Monogamy, by Sue Miller (HarperCollins, 2020, 338 pages, $28.99)
Prolific* New York Times best-selling author of 11 novels, a short story collection and one memoir, Sue Miller keeps on writing good, long character studies about families and marriages (with sex and profanity). I had picked up Family Pictures
several years ago but simply could not get into it. I usually finish the books I start: perhaps I'm a good book selector! But, had I not had to read Monogamy, I would not have finished it.
But it does grow on you.
At First Glance
Monogamy sounded like I would like it: quaint, academic Boston, the owner of a cozy bookstore. . . .what more could I want?
Maybe a nice plot?
My Word and a Warning
I finished Monogamy because I gave my word that I would - and it did get better page by page, but I must warn you, dear reader, that the first 50-plus pages contain almost too much profanity and sex. Notwithstanding the title, it is not, however, a romance novel. The rest of the book is more 'normal' - actually very homey in that it reminds me of letters from Mom when I was at camp or deployed. Descriptions of every-day life at home that make one homesick and yearn for the three generations depicted in the book.
Sometime photographer Annie and her husband, gregarious and jovial Boston bookstore owner, Graham, are both close to his first wife. Two adult children (one in New York, married and expecting, the other in San Francisco). Book readings, wine, parties, families, holidays - all the things memories are made of.
"She'd thought she was memorable. How clear it was that she was not.
"It wasn't a quality you possessed, she thought now. It was a quality other people endowed you with." (p. 323)
And to tell you the truth, I did grow to like Monogamy. As the pages flew by, I couldn't wait to get back to the book to see what would happen next (spoiler alert: not much). Perhaps, after all, it was the story of one woman's marriage, cut short too soon, followed by memories of what could have been - but then our protagonist comes to realize maybe she did truly love her husband after all.
I think I'll try reading While I was Gone
 |
| Audiobook |
next. It sounds like the one I would like best. Plus, Oprah's Book Club can't be wrong!
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*Ballantine Reader's Circle award for The World Below and While I was Gone
Movies: The Good Mother (Diane Keaton),
Inventing the Abbotts (Roger Ebert review here),
Family Pictures (Anjelica Huston),
While I was Gone (Kirstie Alley)
Caveat: This book was sent to me for review.
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