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May 24, 2007

Alex rated it:

I must admit a penchant for reading diaries, collections of letters and first person dissections of relationships. Madeleine L'Engle books for adolescents have always appealed to me, for they are not insulting to the intelligence of children. This book is written about her marriage to actor Hugh Franklin. What I found from this book was the knowledge that marriage is hard work, and that its survival requires work. It is, as the title conveys, a two-part invention. How you live your marriage More...

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Dec 04, 2008

Songbird rated it:

I've owned this book for several years and read it a couple of times before, but I decided to reread it since Madeleine's (would have been) 90th birthday just passed on Nov. 29. It's still as lovely as ever, and I'm always amazed to reread some of the crazy things that happened in her life. This is a beautiful autobiography of her life and marriage to Hugh Franklin. It's especially meaningful if you've read her works of fiction, as you can often see parallels between her characters and storie More...

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Oct 17, 2008

Barner rated it:

This mnemoir was recommended to me by a close friend who felt I would apprecaite the contents. Though I know Madeline E'ngle from A WRINKLE in TIME, this book provided a fun, somber, and sincere look at her courtship, marriage family life, and the illness and death of her husband Hugh. At first I thought the author somewhat " full of herself " ( Maybe we all are when we fall in love.) Later I was moved by her devotion to her family and husband and the quiet, spiritual way in which More...

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May 21, 2011

Cyndy rated it:

While I can't name a favorite band or composer or movie, I've never had a problem naming my favorite author: Madeleine L'Engle. With the exception of out-of-print titles I've never been able to track down, I've read most of her work, from poetry to short stories to children's books to her journals. One of my favorites, however, is Two Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage, L'Engle's part journal, part tribute to her husband.

::: Parallels :::

Two Part Invention: The Story of More...

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Sep 15, 2010

Kricket rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Sep 03, 2010

Krista rated it:

One of the best memoirs I have ever read, although there is nothing easy about reading a memoir of a marriage written while one spouse is dying of cancer. L'Engle's voice is strong (not surprisingly...she is after all an acclaimed fiction writer as well), and the way she writes about life: love, marriage, art, vocation, career, faith, family, death, and grief is poignant, articulate, and unique.
This book is also helpful in thinking about how we grieve, and also how we mourn with those who More...

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May 11, 2010

Callie rated it:

A lovely, restrained book. Published in 1987 years before the current mania for memoirs. The ones written now are often so whiny, so full of dysfunction, and everything is dissected. But you are used to that, and then you read something like this and you think 'hmmm, I think I like the old fashioned ones a bit better' I thought L'Engle might be a bit strange, b/c when I read A Wrinkle in Time and the series when I was kid, I liked them, but found them a little unsettling. But maybe they aren't t More...

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Nov 01, 2010

Jon rated it:

This book has been on my to-read list for at least ten years, and I finally was inspired to take it off the shelf. I am very grateful for the last 30 pages of heart-felt remembrance of her beloved husband's death. It is genuine and moving. Most of the book, though, seemed to be little more than impersonal jottings from her journals--records of who she knew, dinners she attended, plays her husband and she were in, failures or successes at publishing, with little of substance. "We had a wonde More...

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Aug 16, 2009

Shirleen rated it:

Absolutely loved reading this autobiography! It concentrates on the love story between Madeleine and her actor husband Hugh Franklin, starting from when she first met him (it was love at first sight for her) until his death of cancer at the age of 70. I loved reading about how they coped with his illness, I loved her positive attitude of life, I loved that she could look back at her life with Hugh with no regrets, but instead with total appreciation of the happiness they shared through good ti More...

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Feb 22, 2011

Jen rated it:

I loved this book. This is my second time reading it - which is unusual for me- I usually read new things rather than go back to old favorites- but my book club was looking for a book about love for February. A friend (Trea West) recommended it to me when I got married and gave me a gift card to a book store so I searched it out. It's the kind of book where you want to write down pertinent quotes to inspire and help you when you need it later. This is an example: "I will have nothing to More...

