Crucial Conversations [Hardcover]

May Sarton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1975

"May Sarton's provocative novel is about a wife who has outgrown her husband, and after twenty-seven years of marriage decides that she has had enough. . . . she is altogether believable." —The Atlantic

Reed and Poppy Whitelaw's conventional and apparently serene life together is shattered when Poppy tells Reed that she has decided to leave him. In a series of encounters that follow the shock of this news, which affects not only Reed but also their children and friends—in particular Philip, who must learn why he is so invested in their marriage—Reed and Poppy struggle to make sense of their lives in this alien new terrain.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

May Sarton again has entered Marquand-Updike territory and fortunately for us has brought to this fictional region the viewpoint of a first-rate craftsman who happens to be a woman vitally interested in both art and life. (Boston Herald )

Produces insight for the reader into the modern dilemma of freedom versus marriage, self-realization versus service and duty and finally the Sisyphean problems of the person alone, living on the threshold of other lives. . . . I find Crucial Conversations moving. . . . May Sarton has dealt with every aspect of female existence, with every kind of love. In this latest novel she has taken another, new step forward, and suggested a radical solution to the human-bondage-in-marriage status. (Doris Grumbach - New York Times Book Review ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

May Sarton (1912-1995) was an acclaimed poet, novelist, and memoirist. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton; 1st edition (April 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393087255
• ISBN-13: 978-0393087253
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,669,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995), an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her parents were science historian George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. In 1915, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. She went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started theatre lessons in her late teens. In 1945 she met her partner for the next thirteen years, Judy Matlack, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They separated in 1956, when Sarton's father died and Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire. Honey in the Hive (1988) is about their relationship. Sarton later moved to York, Maine. She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995. She is buried in Nelson, New Hampshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars No such thing as a bad Sarton novel, April 29, 2011

By 

Judith Paley (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Crucial Conversations (Paperback)

That said, this one is more than a little dated. An extremely well-written but not always very interesting look back on the women's liberation movement, Watergate, Vietnam, and the age-old battle of the sexes. Love the author, a bit indifferent on the book.

5.0 out of 5 stars It is hard for middle-aged people to adjust to an earthquake, March 27, 2005

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Crucial Conversations (Paperback)

Philip, age 50, is anxious about his friend Reed's wife, Poppy. There is a dark side to her glittering charm. Philip is surprised to learn that Poppy is separating from Reed. Their children have left home. Poppy will claim that the Watergate Hearings have caused her to strive to attain authentic feeling.

In the past Reed helped Philip with a prize-winning project. Perhaps things have not been harmonious between Poppy and Reed since the Vietnam War when Reed's son Harry was bullied by Reed not to apply for conscientious objector status.

Poppy claims that Philip has used their marriage as some sort of second home. Philip feels that Poppy has a sort of hunger for life. She says that Reed, her husband, has started to represent everything she hates.

Philip feels that he is more upset than either Reed or Poppy. He goes to see Poppy's mother, Evelyn. He feels that he is involved because it is his life, in a way. Philip's mother had filled his heart while she lived. Now she was unattainable. Poppy and Reed had been a way out of his uncertainties. Philip goes to see one of the children who was at college in Illinois. The boy, Emerson, is taking his father's way of dealing with the situation by showing anger and hatred.

Next Philip has dinner with Reed's mother, Cecilia Whitelaw. After leaving Cecilia, Philip sees his own special friend, Kathy, a police officer. One of the characters opines that men may grow outside of marriage, women in it. At MIT Reed and Philip were called the Red Guard. In his schooldays Reed was not necessarily conservative. Philip admired his energy, his gusto.

Philip comes to feel that he has been used by both Poppy and Reed in the crisis. He has been called upon to talk with their mothers and their children.

This book is well done. It is experimental in its use of close focus, of dramatic material.