Name: Monogamy
Rating: 3.652173913043478 (23 reviews)
ISBN: 9781526618948

Sue Miller

Monogamy

Jessie Winchester

A brilliantly insightful novel, engrossing and haunting, about marriage, love, family, and heartache, from New York Times bestselling author Sue Miller. Graham and Annie have been married for nearly thirty years. A golden couple, their effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. Graham is a bookseller, and a large, gregarious man with large appetites--a lover of life, curious, eager to please, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie's comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer. After a six-year lull, she is about to have her first gallery show and is worried that the best years of her career may be behind her. They have two children; Sarah, the adult child of Annie and Graham, lives in San Francisco, and Lucas, Graham's son with his first wife Frieda, works in New York. Though Frieda is an integral part of this far-flung, loving family, Annie is confident in the knowledge that she is Graham's last and greatest love. When Graham suddenly dies, Annie is lost without this man whose enormous presence seemed to dominate their lives together. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him? Soon after Graham's death, as she is trying to pick up the pieces of her life, Annie makes a shocking discovery. Shortly before his death, Graham had been unfaithful, involved in an impulsive, brief affair he was trying to end. Confronted by his infidelity, she spirals into darkness wondering if she truly knew the man who loved her. A tender, timeless novel that probes the heart of every committed relationship--how well do we know, can we ever know, the people we love--Monogamy is a mesmerizing portrait of a family and the secrets they keep from one another. As Sue Miller contemplates the imponderable, she reflects on the transformative power of memory, and the triumph of love over death itself. Beautiful, wise, and moving, Monogamy confirms her place as one of the most distinguished and extraordinary writers at work today.

I feel like I got to know these characters too well for not much to happen. I was very invested in the first half and then came to realize that it had both little character development or plotline- just lots of reminiscing. Overall I enjoyed it, once I came to accept what it was. 

Lily Dendy

This book found me after two less than fortunate reads and it felt like a cool refreshing delicious drink the entire time. Delicious, I kept thinking while listening to it. Bless Sue Miller, the audiobook was perfection. Lovely and just the right amount of devastating.

Nelson Zagalo

"Monogamy" (2020) não é o tipo de livro que leria, mas algumas resenhas trouxeram-me até ele. Sue Miller tem mais de uma dezena de romances publicados, mas nunca tinha ouvido falar da mesma. É uma autora focada no romance de família, entre os romances de amor da seleção da Oprah e o romance mais psicológico. Assim que comecei a ouvir o audiobook fiquei colado, ainda mais assim que percebi que era a própria autora a narradora. Os seus 78 anos emprestam à voz um tom de experiência profundo, tornando a declamação imensamente emocional, particularmente tranquila, capaz de criar paisagens ficcionais totalmente credíveis para onde apenas desejamos evadir-nos. 

O cerne de "Monogamy" é um casal que vive em Cambridge, casados há quase 30 anos, ambos em segundo casamento. Entretanto o marido Graham — dono de uma livraria — morre, e enquanto Annie — fotógrafa — realiza o seu luto, descobre que ele tinha tido um caso. O desenvolvimento do livro torna-se assim numa viagem psicológica com Annie, enquanto esta tenta dar sentido ao passado para se poder reerguer no presente. É aqui que entra a discussão da monogamia do que representou e pode ainda representar. Não há tragédia nem drama, mas questionamento e reflexão, o que poderia tornar a leitura mais aborrecida, mas tal nunca chega acontecer porque Miller sabe manter o interesse do leitor sempre desperto.

O livro ganha sentido adicional se pensarmos no mesmo da mesma forma como Graham pensava a ficção, numa recordação de Annie:

“Just, that we read fiction because it suggests that life has a shape, and we feel... consoled, I think he said, by that notion. Consoled to think that life isn’t just one damned thing after another. That it has sequence and consequence.” She smiled at Edith. “I think it was more or less the idea that fictional narrative made life seem to matter, that it pushed away the meaninglessness of death.”

Publicado no VI:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

Catie Fell

Hated. Boring rich white couple complaining about dumb shit for 300 pages. Not going to lie had to skim the last 1/4 of it.

It is clear that the author is an amazing prose writer.

Nothing much else did it for me with this book. I thought the prose didn't really make up for the fact that these characters if well described did not feel interesting to me.

