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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A life doesnt have narrative structure, Annie observes. It goes on and on and rhings just happen after each other. This book is a lot like that. It's an expansive character study - a family study - and not so much a neatly plotted story. I still found it satisfying.
I didn’t finish the book. I was turned off by the bold sexual descriptions in the beginning.
I read 35% of this book before giving up. It put me to sleep every single time I tried to listen to the audio version. I genuinely tried but even though I got a third of the way through, I was still not interested in the characters or storyline.
I'm really not sure about this book. The writing was excellent, following the story of Annie and her family along with their rather unconventional (but inspiring) familial relationships. We jump from Annie as a young woman to Annie as an ageing mother and wife, then on to Annie as a grandmother. The story spans many years and is an intricate tale of family and generations with an unfaithful man at its heart.
Around a third of the way in, it became an especially difficult read, dealing with death and loss in great detail. The fact that it was so difficult is a testament to the quality of the writing, but I personally found it cut a little too deep for my personal taste.
This novel has an ethereal quality to the writing, punctuated with jarring realisms and strong, unexpected language which was powerful in it's abrasiveness.
The characters come to life through the inner voices of each of them which are incredibly true and believable.
I would love to give this 4 stars, but it was just too hard to read for me.
Around a third of the way in, it became an especially difficult read, dealing with death and loss in great detail. The fact that it was so difficult is a testament to the quality of the writing, but I personally found it cut a little too deep for my personal taste.
This novel has an ethereal quality to the writing, punctuated with jarring realisms and strong, unexpected language which was powerful in it's abrasiveness.
The characters come to life through the inner voices of each of them which are incredibly true and believable.
I would love to give this 4 stars, but it was just too hard to read for me.
A novel right down my alley. Deep introspection of main characters and their outlook on a sudden circumstances that find them. Many inside monologs that show you all the layers of what exactly those people are made of. And you recognize those layers in yourself, in people you hold dear and in people you hold less dear. Very human, very real. Just what I like. Also a great take on grief and many different ways we all deal with it.
Meh. Monogamy is similar to its eponymous concept: basic, old-fashioned, a little bit cringey here and there. IDK, maybe because I love Sue Miller, though, this book got under my skin a little bit, got me thinking,
Monogamy follows the last days of the marriage of Annie and Graham of Cambridge, Mass. Fulfilling all my most Cambridge-y stereotypes, he owns a bookstore and she’s a middling photographer, and each other’s second marriages. They love to cook and host parties and little salons among their artsy, intellectual friends. They have a lovely life, or at least Annie thinks so, but her predecessor, Frieda, knows that Graham maintained his wandering eye. One morning, Graham doesn’t wake up. Now, Annie and the rest of their pastiche family must reckon with life after Graham, the loss of his magnetism, his ebullience, and the narratives they all maintained in his orbit.
I guess I wanted more from a book called Monogamy from an author who in the past has taken more risks in unraveling the intimacies and intricacies of marriage and family life. Instead, its vibe was a cross between Unnecessary Losses by Judith Viorst and The Silver Palate Cookbook. Yet in spite of all this, I plowed through it and thought a lot about Annie’s dilemma: how do you mourn the life you thought you had? When a relationship was your identity, who are you when it ends? What do you do with unarticulated anger?
I don’t know if I want you to read this book, really. Maybe read The Good Mother instead by Sue Miller. And, if you prefer a book about writerly Cambridge, check out Writers and Lovers.
Monogamy follows the last days of the marriage of Annie and Graham of Cambridge, Mass. Fulfilling all my most Cambridge-y stereotypes, he owns a bookstore and she’s a middling photographer, and each other’s second marriages. They love to cook and host parties and little salons among their artsy, intellectual friends. They have a lovely life, or at least Annie thinks so, but her predecessor, Frieda, knows that Graham maintained his wandering eye. One morning, Graham doesn’t wake up. Now, Annie and the rest of their pastiche family must reckon with life after Graham, the loss of his magnetism, his ebullience, and the narratives they all maintained in his orbit.
I guess I wanted more from a book called Monogamy from an author who in the past has taken more risks in unraveling the intimacies and intricacies of marriage and family life. Instead, its vibe was a cross between Unnecessary Losses by Judith Viorst and The Silver Palate Cookbook. Yet in spite of all this, I plowed through it and thought a lot about Annie’s dilemma: how do you mourn the life you thought you had? When a relationship was your identity, who are you when it ends? What do you do with unarticulated anger?
I don’t know if I want you to read this book, really. Maybe read The Good Mother instead by Sue Miller. And, if you prefer a book about writerly Cambridge, check out Writers and Lovers.