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dianaj23's review against another edition
4.0
This is a beautiful, engaging back-and-forth into the author's marriage and my first encounter with her work. Shapiro relates different events from from marriage of 18 years; it is her third marriage and the only one she didn't feel the need to get out of. Across the pages, she both marvels and grits her teeth at the longevity, always afraid of the outcome.
This marriage has a story book beginning: coup-de-foudre turned into a whirlwind romance then turned into the marriage-house-child trio. Two married artists and all that this entails. The good, the bad and the ugly. Shapiro has a gift for coating even the worst parts in honey, to make you feel that she will pull out of whatever bad situation. And still, the paradox is that, at times, you read it like she thinks of it: like an impending doom is hanging just above their heads, waiting to destroy them.
It's a book that speaks of the delicate balancing act that two people engage in for every day of their marriage. About satisfactions and the delusions. It's also a book about what time can give to us (and rob from us) and the pondering over it once we reach a certain age and try to reconcile all the selves that have inhabited the same body.
Reading this as a still-newly married woman gives me hope that the good things still last, that two people living together makes live a bit better for each of them.
This marriage has a story book beginning: coup-de-foudre turned into a whirlwind romance then turned into the marriage-house-child trio. Two married artists and all that this entails. The good, the bad and the ugly. Shapiro has a gift for coating even the worst parts in honey, to make you feel that she will pull out of whatever bad situation. And still, the paradox is that, at times, you read it like she thinks of it: like an impending doom is hanging just above their heads, waiting to destroy them.
It's a book that speaks of the delicate balancing act that two people engage in for every day of their marriage. About satisfactions and the delusions. It's also a book about what time can give to us (and rob from us) and the pondering over it once we reach a certain age and try to reconcile all the selves that have inhabited the same body.
Reading this as a still-newly married woman gives me hope that the good things still last, that two people living together makes live a bit better for each of them.
lola425's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent read. Do not be fooled by the slimness of the volume, there is meat in there.
kerrym33's review against another edition
4.0
This was my second book by Dani Shapiro, and I was again struck in the first few pages by the beauty of her writing. I found this to be a brave concept for a memoir--a thoughtful and honest examination of one's own marriage, from where it began to where it currently stands. A short, lovely read.
eileen_critchley's review against another edition
3.0
This is a memoir about marriage. What I found interesting is I have been married about as long as the author (almost 20 years, although she is about 10 years older than me). I definitely felt that we look at marriage differently. She seemed almost cynical about it. I could also relate to dealing with a parent with Alzheimers.
thuglibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Much more literary than her other works. It read like musings or essays of her life, rather than a memoir. As a reader, I always felt like an outsider as I never connected with the author. However, I typically love Dani Shapiro.
I read an advance copy and was not compensated.
I read an advance copy and was not compensated.
kjboldon's review against another edition
5.0
A deceptively slim but concentrated look at the compromises that go into a marriage, as the author examines the sturdy and less-than so material her own eighteen-years and counting marriage is based on. Filled with apt illustrative quotes from wise writers, it moves seemingly effortlessly back in forth in time. Beautifully written, skillfully observed, and emotionally very, very intelligent.
itsgg's review against another edition
5.0
This is a beautifully deconstructed memoir, not so much a story as a constellation of moments that make up a life. Shapiro's prose is captivating, the glue that holds everything together. This passage from the book itself is, I think, the best way to describe it: "But like every fixed idea, this one has lost its hold on me as years have passed and the onrushing present — the only place from which the writer can tell the story — continues to shift along with the sands of time. Our recollections alter as we attempt to gather them. Even retrospect is mutable. Perspective, a momentary figment of consciousness. Memoir freezes a moment like an insect trapped in amber. Me now, me then. This woman, that girl. It all keeps changing. And so: If retrospect is an illusion, then why not attempt to tell the story as I’m inside of it? Which is to say: before the story has become a story?"