Happy Place Book Club Meets: Meeting their ex, jealousy, and heartbreak, with Aisha Muharrar
Oct 3, 2025
In this engaging conversation, Aisha Muharrar, a former TV writer for Parks and Recreation and author of the novel Loved Ones, delves into themes of grief and relationships. She explores the intriguing dynamics of meeting an ex’s previous partners and the jealousy that can arise. Aisha shares insights on the challenges of transitioning from scriptwriting to crafting her novel and reflects on the importance of rewriting from her protagonist's perspective. With humor and depth, she invites listeners to consider how different people bring out various sides of us.
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Episode notes
People Contain Multiple Relationship Selves
- Aisha highlights that people show different sides to different partners, so no single relationship captures the whole person.
- She frames grief as complicated by missing aspects of a person that other partners knew.
Cab Ride Idea Sparked The Premise
- Aisha Muharrar got the seed of the novel in a New York cab when a friend said her friend was dating Aisha's ex.
- That conversation sparked the idea of different people knowing different sides of the same person.
Single Scene Revealed Full Story Potential
- The first scene Aisha wrote was two exes confronting each other in a funeral restroom, which revealed intense drama and complexity.
- That single scene convinced her there was a larger story about rivalry, connection, and hidden truths.
