What do you think?
Rate this book
Remind Me Again Why I Married You
No one blends humor and heartbreak like Rita Ciresi, whose award-winning novels are lauded as much for their generous wit as for their unflinching honesty. Ciresi's crowd-pleasing novel, Pink Slip , captivated readers and critics alike, introducing two utterly unforgettable characters and a love story both bittersweet and comic. Now Ciresi returns to the people and place of that irresistible bestseller in a riotous and rueful, sexy and poignant tale of married love...a novel that asks how two people who fell desperately, passionately, heartbreakingly in love can sustain a second act.
It's Valentine's Day, and Lisa Strauss, nee Diodetto, is spending it playing dutiful wife at a $100-a-head benefit instead of in bed with Eben, her hardworking husband of (is it only?) five years. Once upon a time, Lisa, too, was a member of the corporate workaday world--until she fell in love with her boss (Eben), gave birth to a cute but rambunctious son, and gradually morphed into a stay-at-home mom. Somewhere in the mix Lisa also is a writer with ambitions of fame and glory, but those dreams seem to be shrinking, along with her sex life. That is, until a hotshot literary agent shows interest in Lisa's magnum opus.
Suddenly, she has a pen name, and an excerpt of her book appears in Playboy . In between revising chapters, Lisa is trying--and failing miserably--to get pregnant again. She's going house-hunting with Cynthia Farquhar, the gorgeous blond Realtor/divorcee who has become her closest confidante (and the object of Eben's secret fantasies). And she's wondering if this is all marriage is and can ever bonded for life to a man who may never again be the red-hot lover of their pre-marriage union. In fact, he just may turn out to be the conflicted protagonist of her novel--a devoted family man whose moral fiber may not be strong enough to withstand the slings and arrows of lust and temptation. As their lives begin to bizarrely mirror aspects of Lisa's book...as marital life as they know it teeters on the edge of utter chaos, Lisa and Eben search--apart and together--for the answer to the question that has plagued husbands and wives since time
Can love survive marriage?
In a wickedly funny, right-on-target look at love and relationships, Rita Ciresi peels back the layers of a marriage with equal doses of hilarity and humanity. Filled with all the zest, zingers, and unexpected surprises of life, Remind Me Again Why I Married You is this uncommonly gifted author at her lusty and liberating best.
It's Valentine's Day, and Lisa Strauss, nee Diodetto, is spending it playing dutiful wife at a $100-a-head benefit instead of in bed with Eben, her hardworking husband of (is it only?) five years. Once upon a time, Lisa, too, was a member of the corporate workaday world--until she fell in love with her boss (Eben), gave birth to a cute but rambunctious son, and gradually morphed into a stay-at-home mom. Somewhere in the mix Lisa also is a writer with ambitions of fame and glory, but those dreams seem to be shrinking, along with her sex life. That is, until a hotshot literary agent shows interest in Lisa's magnum opus.
Suddenly, she has a pen name, and an excerpt of her book appears in Playboy . In between revising chapters, Lisa is trying--and failing miserably--to get pregnant again. She's going house-hunting with Cynthia Farquhar, the gorgeous blond Realtor/divorcee who has become her closest confidante (and the object of Eben's secret fantasies). And she's wondering if this is all marriage is and can ever bonded for life to a man who may never again be the red-hot lover of their pre-marriage union. In fact, he just may turn out to be the conflicted protagonist of her novel--a devoted family man whose moral fiber may not be strong enough to withstand the slings and arrows of lust and temptation. As their lives begin to bizarrely mirror aspects of Lisa's book...as marital life as they know it teeters on the edge of utter chaos, Lisa and Eben search--apart and together--for the answer to the question that has plagued husbands and wives since time
Can love survive marriage?
In a wickedly funny, right-on-target look at love and relationships, Rita Ciresi peels back the layers of a marriage with equal doses of hilarity and humanity. Filled with all the zest, zingers, and unexpected surprises of life, Remind Me Again Why I Married You is this uncommonly gifted author at her lusty and liberating best.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
1 person is currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Rita Ciresi
18 books62 followersRita Ciresi was born in New Haven, Connecticut, a city which serves as the backdrop for most of her fiction. Ciresi is the author of three award-winning novels and two short-story collections that address the Italian-American experience.
Her latest novel, Bring Back My Body to Me, was a semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and a runner-up for the Faulkner/Wisdom Novella Award. Publishers Weekly called it "sensitive, funny, and charming. . . a refreshing entry to the very clogged sub-genre of cancer lit."
