had been her doctor since she was a baby. When her mother had told him in private that her daughter had very painful, heavy periods, he suggested it, and without question they put her on a small dose of hormones. From the age of thirteen until now, at nearly thirty years old, Joy had not ovulated.JC: The short answer is yes. The long answer is no. There’s like a long way to go with it. But I’m very excited about the third book, I think it’s going to be a lot about jealousy, in a way. I feel like jealousy, I mean, that’s like, a very proud thing to say. But yeah, I feel like we don’t talk about jealousy. And yet jealousy is such a huge part of like, the fabric of our lives and our motivations as people. So it’s really about like women’s relationships and jealousy, but there’s obviously going to be a story to go with it. It’s not streamline enough to explain yet. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. In an even-more-impressive continuation of the work she began with her debut, The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky (2018), Casale has again taken the detritus of women’s inner lives ... and made something funny, warm, and compelling; something sisterly in the finest sense of the word " You’re overthinking this. I think everyone knows ‘young professional’ is code for early thirties anyway,” Annie said.

Perceptive, mordantly funny, and full of heart, How to Fall Out of Love Madly tells the story of three women who believe in equality yet inexplicably tolerate terrible behavior from men, equating being desired with worth. As Joy, Annie, and Celine grapple with the ways their lives have been subverted by the forces of gender, money, power, and the need for intimacy, they realize their futures will be determined by how hard they’ll fight to reclaim control. Jana Casale is a master storyteller—observant, witty, sharp, and funny. How to Fall Out of Love Madly is an honest and compelling look at female friendship, romantic relationships, and infatuation.” —Jennifer Close, New York Times bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses and Marrying the Ketchups Jennifer Close, New York Times bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses and Marrying the Ketchups whole world was taking notice of the electricity. Then she thought of herself as little fragments drifting into the universe in tiny little pieces, and then she thought of each little fragment as separate and B&N: Yes, that sounds great. Is there anything that you want listeners to take away about How to Fall Out of Love Madly?Two young women professionals looking for a third roommate. We’re neat but not crazy neat. We are respectful, yes, crazy respectful, and we have a cat. This whole novel resonated with me. I think it will resonate with many women. I felt for Joy, a self conscious and chronic people pleaser, in love with a man who was only too happy to use her for an emotional relationship while having a sexual relationship with another. I felt for Annie, finding out that the boss who has always been kind to her has been preying on women at the office, while dating a man who is never supportive when she needs him. I felt for Celine, praised for her beauty and overlooked for any other qualities, dating the ‘nice’ man because she feels it’s the right thing to do. I understood the way Annie and Joy were able to see what would be the best thing for one another and to recognize unhealthy patterns in the other, but not be able to do the same thing for themselves. JC: You know, it’s kind of funny as when I before I wrote the book, I kind of had this idea that I had these two ideas for a book, one is this girl who’s very in love with her roommate. And one was the story of a girl who’s in a terrible relationship. But she, you know, finds out that her boss has been accused of misconduct, and she fights really hard for the women in her workplace. But she isn’t able to kind of like, have that kind of fervor for herself and her own well being at home. And I thought those were like two novels like, but as I started writing, I thought it worked really well and really nicely together. And I felt as though you know, I think the book is quite character driven. And I think the joy in the any kind of dynamic, really works well. And I loved that. I think when I decided to have the two of them together was when I had this vision of this scene at the end of the book where they are confronting each other. I just loved the idea of two very good girlfriends full on confronting each other about the men in their lives, which I think is something that probably for a good reason, we don’t do. Don’t do very much. It’s kind of a fantasy moment, in a way. Yeah. But that was the moment for me as a writer, I was like, you know, it’d be great to kind of just like, combine these two stories. And then as far as the Lean goes, seems like a character I had thought of, and I’m not a character driven writer, funnily enough, I typically am more themed driven in the sense that I will I have things I’m obsessed with, and then something will happen and in my life, or I’ll hear about something, it’ll spark an idea. And I was like, Wow, that really relates to the thing I’m obsessed with. But with Celine, I just always thought about being in the shoes of a woman, because Celine is this character who’s supposed to be like, outstandingly gorgeous, sort of un-humanly gorgeous, to just kind of talk about that and body image issues from the perspective of someone like that. And I think her storyline, what I love about it is especially the fact that Joy’s you know, that moment with Theo, where, you know, Celine asks Theo about how he feels about joy, and he just blushingly says she’s ugly. That was another moment for me as a writer that like, I really wanted to write that moment of a man who had clearly cared very deeply about this person, was willing to forge this relationship with this person and, and foster it. And yet, in like a moment of stress in any situation, he’s willing to just rip her down to like, she’s ugly, at the drop of a hat. I wanted to have another woman here that see that and just be like, done with you. So that was kind of also why wandering there, the little moments is what kind of drove me to think about intertwining all those stories.