The Amateur MarriageNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning author—a rich and compelling novel about a mismatched marriage and its consequences, spanning three generations They seemed like the perfect couple—young, good-looking, made for each other. The moment Pauline, a stranger to the Polish Eastern Avenue neighborhood of Baltimore (though she lived only twenty minutes away), walked into his mother’s grocery store, Michael was smitten. And in the heat of World War II fervor, they are propelled into a hasty wedding. But they never should have married. Pauline, impulsive, impractical, tumbles hit-or-miss through life; Michael, plodding, cautious, judgmental, proceeds deliberately. While other young marrieds, equally ignorant at the start, seemed to grow more seasoned, Pauline and Michael remain amateurs. In time their foolish quarrels take their toll. Even when they find themselves, almost thirty years later, loving, instant parents to a little grandson named Pagan, whom they rescue from Haight-Ashbury, they still cannot bridge their deep-rooted differences. Flighty Pauline clings to the notion that the rifts can always be patched. To the unyielding Michael, they become unbearable. From the sound of the cash register in the old grocery to the counterculture jargon of the sixties, from the miniskirts to the multilayered apparel of later years, Anne Tyler captures the evocative nuances of everyday life during these decades with such telling precision that every page brings smiles of recognition. Throughout, as each of the competing voices bears witness, we are drawn ever more fully into the complex entanglements of family life in this wise, embracing, and deeply perceptive novel. |
Contents
3 | |
Dandelion Clock | 35 |
The Anxiety Committee | 58 |
4hispering Hope | 98 |
Heidis Grandfather I 2 3 | 123 |
Killing the Frog by Degrees | 170 |
The orltl ont End | 202 |
A Cooler Spot on the Pillow | 243 |
IO The Man I10 Was a Dessert | 295 |
A Conversation with Anne Tyler 509 | 309 |
Reading Group Questions and Topics | 315 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
already Anna Anton asked called changed child close coming couldn't course daughter didn't don't door dress eyes face fact father feel felt first friends front gave George girl give glance gone guess hair hand happened head hear heard hope I-Ie Karen Katie kind kitchen knew late later leave Lindy living looked marriage married mean Michael mind morning mother moved never night noticed once opened Pagan parents past Pauline Pauline's person picture reached remember Sally seemed side sitting smile sound started stayed stepped stood stopped street sure talking tell thanks things thought told took trying turned voice waiting walked watched wearing window woman women young