A Happy Marriage: A Novel Audiobook

" A painful book, but ultimately rewarding if you're up to facing some horrifying details to do with dying from cancer. The author alternates chapters about the couple's first meetings (and he uses his real wife's name, Margaret, who died recently of cancer) with chapters about the end of her life and theirs together. Although it's fiction and not autobiography, it felt very real to me, terribly honest, the characters complete and completely believable. I suspect that anyone who knows what a long marriage can be will find something familiar in here. "

" A Happy Marriage is wrenching, painfully intimate and borderline offensive ("He had ordered her in." seriously?). The novel seems laudably honest (and is extremely well written, precise and exacting) yet never escapes the undercurrent of a voice seeking absolution, potentially deserved but nonetheless almost annoyingly plaintive (but hey, that's probably just my cynicism/lack of empathy coming through). Alternating between his first encounters with his wife in their twenties, and her deathbed (she is dying of bladder cancer) in their fifties, the protagonist Enrique is a devout husband, even in the midst of an infidelity; the tragedy is that only Margaret's death can offer a resolution. "

" A sad book, very well written, semi-autobiographical. The chapters alternate bewtween now and how they met and their relationship progressed, spanning 30 years together. It chronicales the ups & downs of life. The chapters dealing wiht Margaret's illness and impending death were sometimes hard to read. How do you help someone plan their death and funeral? How do you say goodbye to your life partner? At times the authors writing style was too flowery and he could have used less words, but this was a very good book. "

" Great writing. What "Where the River Ends" should have been. If you want to read a realistic story about a marriage at the end of the life of one of the spouses', please read this instead. "

" Written so well but sooooooo sad. "

" I found this to be a compelling read...the author did a good job going back and forth with vignettes about he and his wife in the early days of their relationship as well as the last week of her life. I heard him interviewed on "Fresh Air" and he said most of the story is based on his real life relationship with his wife, Margaret. There is a quote (which I can't remember verbatim) but the essence is how the presence of death obliterates chit-chat. That really got to me. People didn't talk to the author about "normal" things anymore and that alone must take a toll on a person. A good read if you are up for it! "

" Heartbreaking and realistic. Great book. "

" I'm probably one of the very few that wasn't crazy about this book. I had it for 3 months and just can't get into it or bring myself to finish it. You know it's not good when you'd rather watch football with your hubby than read it. "

" Wonderful! Drank this one in long gulps. Didn't want to put it down. Definitely recommend it. "

" I feel like this book was more about his penis than it was about their marriage. "

" heartbreaking and redemptive, well written. I felt it never really got to the why of how this marriage worked. It is all too obvious by the end that it does work, and that is is/was a happy marriage, and we get a lot of looks at the beginning and the end, but what happened in the middle? "

" The saddest and most beautiful story I've read about imperfect love in recent memory. Can't recommend it enough. "

" Not for the faint-hearted, but very good "

" Beautiful, sad and honest. Detailed his wife dying of cancer interspersed with scenes of when they first met. "

" Heartfelt, gripping memoir written as a novel with the author recounting the highs and lows of his marriage to his wife as she lies dying of stomach cancer. "

" This book resonated for me. "

" Emotionally suspenseful, loved the ending. "

" Although a novel this is a raw, yet loving look back on a marriage as the wife is enduring treatment for cancer. Likely many autobiographical threads from the author whose long marriage ended with the death of his wife from cancer. "

" One of the best books I read in 2009. "

" This one is hard for me to "score". I did like it, but I found the author to be a bit too self-serving in his narratives and quite a bit TMI with his private life! "

" I was disappointed with the ending, but otherwise loved this book. It had in me in tears a few times, but my friends know I love a good depressing novel :) "

" This is honestly the saddest book that I've ever read - ever. It has a good story and you definitely feel and understand how the characters feel. "

" Top 5 best books ever... "

" Pretty good book. Interesting relationship between husband and wife. "

" This book was a bit too long and a bit too morbid. It shifts between the present where the main character Enrique must say goodbye to his wife Margaret and the past to when he first meets her. The story is very long and drawn out. While the writing is well done, it dragged on a bit. "

" annoying characters -- and I hope to find there's more to life than sex and death... not at all what I expected... "

" I'm grateful to Mr. Yglesias for writing this book. "

" A brutally honest journey of a husband helping his wife of twenty nine years navigate her final days and his unflinching look at their life together. These characters will stay with you a long time. "

" This was not quite what I was expecting. It's very sad, in several ways, but I still enjoyed the characters honesty. "

" An amazingly honest inside view of a relationship/marriage. Definitely not a perfect one by any means and there are no answers to "what makes a happy marriage?" but overall a beautiful read. I loved the prose - very poetic writer. "

" A very close look into a marriage - sometimes happy, sometimes not. And, a touching good-bye. "

" Wonderful, painful book, caused a lot of reliving of losing a spouse to cancer, beautifully constructed and honest book "