The Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler
number of voters: 4
percentage of voters who finished the book: 100
highest rating: 9
lowest rating: 6.5
average rating: 7.8125
number of 30th anniversary cakes consumed: 1
*****
“Did you like the book I brought
you?” she asked, expectantly.
He scanned the newspaper and gave
a non-committal: “Mmm.”
“It’s okay if you didn’t like it,
but… Well, did you at least read it?”
she asked, still hopeful.
“Of course, I read it,” he sighed,
without looking up from the paper. “You asked me to read it, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes,” she replied, now
hesitantly. “But just because I asked
you to read it doesn’t mean you actually did.”
He folded the newspaper abruptly.
“Now what is that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything.” Now it
was her turn to sigh. “Why do you have to take everything so personally? I just
wanted to know what you thought of the book.”
“I take everything so personally? I—” He exhaled sharply, inhaled slowly. “The book was fine.”
She waited for him to expound. He
picked up his newspaper.
“Fine, as in swell, or fine as in just
okay?” she asked impatiently.
“Fine as in fine!” he said, resigning
himself to the fact that the newspaper would have to wait. “What do you expect
me to say about a book?”
“Well, did you like the
characters?” she tried.
“No.”
“Not even early on when they were
in love?”
“No. They were foolish to marry so
young and with so little in common. They were selfish and annoying.”
“Yes, I’m sure you couldn’t relate
to that at all,” she muttered. Then louder, “You must have liked the setting,
then. It was so quintessentially mid 1900s America, don’t you think.”
“Sure. Peachy. Just like I
remember Mom and Dad during the War.”
“Why do you have to do that?” she
pouted.
“Do what?!” he retorted.
“Respond to everything so
scathingly.”
“You want to know what I think? I
think this lady was really good at making me not like these people. All they
did was walk around in their little ‘me’ orbit and misread each other’s words
and actions at every turn. The immigrant story was interesting, but it was a
little depressing to read about the complete implosion of a marriage.”
She smiled. “I knew you’d like
it.” Then she added, “See, was that so hard?”
