Matrimony (Vintage Contemporaries) in ReadingGroupGuides.com

Aug 24, 2009 Deborah rated it liked it

This book started out with a wonderful draw of the friendship of two young authors' in college days. It carried through their years of being married...and then sort of fizzled out... I loved the beginning to middle and was hoping for a wonderful ending for the characters; however, the author lost his momentum and the story's thread of interest and ended it with a dull, flat note. I had to give the book a rating of 3 because of this. I can't recommend it, either, because it felt like someone tell ...more

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Sep 28, 2008 Serena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Joshua Henkin's Matrimony is more than just about how marriage and love can withstand the test of time and the struggles each spouse faces. Julian Wainwright's struggle as a writer to finish his novel and to juggle his marriage, life, a job, and his friends amidst his creative endeavors is central to this novel. In a way, Julian's dedication to his art is like a marriage and it is not surprising that some of his friends and even to an extent his wife, Mia, believe that he should settle down with Joshua Henkin's Matrimony is more than just about how marriage and love can withstand the test of time and the struggles each spouse faces. Julian Wainwright's struggle as a writer to finish his novel and to juggle his marriage, life, a job, and his friends amidst his creative endeavors is central to this novel. In a way, Julian's dedication to his art is like a marriage and it is not surprising that some of his friends and even to an extent his wife, Mia, believe that he should settle down with a "real" job.

Matrimony opens as Julian begins his tenure at Graymont College in Massachusetts and meets his first friend, Carter Heinz. Eventually through their travels they both meet, fall in love, and marry their college sweethearts, Mia and Pilar, respectively. Upon graduation, each couple makes decisions that change their lives and their relationships.

Julian moves to Ann Arbor, Mich., with his wife, Mia, who has become a graduate student in psychology. He wants to write his novel, but he finds agreeing to teach composition at the university is disheartening as it is challenge, especially in terms of the progress he makes on the novel. Carter and Pilar apply to law school in California, but eventually the pressure they place on one another and themselves crush their marriage.

Henkin's writing style will relax the reader and carry them along through these characters' lives with ease, but this ease also can distance the reader from the characters.

Although the novel's cadence is calming, the characters are well-developed and intriguing enough to keep reading and discovering where they plan to go next. One of my favorite minor characters from the novel is center stage in Julian's world early on--Professor Chesterfield. Julian's professor has established his own workshop rules, including Thou Shalt Never Use Pass-the-Salt Dialogue and Thou Shalt Not Utter the Phrase "Show Don't Tell" When Discussing One Another's Short Stories. At one point in the class Chesterfield asks the students when it is appropriate to have characters pass the salt in a story (page 10). The answer from Julian is expected, but Carter's answer is fantastic and sets up the tension between these two characters early on; this one scene is the foundation for their tension, competition, and friendship.

Although Julian is a writer and other writers can identify with his daily word/page count struggles, he seems dispassionate about his work, about his teaching position, and his marriage. It is only until one event shatters his image of his marriage does he become passionate enough to take bold action.

Throughout all of these struggles each character hits a wall, stumbles, revises their outlook, and moves past the initial obstacles in their way. Although this book is not fast-paced, it presents a great cast and sheds light on how love and marriage can last through a number of trials so long as the parties involved want their relationship to thrive. Julian's evolution throughout the novel moves at a glacial pace like the progress on his novel, but the culmination of these changes is the light at the end of the tunnel. This is one book you can curl up by the fireplace with and relax. ...more

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Jun 04, 2009 Cheryl rated it liked it · review of another edition

Our book group read this book & had an author chat with Joshua Henkin. We enjoyed the chat, but was not bowled over by the book.

I felt the book was a little superficial but I did enjoy reading it. The title is also a little misleading - the book really doesn't explore a marriage, as it implies. The book does, however, talk about the relationships between 2 college couples who are all close friends. The 2 couples end up marrying after college, going their separate ways & pursuing their own dream ...more

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Jan 21, 2009 Chris rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: discussion-books

I would give this book 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it; it wasn't fantastic, but it was enjoyable and engaging. Often while reading it though, I wondered what it would be like written from the wife's point of view. ...more

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