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The Story of a Marriage: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Andrew Sean Greer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $22.00
Buy New: $10.95
You Save: $11.05 (50%)
New (38) Used (18) Collectible (1) from $10.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 3479
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 1.2 x 1
ISBN: 0374108668
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780374108663
ASIN: 0374108668
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: CHARITY SALE!! New book -- slight shelf wear to dust jacket. 100% of the proceeds benefit the literacy efforts of Books For America.
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Product Description
From the bestselling author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a love story full of secrets and astonishments set in 1950s San Francisco “We think we know the ones we love.” So Pearlie Cook begins her indirect and devastating exploration of the mystery at the heart of every relationship, how we can ever truly know another person. It is 1953 and Pearlie, a dutiful housewife, finds herself living in the Sunset district of San Francisco, caring not only for her husband’s fragile health but also for her son, who is afflicted with polio. Then, one Saturday morning, a stranger appears on her doorstep and everything changes. All the certainties by which Pearlie has lived are thrown into doubt. Does she know her husband at all? And what does the stranger want in return for his offer of $100,000? For six months in 1953, young Pearlie Cook struggles to understand the world around her, most especially her husband, Holland. Pearlie’s story is a meditation not only on love but also on the effects of war—with one war just over and another one in Korea coming to a close. Set in a climate of fear and repression—political, sexual, and racial—The Story of a Marriage portrays three people trapped by the confines of their era, and the desperate measures they are prepared to take to escape it. Lyrical and surprising, The Story of a Marriage looks back at a period that we tend to misremember as one of innocence and simplicity. Like Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, Andrew Sean Greer’s novel is a narrative tour de force that confirms him as “one of the most talented writers around” (Michael Chabon).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 A multi-layered shimmer that bedazzles August 22, 2008
Andrew Sean Greer is a riot of talent. He carves his words with such precision that one can have no choice but to be surrender to his writing. His works, including Story of a Marriage, always deal with the subtle underplay of the human mind, and ultimately reveal the fragility of our existence.
I don't want to reveal the stories - a lot of reviewers have already done that. Besides, with this story, more than the story itself, it is the manner in which it is laid out that matters. Almost like midnight-blue silk skeins spread one beside the other.
For those who look for literature, rather than just an easy weekend read, for those who seek to tease from stories a modicum of meaning, The Story of A Marriage has many delights to offer. It will leave a lump in your throat, show you exotic new vistas of the human soul, leave you with the sort of feeling one has when they read a monumental work.
Mr. Greer, thank you for elevating our literary experiences to transcendental levels.
Ultimately rewarding August 4, 2008
I had problems with this novel. It started beautifully but soon became heavy-handed. My interest flagged from time to time. However, I pushed through, and found myself totally absorbed and rewarded by the end. There is one helluva good story here: a young married woman is confronted by her husband's former male lover who insinuates his way into their lives with devastating consequences (yes, there are shades of "Far From Heaven" - if he were alive Douglas Sirk would film this with Halle Berry tomorrow). Though the prose is often arresting (I highlighted a number of passages), there is simply too much of it. Nothing is simply stated and this inhibits the flow of the story. So why four stars? The story is THAT compelling and the prose is THAT good.
 Overrated and Underwhelming August 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This novel was hyped on NPR, so I assumed it would deliver with a solid plot and engaging characters. I was terribly disappointed. Greer relies on several plot "surprises" here and there to keep the story progressing. However, without solid character development and voice, these twists feel like pathetic manipulations to keep readers engaged. I got through the book in a weekend, but what motivated me to finish was the thought that once I hit the last page, I could finally move on to another novel and be done with this one. Trust me -- don't bother. If you must read it for yourself, check it out from the library and save your money for a better read.
 Tinny and Artificial July 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Pearlie has a taste for aphoristic musings. "We think we know the ones we love," she writes. "But what we love turns out to be a poor translation, a translation we ourselves have made, from a language we barely know." These quasi-Proustian observations and their associated metaphors are brought to a state of high polish. But Greer's plotting doesn't always live up to Pearlie's commentary. A side-story involving a spirited white girl who's secretly engaged to a prejudiced soda-jerk is tacked on to the main plot in a way that's both implausible and underexplained. Pearlie's sympathy for Buzz blooms remarkably quickly, and there's an excess of busily symbolic detail. If the characters watch a movie, overhear a TV show or read the words printed on a paper bag, what they come across will be eerily reflective of their predicament.
Most of all, Greer's first big narrative bombshell doesn't detonate with the force that he seems to be hoping for. After all the wary looks from white neighbors, references to the status of the "colored" population, mentions of Pearlie's "community" and descriptions of visits to segregated lunchrooms, only very inattentive readers will be startled to learn that the Cooks are black; some might even wonder why Pearlie has tried to play such a heavy-handed trick. The surprises in what follows are managed more skillfully, and Greer has clearly done his homework on the time he's depicting. But the artificial, slightly tinny resonance never goes away.
"This is a war story. It was not meant to be." July 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"It started as a love story, the story of a marriage, but the war has stuck to it everywhere like shattered glass. Not an ordinary story of men in battle but of those who did not go to war." So writes Andrew Sean Greer: in marriage, and in war, there are hard times, severe pain, and sometimes, resolution and understanding.
The story, set in 1953, centers around Pearlie COok, a dutiful wife, her husband Holland, a conflicted man, their young son Sonny who is afflicted with polio, and a stranger named Buzz who throws this world into turmoil. Within their story, much of the fear and paranoia of the era is played out -- sexism, racism, homophobia, and the continuing saga of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed for treason.
This is not a perfect book. As other reviewers have pointed out, some of the coincidences are improbable; also, the characters are not as introspective as this reader would have liked. What's more (no spoilers), the sacrifice Pearlie is willing to make to ensure her husband's happiness seems excessive and, to this reader, unlikely, especially considering the era. On the other hand, the questions Greer raises on war, love and motherhood, combined with the luminous writing, raise this book to a higher standard. I'd recommend it with qualifications.
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