Monogamy: A Novel Paperback – May 4, 2021

This book is very well written and the principal characters--Graham, the husband, and Annie, the wife,are very realistically portrayed. In fact, they are imbued with such a force of personality that they seem incredibly real and three dimensional.Graham dies suddenly after he an Annie have been married for 30 years, and she is devastated, as is everyone who knew Graham. He is larger than life and imminently likable. I have to smile when I remember how he described himself to Annie: "Everybody loves a fat penis," he said. "Why not love the fat man who carries it around?"Graham is co-owner of a book store; Anna is a photographer. They have two children--Lucas, Graham's son by his first wife, and Sarah, their younger daughter. Family and friends gather at Graham and Annie's home frequently. Annie goes to considerable trouble to cook delicious meals and set a beautiful table. Many bottles of wine are imbibed during the course of the get togethers. These descriptions of the dinner parties are so engaging that readers will find themselves wishing they had been invited, that they had friends like Graham and Annie.After a very painful revelation, Annie begins to doubt her memories of Graham and his love for her. Ultimately, with the insight of her family and friends and her own staunch love for her husband, Annie's crisis of faith in her husband is resolved and she is able to move on.

Sue Miller and Barbara Kingsolver are my two favorite writers, but for different reasons. Both use the English language beautifully so I don't need a mental red pencil to point out all the annoying cliches and grammatical errors that so many "popular" contemporary writers make. (I considered "Where the Crawdads Sing" and "Lessons in Chemistry" to be junk that I'm sorry I bought.) I think we Americans really are getting dumber. Maybe too much neurological damage from multiple COVID-19 infections.Whereas Kingsolver's art is descriptive passages-- stringing words into sentences through her unique lens, Sue Miller's special gift is getting inside her characters' minds, with exquisitely detailed descriptions of their thoughts and actions. I do not always like her characters, but I always understand them and what motivates them.Some people wrote reviews criticizing the detail, but I love it. This is not plot-heavy, action-packed, and to be blown through in a day, nor escapist reading. It is both thoughtfully written and thought provoking.Now for the "except" part. The beginning of this novel read like what I expect a cheap, tawdry romance/sex story to be like (having never read one). My thought, after reading the opening chapters, was that Miller has lost her touch, or has lousy editors. I nearly stopped reading it, and put it in the box of stuff destined for Goodwill, but am glad I didn't. It eventually returned to the style for which I love and admire Miller's books, and did not disappoint. It is not her best book, but it was as a close second or third.

Book was well written. I read it as a book club selection. I liked the detailed characterizations of the main characters. By the end of the book, however, I had to ask what was the point of the story? It was a story with a good beginning, middle, but the end just seemed to drop off.

The plot is thin, almost skeletal. The storyline has a measured tempo. And yet, it’s an intense, often tortuous account of a marriage.Our main characters, Graham and Annie are married about thirty years. It’s an emotional marriage. Graham is a multi-faceted, glorious character; he is filled with outrageous energy, intelligence, and he is totally demonstrative with his emotions. Both characters had a previous marriage, ending in divorce. However, Frieda, Graham’s first wife remains part of their life with their son, Lucas. Annie is welcoming and involved with bothWe are introduced to Graham as this larger-than-life bookstore owner who is outgoing, clever and friendly. Annie is more circumspect and patient – sometimes distant. Both Annie and he had difficult childhoods, Graham’s was wretched and one can believe his need to belong. Married, they live in a humble home in a wealthy neighborhood. They are about the arts: visual and written. Annie is a photographer and Graham is surrounded with his knowledge of books and music.We are introduced to this mismatched couple by their size; Annie is a petite woman, Graham is large (fat, actually) with a voracious appetite. In scene after scene, Miller has someone drinking wine, in good times and bad. There always seems to be an inventory of wine. Graham is older but he dies at only sixty-five. Miller’s description of his death prepares the reader for the stages of grief, some familiar, some heartbreaking and surprising.Perspective is within each as the novel moves along. Sarah is Annie and Graham’s daughter, a big girl with a wonderful speaking voice. She and Lucas are thoughtful to both Frieda and Annie telling us they have been loved and shown how to treat family and friends. It was gratifying. Miller also gave me information that is usually missing from most novels. Towards the end of the novel, Annie inherits $50,000 from a neighbor to take of her cat and she received $200,000 from Graham’s life insurance policy. It made the story more real. I always have wondered in many stories; how much money is there? Can she/he live on it for a few years? These numbers made her widowhood more tangible knowing the only existence is not mourning and grief.There was an especially unusual flashback of sorts. As a young girl in Chicago, Annie was friendly with Sofie Kahn, now a professional cellist. She recalls the stark contrast between Sofie's mother, who survived WWII, with her mother who was insular and selfish. I was surprised Miller did not have Annie reconnect with Sofie.One might think this is a familiar plot, the odyssey of a marriage, with or without extra-marital affairs, but Miller’s skill makes it real; long relationships are complex and often thorny.

I found it hard to put down. Many interesting characters and the reader gets to peek into their lives. Some sad moments and events.

A história é bem escrita, mas lá pelo meio do livro não achei muito interessante, ficou um pouco arrastado e monótono. No entanto, o início e o final são bem mais empolgantes.

I read through the book waiting for some exciting, interesting plot twist to happen but it didn't... I wouldn't recommend reading it

This is the book that I wish I had written. Every now and again, we read a book that touches us deeply, that speaks to and for us, that seems so real that we totally understand the characters. This is one of those books.From the very first pages, I loved this book. It is so well written that I found myself savouring every word. I read it slowly, not wanting to rush it, as I simply did not want it to end. I was fully immersed in the lives of the characters and their emotions. I could identify with them all as we lived through their lives and emotions. I think the writer provided us with deep insight into how families and marriages work, how our lives and actions impact on others. How we parent our children can affect how they grow up and see the world, and how mothers can be harshly judged whatever they do.This book explores the realities of life from birth to death, good and bad, in some depth. The detail is first class.

Its a good read...ringing quite a few bells as each generation has its own view of events both past and present.