Customer Reviews

The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love

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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.

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.