Her first collection of short stories, Mother Rocket, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the 1993 Los Angeles Times' Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
Her first novel, Blue Italian, was published in hardcover in 1996 by Ecco Press and in paperback by Delacorte Press in 1997. In 1999, it was translated and published as Blau ist die Hoffnung by Goldmann Verlag, Munich. Blue Italian was selected by Barnes and Noble as part of their "Discover New Writers Series." Reviewers have praised the novel as follows: "Rita Ciresi's beautifully written, bittersweet first novel examines love and marriage with unflinching honesty. The ending, with its moving, explicit sense of loss, resonates long after the book is closed." (Elle) "There is a sure hand and a keen eye reporting from the two ethnic camps. . . . Despite their faults and excesses. . . the characters. . . are funny and sympathetic in their misery." (New York Times) "This is honest, earthy, warm, and funny--as well as heartbreaking. Highly recommended." (Library Journal) "There is real substance in this tragicomic story of two people with smart mouths and starved hearts groping their way towards a love they don't get much chance to enjoy." (Publisher's Weekly) "A remarkably accomplished debut." (Booklist)
Ciresi’s second novel, Pink Slip was published by Delacorte in 1999, and by Delta Trade paperbacks in 2000. It was translated into German as Ein Mann fur Lisa (Goldmann Verlag, Munich) and into Dutch as Vlinders (Arena Publishers, Amsterdam). Pink Slip was the winner of the 1997 Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize for the Novel and an alternate selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club. Critical response to Pink Slip was as follows: “Wit and humor are the keys to this lively novel.” (Mademoiselle) “It’s refreshing to find a female narrator with an authentically lusty voice.” (New York Times) “A moving love story.” (Redbook) “Ciresi mixes the tragic and the comic aspects of love in hilarious fashion.” (Tampa Tribune-Times) “Bright characters and sharp dialogue make this witty romantic comedy a worthy sequel to the author’s admirable Blue Italian.” (Dallas Morning News) “Pink Slip amuses from start to finish.” (Penn Stater).
Ciresi’s volume of linked short stories, Sometimes I Dream in Italian, was published in 2001 to positive reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and newspapers from the St. Petersburg Times to the New Haven Advocate. The New York Times Book Review listed the volume under its “New and Noteworthy Paperbacks” and stated, “Ciresi has a lovely ear for dialogue and the ability to nail the details in descriptions that are both funny and painfully accurate.” The collection was a Book Sense 76 pick and a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize; it was translated into German by Goldmann Verlag as Italienische Kusse.
Remind Me Again Why I Married You is a sequel to Pink Slip. Told in alternating voices, Remind Me explains what happens when a man who values his privacy above all else marries a woman who is writing a tell-all novel.
Her latest novel, Bring Back My Body to Me, was a semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and a runner-up for the Faulkner/Wisdom Novella Award. Publishers Weekly called it "sensitive, funny, and charming. . . a refreshing entry to the very clogged sub-genre of cancer lit."
Her first collection of short stories, Mother Rocket, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the 1993 Los Angeles Times' Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
Her first novel, Blue Italian, was published in hardcover in 1996 by Ecco Press and in paperback by Delacorte Press in 1997. In 1999, it was translated and published as Blau ist die Hoffnung by Goldmann Verlag, Munich. Blue Italian was selected by Barnes and Noble as part of their "Discover New Writers Series." Reviewers have praised the novel as follows: "Rita Ciresi's beautifully written, bittersweet first novel examines love and marriage with unflinching honesty. The ending, with its moving, explicit sense of loss, resonates long after the book is closed." (Elle) "There is a sure hand and a keen eye reporting from the two ethnic camps. . . . Despite their faults and excesses. . . the characters. . . are funny and sympathetic in their misery." (New York Times) "This is honest, earthy, warm, and funny--as well as heartbreaking. Highly recommended." (Library Journal) "There is real substance in this tragicomic story of two people with smart mouths and starved hearts groping their way towards a love they don't get much chance to enjoy." (Publisher's Weekly) "A remarkably accomplished debut." (Booklist)
Ciresi’s second novel, Pink Slip was published by Delacorte in 1999, and by Delta Trade paperbacks in 2000. It was translated into German as Ein Mann fur Lisa (Goldmann Verlag, Munich) and into Dutch as Vlinders (Arena Publishers, Amsterdam). Pink Slip was the winner of the 1997 Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize for the Novel and an alternate selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club. Critical response to Pink Slip was as follows: “Wit and humor are the keys to this lively novel.” (Mademoiselle) “It’s refreshing to find a female narrator with an authentically lusty voice.” (New York Times) “A moving love story.” (Redbook) “Ciresi mixes the tragic and the comic aspects of love in hilarious fashion.” (Tampa Tribune-Times) “Bright characters and sharp dialogue make this witty romantic comedy a worthy sequel to the author’s admirable Blue Italian.” (Dallas Morning News) “Pink Slip amuses from start to finish.” (Penn Stater).
