"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
If this all sounds a tad generic, Tyler's case isn't helped by the characteristics she's given the two spouses. Him: repressed, censorious, quiet. Her: voluble, emotional, romantic. Mars, meet Venus. What marks this couple, though, and what makes them come alive, is their bitter, unproductive, tooth-and-nail fighting. Tyler is exploring the way that ordinary-seeming, prosperous people can survive in emotional poverty for years on end. She gets just right the tricks Michael and Pauline play on themselves in order to stay together: "How many times", Pauline asks herself, "when she was weary of dealing with Michael, had she forced herself to recall the way he'd looked that first day? The slant of his fine cheekbones, the firming of his lips as he pressed the adhesive tape in place on her forehead". Only in antogonism do Michael and Pauline find a way to express themselves. --Claire Dederer, Amazon.com
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within United Kingdom
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780345470614
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780345470614
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IB-9780345470614
Book Description Condition: New. 2004. Reprint. Paperback. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780345470614
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the beloved Pulitzer Prizewinning authora rich and compelling novel about a mismatched marriage and its consequences, spanning three generations They seemed like the perfect coupleyoung, good-looking, made for each other. The moment Pauline, a stranger to the Polish Eastern Avenue neighborhood of Baltimore (though she lived only twenty minutes away), walked into his mothers grocery store, Michael was smitten. And in the heat of World War II fervor, they are propelled into a hasty wedding. But they never should have married. Pauline, impulsive, impractical, tumbles hit-or-miss through life; Michael, plodding, cautious, judgmental, proceeds deliberately. While other young marrieds, equally ignorant at the start, seemed to grow more seasoned, Pauline and Michael remain amateurs. In time their foolish quarrels take their toll. Even when they find themselves, almost thirty years later, loving, instant parents to a little grandson named Pagan, whom they rescue from Haight-Ashbury, they still cannot bridge their deep-rooted differences. Flighty Pauline clings to the notion that the rifts can always be patched. To the unyielding Michael, they become unbearable. From the sound of the cash register in the old grocery to the counterculture jargon of the sixties, from the miniskirts to the multilayered apparel of later years, Anne Tyler captures the evocative nuances of everyday life during these decades with such telling precision that every page brings smiles of recognition. Throughout, as each of the competing voices bears witness, we are drawn ever more fully into the complex entanglements of family life in this wise, embracing, and deeply perceptive novel. From the inimitable Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Breathing Lessons" comes a rich and compelling novel--a "New York Times" bestseller--about a mismatched marriage, and its consequences spanning three generations. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780345470614
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 336. Seller Inventory # 26729937
Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. The Amateur Marriage 0.55. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780345470614
Book Description Condition: New. 2004. Reprint. Paperback. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780345470614
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780345470614
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. reprint edition. 317 pages. 7.75x5.00x0.75 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # x-0345470613