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Oct 25, 2008

Kim rated it:

I loved this view of marriage by a female author...she deals frankly with the conflict between needing her autonomy as an artist and needing collaboration and connection with her spouse. L'Engle is frank and witty, her prose sprinkled with beautiful images of her wild childhood in NYC and her life in the country with her spouse. A nice balance between story-telling and truth-telling.

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Jul 30, 2007

erin rated it:

This is the first of Madeleine L'Engle that I've read. I randomly picked from the list on the library website and dove in. After completing it, I think it was probably an odd one to start with. It's the beautiful story of Madeleine and Hugh's marriage and ends with Madeleine's grief. It was a fast read and L'Engle is now definitely on my list to read.

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Jan 17, 2010

jayne rated it:

Matt Rogers actually recommended this book to me, and I'm glad I took him up on the recommendation. I just about copied the whole book in my journal. This book took Matt Rogers' book and fleshed it out even more. I'm confident Madeleine L'engle paved the way for me to hear Anne Lamott.

I do not want ever to be indifferent to the joys and beauties of this life. For through these, as through pain, we are enabled to see purpose in randomness, pattern in chaos. We do not have to under More...

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Jul 23, 2007

Caitlin rated it:

As a girl, I read A Wrinkle In Time and a Wind at the Door. As an adult thinking about getting married, I got to know a new side of Madeline L'Engle's writing and I learned a thing or two about her marriage.

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Jul 24, 2008

Libby rated it:

One thing I love about M L'E is that I feel I get substance but I can still read her quickly--very much enjoyed her look at her marriage, particularly in the face of her husband's death from cancer.

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Jan 29, 2011

Penny rated it:

I really enjoyed this book and since I take great interest in autobiographical books I found it hard to put down. Madeleine L'Engle tells her story in an honest voice that doesn't feel a need to shout to be heard.
This is a story of good people who are comfortable with who they are. They are people who find beauty and goodness in life and in other people. It is a book that gets us thinking about the spirituality of life. It is a book about living life to its fullest. It is a book about lov More...

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Feb 27, 2011

Ellen rated it:

I read this book while visiting two friends of mine who have one of the better marriages I've ever seen. The wife has a solid faith and an impressive knowledge of religion. The husband has an impressive knowledge of himself and of her. This is very much like the marriage between Madeleine L'Engle and her husband, Hugh Franklin, an actor. Franklin appeared on Broadway and on several soap operas including As the World Turns. L'Engle married rather later than most of her contemporaries and married More...

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Oct 01, 2011

Joy rated it:

This was a reread after Allison's comment on a L'Engle novel. There's a lot about the author that I like: connection to Jacksonville, priority of marriage (compatibility, frendship, companionship, "accepting each other's edges and corners"), commitment to children (including lots of reading), "I have always preferred the relaxation of a hot soak to the stimulation of a shower,"
nursing her babies. I also liked her husband, Hugh. On picnics: "Why eat outdoors with f More...

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Aug 13, 2009

James rated it:

A beautiful look at friendship, courtship, marriage, happiness, and grief all tied up in a small book. It is a wonderful walk through the relationship between Madeleine and Hugh. This is the way a marriage is supposed to be. A wonderful example of the power of love, especially when marriage vows are taken seriously and two people give themselves completely to one another and let nothing or no one else come between them.

I read some of Madeleine L'Engle's books when I was younger. More...

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Aug 01, 2010

Marni rated it:

I love it as the beautiful story of Madeleine L'Engle's marriage to her husband Hugh Franklin, a marriage worthy of emulation. So many lessons in it - the way she supports her husband, yet still is herself. The way she cares for him through cancer. You can feel the great love they had for each other.

I love the writing - it's like poetry, and full of wisdom. I underlined like crazy. Didn't take as many notes as I did reading "Circle of Quiet," but that would be hard to be More...

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Jan 25, 2009

Amelia rated it:

I love how Madeleine L'Engles shares with us the story of her beautiful marriage in this book. She is a very real person and though she lived and associated with famous people, she lead a life that we can relate to. I found the first chapters of her book just a little slow, but once I got past them I was totally drawn in and learned so much from her experiences and her complete devotion to her husband. She is such a wise woman, someone who has figured out how to get the most out of life, some More...

