Why Is Divorce So Expensive?
Plus: Want to change your personality? Have a baby, Olga Khazan writes.

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Isabel Fattal

Senior editor

Just as the institution of marriage has evolved, so has the institution of divorce. In a review of Haley Mlotek’s new divorce memoir, the writer Rachel Vorona Cote traces the introduction of “no fault “ divorce—a split without the designation of blame. California was the first state to legalize such divorces, in 1969; New York, in 2010, was the last.

Sometimes, splitting up involves placing or sharing blame. Other times, it’s more simply about making a new choice for where you want life to take you—but simplicity doesn’t mean ease. Today’s reading list rounds up Atlantic stories on saying goodbye.

She’s making some unhealthy choices, and it’s hard to watch.

(Abelardo Morell / Edwynn Houk Gallery)

A home-improvement story

(Getty / The Atlantic)

Divorce is so expensive and complicated that it leaves many poor people trapped in bad marriages.

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