Customer Reviews

Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage (The Crosswicks Journal, Book 4)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, along with C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed, are two of the best books ever written about love and loss. L'Engle's characteristic style of inspired wanderings brings you back gently and eventually to her main discussion of her courtship and 40-year marriage, and to the inevitable and tragic ending thereof. While certainly saddening, this book is not about wallowing in grief, but is a celebration of the non-traditional (in many ways) life that she and Hugh built together, and how the strength and love of their relationship rippled outward to affect all they came in contact with: children, god-children, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.

(Two Part Invention) I was touched by the way this woman thought as she entered marriage; how she considered the marriage before any other factor in life. As someone born in the last 40 years, I have honestly never heard a woman talk about her marriage in those terms. I was humbled and thought what a shame...we have lost something very special and gentle: honoring marriage. I never did, never knew anyone who did, marriage for myself and those in my circle was more of a nuisance. After two painful divorces I could finally hear Madeline's voice and everything she said made such beautiful and perfect sense. I long for that type of life and marriage and never realized all along it had to come from me. I also cried after putting the book down and a tear often comes when the book comes to mind. I always remember her thought about moving into the city - where she didn't particularly want to live - so that she could be the wife "hosting the slumber party" when they were snowed in, rather than being the wife getting the call when the husband wouldn't be coming home to the suburbs. And how she adjusted her whole sleep schedule to accomodate her husbands' late work nights. Sigh. Thank you Madeline, thank you for a voice that is not often heard.

What if this book were spread across the bookshelves of stores in the marriage section, replacing the countless "How to.."'s? I believe those seeking guidance and strength for their own marriages would be better served. There is, in so much of what is written about marriage today, an abundance of techniques, tips and tricks to smooth the struggle, if not attempt to eliminate it altogether. L'Engle honors the struggle in this book. Her writing sings when she describes the most difficult times in her relationship.

Life and relationship in marriage is about the details. L'Engle's descriptions of countless meals, sitting on her four-poster bed talking into the night with close ones, and of conversations held with intimate friends and family, are jewel-like stones laid on a fascinating and well-told tale of one path of marriage.

Two-Part Invention was wonderful. Madeleine L'Engle talks about her 40 year marriage in retrospect - while dealing with the imminent death of her husband after a long struggle with illness. It is moving and profound and inspiring - not depressing at all, despite the sad subject matter. I appreciated that she talked about her craft - and the struggle between being a good wife and mother and being a writer. I'm far from a "writer" but I understand her plight - finding a balance between her vocation as a mother and wife and her avocation as a writer while still doing it all. I think anyone who has a passion for art or writing or any sort of creation and has struggled with that creative urge in the face of their other responsibilities will understand. Wonderful.

This book was given to me as part of a wedding gift. I read it on my honeymoon, and though it is heartbreaking, even more so it is inspirational. I have since given a copy as a wedding or engagement gift to all of my friends when they get married. I have reread it each year of my marraige, and find it only gets better with age.

This book, along with C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed, are two of the best books ever written about love and loss. L'Engle's characteristic style of inspired wanderings brings you back gently and eventually to her main discussion of her courtship and 40-year marriage, and to the inevitable and tragic ending thereof. While certainly saddening, this book is not about wallowing in grief, but is a celebration of the non-traditional (in many ways) life that she and Hugh built together, and how the strength and love of their relationship rippled outward to affect all they came in contact with: children, god-children, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.

M. L'engle writes so candidly about her feelings and her experiences that at first you feel like an eavesdropper. That doesn't last long. I soon found myself feeling extremely grateful for her willingness to share what was probably the toughest time in her life. This book illustrates what love is all about. And also how marriage, above all things, is a beautiful, spiritual, sacrifice of self.

It is a credit to the lucid prose of Madeleine L'Engle that even as she relates the story of her marriage in a very specific historical period (New York theater in the 1940's), the message is timeless and beautiful. This book has an uncommon spirituality and such a breathtaking grasp on human connections, that it is an appropriate gift for anyone in the midst of a loving, intense partnership or for anyone who has felt such ties to another person and has been forever changed. I give this to all my best friends who are getting married or simply pondering what it is to love someone else. Absolutely lovely, memorable.

In creating a portrait of her life with Hugh Franklin (yes, of the soap opera), Ms. L'Engle employs a device she also uses in her fiction: cutting back and forth between times so that the reader is at once engaged in their courtship, in her mourning as she watches her husband die, in the bustle of their extraordinary lives. One engages in all of these at once, knowing the outcomes, suspense is not the point. When Hugh does eventually die, you have been involved in the best and worst of the marriage and feel its centrality in the author's life. Even after multiple readings, this chapter is good for a cathartic sob. Part of the remarkable grip this book has on me is the humility of the author. She is unimpressed by her Newbery Award and tremendous contribution to American letters, unimpressed by her husband's fame as a television star. She is impressed, however, by their ability to share a life, to give themselves to a family, and to balance those with maintaining their individuality and ensuring that each of them pursued their dreams. Her priorities are clear, and without ever being strident or judgmental, this work is a gentle reminder of what is important

I read this book after receiving seperate recomendations by two people I trust- my sister, the English major, and my friend Jean: both had enjoyed the book a great deal. I sat down to read it after finishing a book I never quite got into, and fell immediately into the rhythm of the narrative and the language that the Author uses to tell her story. I highly recommend this book.