Ciresi’s volume of linked short stories, Sometimes I Dream in Italian, was published in 2001 to positive reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and newspapers from the St. Petersburg Times to the New Haven Advocate. The New York Times Book Review listed the volume under its “New and Noteworthy Paperbacks” and stated, “Ciresi has a lovely ear for dialogue and the ability to nail the details in descriptions that are both funny and painfully accurate.” The collection was a Book Sense 76 pick and a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize; it was translated into German by Goldmann Verlag as Italienische Kusse.
Remind Me Again Why I Married You is a sequel to Pink Slip. Told in alternating voices, Remind Me explains what happens when a man who values his privacy above all else marries a woman who is writing a tell-all novel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 20, 2008
This is the sequel to Pink Slip, which I recently reread. Rita Ciresi does a good job with dialogue, especially the weird tiny, comical arguments that people get into every single day over spoken or unspoken resentments. My only problem with this book is the classic problem with sequels, I guess...I liked the characters enough to want to know what happened to them at the end of the 1st book, but I was sort of disappointed at where they were in the 2nd book. I think I was happier with my own imaginary version of their future.
December 16, 2010
I liked Pink Slip and Blue Italian better ~
August 12, 2011
This is one of those books you just keep waiting for it to get started. And waiting. And waiting.
Heck, it didn't even have an actual ending.
Heck, it didn't even have an actual ending.
April 23, 2013
Really interesting writing, characters were pretty good, but it felt like the story just petered out at the end.
September 25, 2017
I am kind of surprised I actually finished this. It was not a thrill ride, that is for sure. Some nicely expressed descriptions and a few scenes seemed pretty true to life, but the rather stereotypic plot, such as it was, moved slowly. This is a sequel to a book I didn't read so perhaps that negatively affected my appreciation of it.
February 18, 2021
Narrated alternately by a husband and wife in a marriage rut- you see where they are missing each other in their communication, but they can't.
December 8, 2011
If this an example of what married life is about...then there is no way I ever want to get married! NOR having a child... Reading this book, I kept asking myself, why in the world did these people ever have a kid?!?! They obviously seem to care about him, but not the way I feel good/amazing parents would be. I did not, nor will I read the first book to this..but have heard the first book is pretty good...I will take their word for it!
August 6, 2008
Too honest and sincere to really be put in the Chick-Lit category. I really feel like Lisa is a very believable character with insecurities that just rang a bell for me; I didn't know that other people have the same issues in their marriages, and this book gave me a very realistic view about love in a commoted relationship.
December 29, 2008
There are a few humerous lines, but it pales next to Pink Slip. The child is raised disturbingly precociously, as his parents discribe why they are always "Fing" (yes, Ciresi uses the word) to procreate.
February 16, 2011
after reading John Connolly and Dean Koontz I needed some "chick flick" simple reading-and this filled the bill. Just a cutesy, fairly predicatble read with down to earth real life characters. Perfect way to lighten up:)
February 2, 2016
We get to meet Lisa and Eben again in this book. This one is more a family drama with them figuring out how to keep their marrage goind. I liked how they kept thinking of pulling away but ended up always comming back to each other.
March 5, 2007
not as good as the first, but enjoyable. i was really happy to meet up with the characters again.
August 8, 2007
This is the sequel to Pink Slip. While I liked Pink Slip better, I still enjoyed this book. I like the author, and want to read more of her books.
November 20, 2007
Interesting storyline that didn't follow the typical storyline...but then if you look at this as Chick Lit, I guess the authour's chosen ending is VERY typical. LOL
October 30, 2010
A great sequel to Pink Slip. It wasn't as great but I still enjoyed it because I was reading it as a newlywed and I could really identify with Lisa. I would like another book to this story.
September 8, 2011
The sequel to Pink Slip but not as good. I liked the heroine better in Pink Slip.
September 8, 2011
And if I reread Pink Slip I have to reread this one, too!
November 11, 2013
I became bored with this book after about thirty pages. This wasn't the book for me.
October 11, 2013
Wouldn't recommend it to a friend....it really didn't have a plot or resolution just a snippet of 2 miserable peoples mediocre lives
August 18, 2012
Good summer reading. How a couple sustains their marriage. Funny and light.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews