The Amateur Marriage
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 Paperback edition |
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| Author | Anne Tyler |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Alferd A. Knopf |
| Released | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 320 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 1400042070 |
The Amateur Marriage, published in 2004, is American author Anne Tyler's sixteenth novel.
[edit] Plot summary
The plot centers on Michael Anton and Pauline Barclay, who first meet when he tends to her bloodied brow in his family's grocery store, located in a primarily Eastern European conclave in Baltimore, in December 1941. They marry after Michael is discharged from the army with a permanent injury sustained by a deliberate shot from someone he has assaulted and they settle in a small apartment above the shop, but their widely different temperaments quickly create dissension in the relationship. He is repressed, controlling, quiet; she is loud, emotional, and romantic. At Pauline's insistence, they move to the suburbs, where they raise three children, George, Karen and Lindy, who runs away to San Francisco in 1960 and becomes involved in the growing drug culture. Eight years later, her parents retrieve Pagan, their three-year-old grandchild, while Lindy detoxes in a rehab community. Their slowly crumbling marriage finally dissolves when Michael leaves Pauline on their 30th anniversary. For him, divorce is salvation; for her, it's a tragedy that leaves her in despair.
[edit] External link
- New York Times review
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