Scan barcode
marsinc's review
3.0
The book is well written, however, I found I couldn't relate to the four main characters, nor did I feel any sympathy for them as they struggled through their relationships. I might be too conventionally monogamous to get this book.
briandice's review
5.0
Three novellas that can stand alone, but together their interwoven stories of thirtysomethings dealing with faithlessness, failing marriages and the specter of middle age looming ever closer make a rich story even greater than their parts (if that is even possible).
Dubus has an uncanny talent of writing simple sentences that say so much about his characters, and in turn, the human condition. You can't read one of his stories and not come away from the experience changed.
Dubus has an uncanny talent of writing simple sentences that say so much about his characters, and in turn, the human condition. You can't read one of his stories and not come away from the experience changed.
novelesque_life's review
3.0
3 STARS
An interesting novel that weaves the stories of two couples who are friends and much more. The secrets, lies and unhappiness.
An interesting novel that weaves the stories of two couples who are friends and much more. The secrets, lies and unhappiness.
unabirraecentopaginealgiorno's review against another edition
1.0
Due coppie e tre racconti lunghi, con gli stessi personaggi - che sono di volta in volta protagonisti e comprimari (manca solo ..., mah), dove i personaggi pensano solo a tradirsi e a cercare ogni pretesto per bere. Stile verboso e poco incisivo.
kirstiecat's review
4.0
Very very bleak image of man and woman and what we do to eachother in terms of intimacy in relationships. There is a bit more to this than in the film, specifically one of the characters after the major tumultuous relationship rift. I think perhaps the most finely crafted aspect of it is how intellectuals fool themselves.
amylynn1031's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
infinitejoe's review
3.0
Meh.
I liked it, but thought it was only OK.
Two couples that are friends cheat on each other with the other’s spouse. Everyone gets found out and one couple decides to stay together, while the other tries to have an open marriage that ultimately ends up in divorce. The second two stories follow the characters from the open marriage/divorce. The ones that stay together are only mentioned less than a handful of times in the following two stories, and to be honest, that’s the couple I was more interested in following. Four pages from the end of the book, we get two sentences of detail on the fate of that relationship, which I find difficult to swallow, and in need of an explanation that we never get.
The first novella had some promise. Although the situation with the chain-smoking adulterers seemed a little far-fetched, I guess it could (and probably has) happened in the history of failed marriages, so over-looking that, the writing was good (but not outstanding), the story was good, and we saw the emotions and self-justifications of the characters, which I thought was done rather well.
The second novella lost me. I understood where the author was going in having the woman in the open marriage date a dying ex-priest, but it made the story less believable, the story was dull, and once the ex-priest started expounding on his relationship with Christ and the Eucharist, I finished the rest of the story in a drool-dripping fugue.
The last novella picked things back up just a little, with the post-divorce struggles of the man previously in the open marriage, who was the initial adulterer (prior to the first inter-couple adultery), and the primary cause of the ruined relationships. We witness his catharsis, his emerging as a new man, the book ends with a scene between him and his 19-year old girlfriend, and I put the book down, and think to myself...
Meh.
I liked it, but thought it was only OK.
Two couples that are friends cheat on each other with the other’s spouse. Everyone gets found out and one couple decides to stay together, while the other tries to have an open marriage that ultimately ends up in divorce. The second two stories follow the characters from the open marriage/divorce. The ones that stay together are only mentioned less than a handful of times in the following two stories, and to be honest, that’s the couple I was more interested in following. Four pages from the end of the book, we get two sentences of detail on the fate of that relationship, which I find difficult to swallow, and in need of an explanation that we never get.
The first novella had some promise. Although the situation with the chain-smoking adulterers seemed a little far-fetched, I guess it could (and probably has) happened in the history of failed marriages, so over-looking that, the writing was good (but not outstanding), the story was good, and we saw the emotions and self-justifications of the characters, which I thought was done rather well.
The second novella lost me. I understood where the author was going in having the woman in the open marriage date a dying ex-priest, but it made the story less believable, the story was dull, and once the ex-priest started expounding on his relationship with Christ and the Eucharist, I finished the rest of the story in a drool-dripping fugue.
The last novella picked things back up just a little, with the post-divorce struggles of the man previously in the open marriage, who was the initial adulterer (prior to the first inter-couple adultery), and the primary cause of the ruined relationships. We witness his catharsis, his emerging as a new man, the book ends with a scene between him and his 19-year old girlfriend, and I put the book down, and think to myself...
Meh.
sramlerolson's review
3.0
The writing was poetic, but the author was a bit too misogynistic for my liking. His archetype of male protagonists are hard to be likable, which is intended, but their dedication to what is means to be a man, is a little unrealistic.