Julia

A New York Times Book of the Year DAILY MAIL 'BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR TO GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS' SUNDAY EXPRESS' S MAGAZINE 'WINTER WARMERS' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'BEST BOOKS OF 2020' ONLINE 'One of the most emotionally truthful novels I have ever read' DAISY BUCHANAN 'Almost every line glows with even-handed wisdom - a superb novel, beautifully put together' DAILY MAIL 'An invaluably moving book' JULIET NICOLSON 'One to read first for the story and then to re-read at leisure and marvel at how real these people feel' ERIN KELLY 'Penetrating, intelligent, humane, funny too ... Smart and powerfully alive' TESSA HADLEY Annie is not the first love of Graham's life but she is, he thinks, his last and greatest. Very recently, he has faltered; but he means to put it right. Here they are in marriage, in late middle age, in comfort. Mismatched, and yet so well matched: the bookseller with his appetite, his conviviality, his bigness; the photographer with her delicacy, her astuteness, her reserve. The children are offstage, grown up and scattered on either coast; Graham's first wife, Frieda, is peaceably in their lives, but not between them. Then the unthinkable happens. Now Annie stumbles in the dark: did she know all there was to know about the man who loved her? If no marriage is without its small indiscretions, how great does a betrayal have to be to be to break it? A novel about marriage, family, secrets and love, Monogamy confirms Sue Miller's place among the greatest writers at work in America today.

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release date: 8th September 2020

Pages: 352

Representation:  NA. 

Trigger warnings: Infidelity, Death, Death of a parent.

Summary: Annie and her second husband, Graham, have been married for over 30 years. They have a child together, and their lives intertwine in every way possible. It's perfect, or so she thinks. Only when he's gone does the thread start to unravel...and Annie starts to wonder if she ever really knew the man she loved. 

Monogamy is a story that shows us that love goes beyond what we know, and it stays around even when we least expect it. 

Monogamy isn't the classic contemporary marriage story; there's no dramatics, no big shocks or reveals. Instead, the entire story is clouded in grief. It's the tale of a life reduced to false memories. 

There wasn't a particularly active plot. The book focuses on Death and the grief that comes with it; How it affects those around you, and how we can get to know a person more after they're gone. We see the story of Annie's life and how Graham, and the life he lived beyond her, engulfs everything she does. It's a book focused on the realisation of emotion over time, and we read through the processes of these characters coming to their final realisations. 

The characters were realistic; Annie was entirely self-absorbed. It seemed to take place in a world where everything revolved around her, and others could not consider anything but her emotions. It took away their likability because the entire situation needed more than entirely Annie-centric perspectives. I didn't particularly care about any of them, but I could empathise with their struggles. 

It had some memorable, brilliantly written moments. Miller can make mundane prose feel like poetry. It also has some points where I felt like it wouldn't end soon enough. It was the perfect example of a very 'middle of the road' book, one that wouldn't have suffered from being 100 pages or so shorter. 

Shining glory: It offers a realistic, unmatched portrayal of grief. It takes us through stages and back again; we get to read suffering that isn't linear. 

Fatal flaw: It's slow-paced and repetitive, making it harder to read than it needs to be. 

Read this if: You enjoy emotional, realistic contemporary that understands our emotions are beyond our control. You want a love story that shows that sometimes we'll keep loving someone, even when we wish we could hate them.

Skip this if: You want a fast-paced or plot-driven adventure. You don't like reads with complicated themes and prefer characters with obvious progression or black and white Hero/Villain dynamics. 

NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020! NPR BEST BOOK OF 2020 PEOPLE MAGAZINE TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR BOOKPAGE BEST BOOK OF 2020 GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOK OF 2020 “A sensual and perceptive novel. . . . With humor and humanity, Miller resists the simple scorned-wife story and instead crafts a revelatory tale of the complexities—and the absurdities—of love, infidelity, and grief.” —O, the Oprah Magazine A brilliantly insightful novel, engrossing and haunting, about marriage, love, family, happiness and sorrow, from New York Times bestselling author Sue Miller. Graham and Annie have been married for nearly thirty years. Their seemingly effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. By all appearances, they are a golden couple. Graham is a bookseller, a big, gregarious man with large appetites—curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer. She is about to have her first gallery show after a six-year lull and is worried that the best years of her career may be behind her. They have two adult children; Lucas, Graham’s son with his first wife, Frieda, works in New York. Annie and Graham’s daughter, Sarah, lives in San Francisco. Though Frieda is an integral part of this far-flung, loving family, Annie feels confident in the knowledge that she is Graham’s last and greatest love. When Graham suddenly dies—this man whose enormous presence has seemed to dominate their lives together—Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him? Then, while she is still mourning Graham intensely, she discovers a ruinous secret, one that will spiral her into darkness and force her to question whether she ever truly knew the man who loved her.

Monogamy

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