Monday, April 11, 2011

The 158-Pound Marriage

I FLEW through this book. First, because it's short. And second, because I got really wrapped up in the characters. There are 4 main characters and I liked some more than others but they were all very interesting and had deep personalities/motives/emotions. They seemed very real to me.

This is the first John Irving book I've read and I liked it so much, I'll have to read another. (He wrote Cider House Rules and I know it's a movie, but I didn't see it and couldn't tell you anything about it except it was nominated for some Academy Awards.)

The briefest synopsis I can give you is 2 couples begin a casual affair where they swap wives. (The book calls it a foursome, but never in the book are all four parties in bed together) I'm pretty sure anyone who has ever been in a stable serious relationship is like, "What? This will not end well." And not to spoil anything(the back of the book will tell you) it doesn't.

It's told from the perspective of one of the husbands and he seems to be a very reliable narrator. btw, the book was published in 1974, so give you a little historic perspective.

This is the kind of book that after it was over I wanted to talk about it. A LOT. This is the kind of story, that if it was a movie I watched with Husband, we'd still be talking about it.

I can't imagine a situation where I would ever think it was a good idea that Husband and I find another couple and intermingle socially and sexually with them. So, that part of the story was hard for me to relate to, but I definitely believed it was a possible scenario. Plus, I enjoyed reading how each of the four dealt with the affair.

read it.


7 comments:

laurensmommy said...

I've never heard of this book until now. I did see Cider House Rules and it was just "eh." I wouldn't see it again or anything.

That John Irving has some controversial material! Especially for the time it was written.

TL said...

you should post this to the book blog!

Christy Ross said...

TL: will do. I didn't think it was genre appropriate enough to qualify.

TL said...

i hear you...i think that it should be more open than what i originally outlined - as evidenced by the lack of recent entries. i'm going to send an email out i think.

Lee said...

Cider House Rules was "eh"-I agree. But the movies are rarely as good as the movies.

Lee said...

Um-I meant movies are rarely as good as the books. Duh!

Tina said...

adding to the list b/c it sounds like something great - especially to discuss.