The Story of a Marriage
by Andrew Sean Greer
2008, 195 pp.
It seems this story has polarized readers. Some love it, while others intensely dislike the book. I fall into the latter camp. I thought I was really going to like it initially, but then the story went way over the top into unbelievability for me. I found myself disliking it more and more as the pages progressed. It’s really almost impossible to speak about the issues I had with the book without giving away some huge spoilers, but I will give you a taste of what it’s about.
Holland and Pearlie Cook are childhood sweethearts with a son and a dog that doesn’t bark. Everything is going along fine until one day Buzz, a man from Holland’s past, shows up at the door and changes everything. Set in the 50′s and San Francisco.
Those who loved it:
Those who didn’t:
Those who were mixed:
If you’d like me to add your review, just let me know in the comments!
I definitely found this book to be a mixed bag. There were parts I liked an awful lot, but there was too much here that annoyed me. I didn’t hate it, but I would definitely fall into the “didn’t love it” camp. My review is at http://shelflove.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/the-story-of-a-marriage/.
You might also want to check out Victoria’s review at Eve’s Alexandria, which I linked to in my post. There was some talk in the comments I read around the blogosphere that this may just be a book that women will like and men won’t, but Victoria makes a very good case that this is book that women should find particularly disturbing.
One star! That’s pretty bad. Thanks for the links to other reviews.
Thanks, Teresa, I added both of those!
Nancy, yeah, just didn’t like it. At all.
I haven’t heard of this book and couldn’t say whether or not I’d like it. I really liked the way you linked both positive and negative reviews of this book to your post. That’s very helpful. Thanks!
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