The Country of Marriage: Stories - Softcover

Giardina, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812992350 ISBN 13: 9780812992359

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 1998

Synopsis

With this collection of stories, Anthony Giardina takes his place among the finest writers of short fiction in America.

The Country of Marriage is a window into the lives of men as they confront the darkness at the heart of domestic existence. Giardina looks at our relationships with an eye capable of clinical precision but never devoid of compassion, and gives voice to the emotions that lie unexplored and unexpressed beneath their seemingly placid surface.

In "Days with Cecilia," a highly articulate shop teacher reveals by attrition the sexual secret of his marriage. In "The Lake," a young fireman confronts his complicity in the murder of his best friend's wife. And in "The Films of Richard Egan," the aborted career of an almost-was film star finds its echo in a suburban boy's life.

These are emotional landscapes at once familiar and unsettling, with characters who are instantly recognizable but endlessly surprising. Brilliantly observed and masterfully told, The Country of Marriage is an unforgettable montage of lives of dwindling promise, of stubborn hope, of emotional atrophy, and of the courage to take root in the indifferent soil of modern existence.

"Anthony Giardina has an exquisite sense of the nuances of gesture and voice, the clamor of things unsaid."--The New York Times Book Review

About this title

Review:

‘These stories offer no lists of things to do to improve your marriage overnight. They simply describe what being inside a marriage is like, with elegant and often painful accuracy... Giardina’s prose is full of insights that will make men nod in rueful recognition.’
Brandon Robshaw, Independent

‘These are disturbingly well written stories which manage to be pitiless without being cruel. Giardina has an extraordinary gift for describing the eddies of power in what seem to be familiar relationships. The effect is frightening and, I fear, true.’
David Hare

From the Back Cover:

“Welcome to the psyche of the married man. Through the eyes of the passive adulterer, the contented father, the guilty cheater and the cuckold, this strange and honest set of portraits affords insight into the masculine desire to act without making decisions or taking responsibility.”
Sally Feldman,
'Good Housekeeping'

“Here's a rare thing: a man writing about men and their marriages. And though these are regular, middle-aged Americans – medics, firemen, academics, with their wives, neighbours, kids and affairs – they are among the most gripping fictional characters I've ever encountered. Imagine all those monosyllabic guys in the books and the movies of the past decade suddenly turning around and explaining themselves. Quite how Giardina makes domestic drama seem so urgent and thrilling is a mystery, but every story in this classic collection is a page-turner.”
Julie Myerson,
'Mail on Sunday'

“It's not all jam being a man these days. Pilloried in the media for our risible shortcomings, we can't even respond by being strong and silent. Strong and silent gets you no points any more. Sensitive and articulate is the thing – not our forte . . . Anthony Giardina's stories offer no lists of things to do to improve your marriage overnight. They simply describe what being inside a marriage is like, with elegant and often painful accuracy . . .All are written in the same icy, skilful prose. Giardina's men are self-aware but paralysed. They smoke cigarettes and look at the stars after their wives have gone to bed. They know precisely what's going wrong but can't lift a finger to change it. Giardina's prose is full of insights which will make men nod in rueful recognition.”
Brandon Robshaw, 'Independent'

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0812992350
• ISBN 13: 9780812992359
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224