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Feb 18, 2010

Kimberly rated it:

This is the fourth volume in an autobiographical series written by Madeleine L'Engle. I was told that it could be read independently of the other volumes. It is an absolutely lovely book. In the first part she recounts some of her early years and also her courtship with the man who was to become her husband. The second part consists of reflections on her marriage and on trials, as she and her husband face a difficult situation. I'd give the second half of the book five stars. I'm glad I bo More...

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Aug 19, 2010

Brenda rated it:

I love discovering books like these. Who knew that way before memoirs became the next big thing in books, my much adored Madeleine L'Engle wrote an autobiography of her marriage. I certainly did not but read it as soon as I could get my hands on it. I've always found her to be an especially perceptive and wise author and this book is a little gem. L'Engle tells the story of her and Hugh's marriage from beginning to end, never falters, and offers wisom as she goes, which is appreciated by someone More...

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Jul 14, 2010

Abbie rated it:

Though I love Madeleine L'Engle, I didn't particularly want to read this book because I didn't think it would apply to me at this time in my life, but a friend loaned it to me, so I felt obliged to read it. I am so grateful to my friend. Yes, this is the story of L'Engle's forty year marriage to husband, Hugh Franklin, but it really about our relationships with each other and with God. Themes from L'Engle's most successful books appear here in relation to her own life and experiences. It is More...

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Apr 13, 2011

Ami rated it:

Author Madeleine L'Engle gives an account of both the beginnings and "ending" of her 40-year marriage to actor Hugh Franklin. The first part of the book drags a bit, when L'Engle spends just short of too much time talking about her childhood and life as a single theatre actress in New York City. I was reading the book to get her thoughts on marriage, so her unmarried years did not interest me much and I was just about to put the book down when she met Hugh.

I'm glad I ke More...

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Jun 19, 2008

Jerjonji rated it:

I am re-reading Madeleine L'Engle's memoir "Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage." There are few books I will re-read, especially since I finished this book last week, but this is more than a memoir, more than a tribute to her dying love. This is the story of a writer's passion fueling everyday life, and I find comfort in her frustration.

At one point she writes,

I was struggling to write, to keep house, help in the store, be a good mother, and yet improve More...

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Aug 19, 2009

Miranda rated it:

Madeleine L'Engle and her husband lived the era of my grandparents to the fullest. Both artists and what I might call "staunch" Americans (when that term used to denote a very specific set of values and goals) through World War II and the Cold War, their story seems old-fashioned to a reader in the 21st century. Yet the interiority of their marriage and their family life, which L'Engle shares in great detail with almost no self-consciousness but rather just a slight circumspection as a More...

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Jan 07, 2012

Allison rated it:

The story of L'Engle's life and her marriage set around her husbands brief battle with cancer.
This book had so many quotable sayings that I stopped trying to write them all down. It would have been much easier to keep track of them if I had read it on my kindle and could highlight easily. I felt sort of bad about wondering if she was a Christian or not because apparently she is very much so (but all that evolution talk threw me off!!). I am definitely going to keep this one around to re- More...

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Jan 03, 2009

Sam rated it:

As mentioned in a previous review, ML'E is an author I consider to be a major life influence.
Either the Christmas before or after we were married, my husband gave me this book, since it is 'The Story Of A Marriage'. It is also the story of her husband's illness & death. I sobbed my way through about 3/4 of the story, to the point where he apologized for giving it to me.
Still, I recommend this book heartily- it has certainly influenced how I view & value my marriage.

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Apr 19, 2009

Jae rated it:

I really enjoyed this memoir of the author's marriage, which cut between the early days of courtship and marriage and her husband's final illness. She has a very calm, tranquil style of writing, even when conveying deep emotions, that I found moving. I was interested in her description of her early married life, when she and her husband worked in the theater, although I also found it a little funny when she would say, offhand, something like, then I got a little job working in Eva La Galliene's More...

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