...A book I actually liked!!! I know! Crazy, right? Well, before you think the book is about gene splicing or the political maneuvers of the Shining Path, I'll let you know this book is a work of fiction! And it's not even by Dostoevsky!!!
This was a "honeymoon read" that I didn't get around to reading. I mean, it has the perfect title for honeymoon fare: A Happy Marriage. I picked this up right before the insanity of the wedding thinking it would be a great lakeside read. Wrong.
Luckily, as we were listening to NPR the afternoon after we arrived in Idaho, Terry Gross was interviewing Rafael Yglesias about his new book, A Happy Marriage. I listened long enough to find out the book is about his late wife's battle with cancer and his inner turmoil with the nasty leftovers of an affair. So, um, yeah, this book was probably not what I needed to read mere days into my marriage. So I tucked it back in my suitcase for later.
"Later" turned out to be one of the most crazy weeks of the semester so far, so instead of doing my homework, I read this book. It was lovely. It recounts a beginning and an end of a marriage. This marriage was far from perfect and I really liked that. Margaret and Enrique (Rafael's pseudonym) are not perfect, either. They are infuriating at times! The book is brutally descriptive about the dying process for the individual suffering and their family, as well. It's visceral and raw, both the beginning and the end of this marriage.
Rafael needed some absolution for his adulterous ways, so he wrote this book. I'm so glad he did.
