Married: A Fine Predicament - Hardcover

Anne Roiphe is the author of several books, including the novels Up the Sandbox and Lovingkindness, the nonfiction Fruitful: A Read Mother in the Modern World (nominated for the National Book Award in 1996) and the memoir 1185 Park Avenue. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Vogue, the New York Observer, Redbook, Glamour, Working Woman and Family Circle.

These two new memoirs consider the vagaries of marriage. Roiphe, whose numerous fiction and nonfiction works often treat women's and family issues, here picks up that theme by analyzing formal marriage from a variety of perspectives. Thorough and readable in her presentation, she considers all the arguments, dangers, objections, and benefits. In the end, although she does not want to "condemn anyone or legislate anything," she concludes, "We need...a hand in our hand. That is the justification for marriage." Marriage, she argues eloquently, can survive the initial romantic dreams, financial and midlife crises, boredom, everyday noises in the bathroom, and sudden appearance of children. Anderson relates her own experience repairing a marriage that was falling apart. When her husband announced a job move, she declined to follow and instead spent a year in semi-isolation, an experience she recorded in her memoir A Year by the Sea. The present title follows up that year. Her husband decides to retire, join her by the sea, and remake his own life. Although this work lacks the detail of Roiphe's book, it is a popular, readable account of a couple resettling for each other. Discussion questions for readers' groups are included in the back. Public libraries will want to consider both titles for their collections. [Anderson's book was previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/01.] Nancy P. Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.
- Nancy P. Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, NC
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