What do you think?
Rate this book
A Marriage Made at Woodstock
Married for more than twenty years, Woodstock sweethearts Lorraine and Fred Stone, aka Chandra and Frederick, find their marriage ending when the earth-conscious Chandra can no longer accept Frederick's cyberspace career. Reprint.
276 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2014
10 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 28, 2019
Normally, I wouldn't give this type of book such a high rating. Maybe it's the relatability or maybe it's the fact that this is the first book I've been able to read in its entirety after a several-year-long reading hiatus, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Frederick Stone's life in Portland, Maine. Pelletier was able to create such a vivid inner dialogue between Stone and his thoughts that I, too, found myself having such a conversation with myself at times of crucial decision-making. Parts of this novel did tend to drag on with (what seemed to me to be) unnecessary descriptions of insignificant details, but overall, Pelletier captured my attention and never lost it- a feat that no author has been able to accomplish in several years.
September 5, 2013
I didn't care for the book. Fredrick was a cry baby and I just didn't like him. It was kind of boring and took a lot longer for me to read than I think it should have. I read it all because my sister recommended it. See if I listen to her again! HA!
April 29, 2010
Cathy Pelletier is great. This is a very enjoyable book and I liked that it takes place in Portland.
January 25, 2019
How could 1992 have been 26 years ago?
March 6, 2020
This is a re read for me. Back in the early days of the internet there was a website called Cafe Utne which I joined. They had started a book club and their first book was Marriage Made at Woodstock. I read it, it wasn't all that interesting, but I never put it down here. I decided to re read it. I did like it better than I did before. I still insist it is very slow. I don't find books believable when characters easily lose jobs and it doesn't effect them. In real life, whenver I lost a job it was a seismic event that I suffered over for years, so for me that made it far fetched. I did however believe in Frederick and Chandra's split. They had truly grown apart into two different people. All in all, it had interesting moments, but I wasn't in love with it.
September 5, 2024
4.5 stars.
I love her writing. The characters are believable, and sometimes it's laugh out loud funny. Frederick is supposed to be 44yo, but seems more like 75, which in itself is amusing. The only reason for the loss of 1/2 star is....if I had to see the word "pinwheel" one more time, I would've thrown the book. That word was WAY overused!
I love her writing. The characters are believable, and sometimes it's laugh out loud funny. Frederick is supposed to be 44yo, but seems more like 75, which in itself is amusing. The only reason for the loss of 1/2 star is....if I had to see the word "pinwheel" one more time, I would've thrown the book. That word was WAY overused!
Read
April 15, 2020There is a gem of a good story in here--a man whose wife leaves him after 20 years, and his life then falls apart. Unfortunately the story is a bit lost amid baby boomer navel gazing. "Oh, I used to be a hippy, and now I am an accountant, blah blah blah what has become of us flower children?"
September 10, 2017
Main character is extraordinarily boring--no wonder his wife left him. Writing style is also boring.
October 9, 2017
I read this book a long time ago, but I still remember pieces of it now and again as a memory of it will come into my life because I’ll experience something familiar to the book.
December 11, 2017
I actually couldn’t finish the book. It was too boring.
February 21, 2018
I didn't find the characters or their interactions believable
May 24, 2019
Readable, sometimes funny, but I'd rather be in Mattagash.
March 28, 2023
Sanctimonious and stupid......its like an episode of the view in print.
August 1, 2015
A tale of young, idealistic love, Fred and Lorraine (Chandra) meet at Woodstock, fall in love and marry. Their life moves forward from the 'free love' generation into the daily grind of today and slowly without them noticing they drift apart. It's a story about the slow dissolution of a marriage as they both grow and change until one day they wake up and everything is different. A lot of soul searching follows, reliving the past to find where it all went wrong, how did they change so dramatically and can they find their way back to each other.
To be honest, while I enjoyed parts of the book, I got a little annoyed with the main character, Fred. He was a little bit whiney for my liking and felt a bit too sorry for himself. I could really sympathise with his wife who was the one who decided to leave him. I think that Fred, as the character, didn't like himself very much either when he stood back and took a good look at how he had veered off course. So in the end, I think the book was more about finding your way back to yourself.
To be honest, while I enjoyed parts of the book, I got a little annoyed with the main character, Fred. He was a little bit whiney for my liking and felt a bit too sorry for himself. I could really sympathise with his wife who was the one who decided to leave him. I think that Fred, as the character, didn't like himself very much either when he stood back and took a good look at how he had veered off course. So in the end, I think the book was more about finding your way back to yourself.
