The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love [Paperback]

Elizabeth Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

Molly Hanner's husband no longer loves her. Thus begins the unraveling of her marriage and life as she knew it. To cope, Molly, a painter and mother of three, begins taking astronomy classes to calm her. Her divorce sets off a chain of events involving her children, a man who lives in the woods, and a fatal fire.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Stringer's Ridge, N.C., the marriage of William Hanner, architect, and artist Molly is dissolving. Although William precipitates the break and Molly acquiesces passively, both are distressed: "They didn't yet realize the ragged way people fall out of love and how it is never completely done." In her second novel, Cox ( Familiar Ground ) tells us how Molly, in her daily life as mother--of 16-year-old Joe, Franci, who's 12, and Lucas, age 7--both relinquishes love and claims it. With her recently widowed father, Molly looks back at childhood experiences of loving; with her astronomy teacher, she considers loving anew; with her children, and with the sympathetic figure of a local misfit, she is reminded of the vulnerability inherent in attachment. Cox's simple, meticulous prose infuses this domestic tale with a subtle force, but the full effect of her insight is constrained by an flatness in tone and an excess of metaphoric material--Molly's art, lunar eclipse, the disappearance of her son, a fatal fire--that ultimately create distance rather than intimacy. Cox's clear-eyed vision, especially keen when trained on family dramas, remains unique and promising.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

William has loved Molly all his life, it seemed, and they married and had three children--but he doesn't love her anymore. This earnest tale of a marriage unraveling centers on Molly, an artist studying astronomy and discovering lessons about life. There are some splendid moments here (such as Molly taking her terminally ill mother shopping for a burial dress), but the cadence of the prose is sometimes jarred by extraneous details while more telling ones--including Will's reasons for no longer loving Molly--are omitted. Details of the plot also seem too pat: another man in the wings to love Molly, an extended family appearing as the nuclear one is threatened by divorce, a tragedy ending miraculously. Life may be as messy and unfocused as this, but we expect more of art.
- Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 203 pages
• Publisher: Perennial (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060974540
• ISBN-13: 978-0060974541
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,243,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can't Put It Down, But Full of Post Modern Divorce Cliches, June 20, 2005

By 

Gord o' The Books "Gordon" (SE Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love

This well-written novel (although, I agree with another reviewer that the metaphors are way over the top), portrays the angst of a family going through a divorce while attempting to deal with their relentless daily grind.

In fact, it is more about two rakish characters named William and Ben. William is a married man who wants to have an affair with some mysterious woman he has met on the side; Ben can't wait for William to leave so that he can have William's wife Molly. So that William can act like a man ten years younger (without the responsibilities of a family), and sleep around without guilt, he convinces himself that he is not in love with his wife anymore. Therefore they must divorce.

Ben waits in the wings, eager for his opening, and pounces on his mark, Molly, at a point when she is at her emotional nadir.

William and Ben both finally get what they want, and indirectly model their mid-life adolescent fantasy for the benefit of William and Molly's teenaged son Joe, who seems well on his way to following in the footsteps of his father and prospective stepdad.

Lost in the narrative is the damage that these men are doing to this family as it traverses a normal and predictable phase. The story's flow also skirts right past Frank's (Molly's father) comment that he and his wife had the same problems once, but that they "waited it out." In the end Frank and his wife achieved a wonderful marriage in their old age, and his grandkids thankfully had only one set of grandparents to visit on their mother's side.

The fast pace also fails to contemplate the damage done to Molly, who like so many of us must unwillingly learn to be mature and "move on." There is no support for her to fight for her family, but plenty of support for her to start dating and, in a sort of anti-victory, fall into the arms of the confirmed single man Ben. Ben, of course, ends up being great with the kids (you think?), and Molly winds up persuaded just to give up because, let's face it, as William says "We aren't in love anymore." There you have it. Kids and extended family are collateral damage when two married people start deciding not to love each other so that they can do whatever they want. It is easy to fall out of love when you want to.

I am not knocking the story itself, per se. It is indeed a good read. But in a time when divorce is too common, we do not need apologetics like this that make the process of divorce seem at worst normal, at best noble. (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger). If most readers are honest, they will admit that they really hoped William would start thinking with his head and rescue his family. By the time Ben has his way with Molly, you feel like you might if you watched the Wizard of Oz, except that this time the hourglass runs out and the Wicked Witch violently kills Dorothy.

I am confident that you will find this book hard to put down. The metaphors may drive you crazy, but the pace and character development will grab you and not let go.

If you think that divorce is a necessary evil, and even sometimes a good, in our society, you might actually enjoy what Ms. Cox has to say on the topic. But if you think that there are too many divorces, too many selfish and childish parents, and too many kids caught in the middle and saddened for life - you might just feel sick after reading it. I did.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Infinitely satisfying, August 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love (Paperback)

If you read a book that feels like it's boring, and reads like it's boring, and you suspect it may be boring - well, very likely it is boring. But if you have the time, go back and read the book again. Like a glutton sampling a delicately seasoned dish, it may take some time before the literary palate - accustomed as it may be to more violent or shocking fare - can adjust to more simple, pleasing work. Yet at the same time, the palate may find itself starved for something more pleasing, and may therefore ravenously devour such work.

I went through this book like a hot knife through butter. I don't know if that says something about me as a person, or about my tastes in literature. What I do know is that this: Elizabeth Cox has written an infinitely satisfying novel about ordinary people.