May 24, 2015
How do you get to this suddenly from all that serious material you have been reading?
I don't know, but, it happens.
The title captivated me at first, it made me feel like something must be going on here, something great. Then, I red through it. For us who were born long after Woodstock happened, the festival remains like a mythical space, all encompassing, a moment which defined a generation. Here I am then, reading about a marriage made there, about a marriage that is falling apart. The book humanizes history, creates characters and makes us feel with them.
Sure, there are faults, I mean the characters are not that well-developed and the prose moves from dreamy to popular novel to whatever, but, God it is romance and I would rather not pay attention to the details anymore.
Rather, I would pay attention to a woman who writes to her husband in the rain, and the husband who recites E.E Cummings to his wife. There is something magical in that.
I don't know, but, it happens.
The title captivated me at first, it made me feel like something must be going on here, something great. Then, I red through it. For us who were born long after Woodstock happened, the festival remains like a mythical space, all encompassing, a moment which defined a generation. Here I am then, reading about a marriage made there, about a marriage that is falling apart. The book humanizes history, creates characters and makes us feel with them.
Sure, there are faults, I mean the characters are not that well-developed and the prose moves from dreamy to popular novel to whatever, but, God it is romance and I would rather not pay attention to the details anymore.
Rather, I would pay attention to a woman who writes to her husband in the rain, and the husband who recites E.E Cummings to his wife. There is something magical in that.
December 13, 2022
Egad...the story of Freddy and Chandra.So much resonates because I'm of their generation.
Can't write much right now because I'm sort of overcome with news of the 60s, the humor and the detailing.
Sure think this is a fine novel.
And sure think it's worth reading for those of a certain age...60 and over?
Sometimes hard to cull through Frederick's "stuff" - and Lorraine/Chandra's, too, but...
the humor is clear, the stuff of the book is accurate, and I'm so glad it's set around Portland, ME.
And there are so many adjunct characters whose presence is welcome.
Read it if you're a bit older!
Can't write much right now because I'm sort of overcome with news of the 60s, the humor and the detailing.
Sure think this is a fine novel.
And sure think it's worth reading for those of a certain age...60 and over?
Sometimes hard to cull through Frederick's "stuff" - and Lorraine/Chandra's, too, but...
the humor is clear, the stuff of the book is accurate, and I'm so glad it's set around Portland, ME.
And there are so many adjunct characters whose presence is welcome.
Read it if you're a bit older!
February 10, 2016
Long fairly boring book about a man and woman who got married in the flush of excitement and optimism of Woodstock, only to grow apart. The man has become set in his ways and fairly conservative and checked out, and so his wife leaves him. He then spends the rest of the novel coping in a rather boring and flat manner. It seemed neverending and I didn't really connect with any of the characters.
April 16, 2015
This started out fairly funny and amusing, but it never developed. A one note song about an accountant's divorce and recovery from his quasi hippie wife. Each scene by itself had some humor, but the same comedic elements over and over got boring. The maturation of Fredrick was not persuasive I barely was able to finish.
February 1, 2010
This book was one of my favorite reads of the summer. Possibly because of where I was personally, but the honesty of the book made me feel a certain kinship with the main character. It was a great find.
May 2, 2011
Although I put it my adult contemporary, this tale of a marriage lost, to among other things, an obsession with the computer is getting a little long in the tooth technology-wise. I kept visualizing the blinking green cursor of the DOS operating system.
January 17, 2022
This is a calm, inspiring story about moving on from lost loves and coming back from losing ourselves as well. This is far from a page turner but it tugs on the heart strings and leaves you with feelings and sentiments you can hold onto for a long time. A nice, slow, relaxing read.
February 1, 2009
Have to read this one.From 1994, but takes place locally, right in Portland.
September 22, 2010
HILARIOUS
August 30, 2011
Poignant, funny, with authentic characters!! I don't know why this author is not more popular. Love her writting!
Want to read
March 8, 20123/8/12 ~ Got back to the 2nd hand store by mom today & this is one of the books I got for $0.50. My dust jacket is different.
January 7, 2013
Love the author's style of humor with the written word.
February 1, 2016
A hippie marriage! Pretty funny but sad, too
August 16, 2016
A little dated as this was written in 1994 but an amusing story of a marriage that totally falls apart.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews