Michael and Pauline seemed like the perfect couple - young, good-looking, made for each other. The moment she walked into his mother's grocery store in the Polish neighbourhood of Baltimore, he was smitten. And in the heat of World War II fervour, they were hastily wed. But they never should have married. Pauline, impulsive and impractical, tumbles hit-or-miss through life; Michael, plodding, cautious, and judgemental, proceeds deliberately. In time their foolish quarrels take their toll. A 17-year-old daughter disappears, and some years later this fractious pair is forced to rescue her little boy, named Pagan, from drug-infested San Francisco, to take him home and raise him. From the sound of the cash register in the old grocery to the counterculture jargon of the sixties, from the miniskirts to the multilayered apparel of later years, Anne Tyler captures the evocative nuances of everyday life during these decades with such telling precision that every page brings smiles of recognition. Throughout, as each of the competing voices bears witness, we are drawn ever more deeply into the complex entanglements of family life in this marvellous, multifaceted novel - one of Anne Tyler's finest. (20030723)
The Amateur Marriage
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Amazon Review
Anne Tyler's The Amateur Marriage is not so much a novel as a really long argument. Michael is a good boy from a Polish neighbourhood in Baltmore; Pauline is a harum-scarum, bright-cheeked girl who blows into Michael's family's grocery store at the outset of World War II. She appears with a bloodied brow, supported by a gaggle of girlfriends. Michael patches her up, and neither of them are ever the same. Well, not the same as they were before, but pretty much the same as everyone else. After the war, they live over the shop with Michael's mother until they've saved enough to move to the suburbs. There they remain with their three children, until the onset of the 60s, when their eldest daughter runs away to San Francisco. Their marriage survives for a while, finally crumbling in the 70s.
If this all sounds a tad generic, Tyler's case isn't helped by the characteristics she's given the two spouses. Him: repressed, censorious, quiet. Her: voluble, emotional, romantic. Mars, meet Venus. What marks this couple, though, and what makes them come alive, is their bitter, unproductive, tooth-and-nail fighting. Tyler is exploring the way that ordinary-seeming, prosperous people can survive in emotional poverty for years on end. She gets just right the tricks Michael and Pauline play on themselves in order to stay together: "How many times", Pauline asks herself, "when she was weary of dealing with Michael, had she forced herself to recall the way he'd looked that first day? The slant of his fine cheekbones, the firming of his lips as he pressed the adhesive tape in place on her forehead". Only in antogonism do Michael and Pauline find a way to express themselves. --Claire Dederer, Amazon.com
Review
"A brilliant writer...funny, tragic, wise" (Lynne Truss Independent )
"A warm, compelling read - and another brilliant showcase for Tyler's talent for taking a common experience and lifting it out of the ordinary" (Daily Mirror )
"The meanings of this beautifully written novel reach far wider than Baltimore. I shed a tear as I finished the Antons' story" (Paul Barker Evening Standard 20041221)
"Mesmerising" (The Economist 20041217)
"Tyler's compelling, moving and often amusing tale is the story of any marriage - every page brings a smile of recognition to the reader" (Daily Mail ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"A warm, compelling read - and another brilliant showcase for Tyler's talent for taking a common experience and lifting it out of the ordinary" (Daily Mirror )
"The meanings of this beautifully written novel reach far wider than Baltimore. I shed a tear as I finished the Antons' story" (Paul Barker Evening Standard 20041221)
"Mesmerising" (The Economist 20041217)
"Tyler's compelling, moving and often amusing tale is the story of any marriage - every page brings a smile of recognition to the reader" (Daily Mail ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Damon Rose
Format:Hardcover
I finished reading this book about 10 minutes ago and am still really tearful.
A modern saga. It's a fantastic book spanning 3 or 4 generations of the Anton family in Baltimore ... a family tree of real humanity brought into being by Michael and Pauline.
At the beginning of the book they are in their early 20s and we live through their lives and those of their children and their children's children until the two are elderly.
You never know what will happen in life, you never know what may happen as a result of decisions you make and you never really know what is right and what is wrong, what you should do and what you shouldn't.
And at the end of it all, in your final chapter, do you actually resolve anything? Have you lived life in the best way you could? I can't say any more for fear of giving the story away ... but I hope my insight adds to the main synopsis on this page ... a synopsis that doesn't really capture the main point of the book.
I have been reading Anne Tyler books since I heard that another fave author of mine Nick Hornby loves her work. This book isn't funny but Anne Tyler has the ability to really put her finger on the button sometimes ... and even cynical old me had to stop and re-read some of those classic observations of hers. And for your information, I'm an indie rock music fan in my early 30s who loves nothing better than going out for far too many beers on a Friday night ... why am I reading this kind of stuff? I hugely recommend it though. Off to get some tissues now.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Amateur Marriage is a story of a marriage, told with ten year gaps between chapters, allowing the novel to reflect the ups and downs of life as it is impacted by events in the world, and changing social attitudes, but most of all the development and growth (and ultimatley decay) of a relationship between husband and wife. The titls of this books is just perfect - all marriages are "amateur" in that nobody trains you or teaches you in advance how to deal with the calamitous events that come along, nor with the basic and fundamental differences between the character and values of the two partners.
The novel starts just before the Second World War, when Michael meets Pauline, and immediately gets swept up into joining the army along with his childhood friends. The young couple barely have time to get to know each other, and when Michael returns early from the war with a gunshot wound, it seems inevitable that they wil marry and set up home together. Children come along, bringing with them the usual stresses and strains on marriage, particularly when the oldest daughter Lindy suddenly walks out of her parents lives to live in San Francisco at the height of the hippy movement.
Ths loss of the child is painfully described, as Michael and Pauline wait anxiously (intially) and resignedly (later) for their daughter to return. It would spoil the book if I was to detail the eventual reunion, but let me say that this brings as many problems as did the eventual departure.
Tyler is a deeply humanistic writer who depicts the complexities of the human condition while making no attempt to judge or comment on what she sees. We see people follow the tracks laid out for them, and we also read of some who broke away, with high, almost unbearable cost on those left behind.
... Read more ›14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By "josh_tidy"
Format:Paperback
This really is a mesmerising book.
Ignore the grumpy teenager's comments below - i think they're moaning more about english lessons in general than writing a critique of the book.
This truly is a 5 star book. The gift that Anne Tyler has is in realising that life revolves on small moments and subtle changes in light and mood. There are passages that are achingly beautiful in depicting the characters and their emotions.
Life is about love & regret. This book realises that perfectly.
Anne Tyler in all her books has a talent for getting you right inside the characters, so that you enjoy the subtleties and nuances, the pain and joy of their lives.
I recommend this book whole-heartedly - it is a thing of beauty and joy and poignancy and sadness.
Then also read her other books - 'the ladder of years' is similarly superb.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is almost a perfect book. Some critics seemed to be saying that it was about the sort of marriage that shouldn't have happened. But here is (sadly?) the reality of human life, painted with the surest brush strokes.
She lets us into the lives of her characters, lets them mess up, annoy us, allows us to sympathise and judge, and then refuses to judge. It's the result of extraordinary control of authorial voice. Virginia Woolf had a go: Mr Ramsay died in parentheses, for example, in 'To the Lighthouse'. But she would just want to kill herself all over again if she could see the level of fine honing that has gone into this nearly unfeasible novel.
You really must buy it, take the day off work, stay in bed and read 'The Amateur Marriage' through to the end.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read an Anne Tyler book,A Patchwork Planet, some months ago and thought I'd try another. The Amateur Marriage was such an easy read that I had devoured it in a couple of days. Her writing flows so easily and the characters are carefully drawn through their interaction with each other rather than through long narratives. It's so easy to relate to the people in her story, how they react and how those reactions change with age and circumstances. Great book. Asked for another Anne Tyler for Christmas....
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellend Tyler read
Love Anne Tyler books, so wanted to add this to my collection, enjoyed reading it and will read it again
Published 1 month ago by Jview
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Amateur Marriage
The Amateur Marriage was easy to read but hated all the characters - none of them was likeable therefore it wasn't.a very satisfying read.
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. R. K. Levene
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great author.
I think you have to love Tyler's style to enjoy this. Fortunately I do. It's subtle and in parts beautiful. Gets to the heart of people and their inner workings. I'm a fan.
Published 7 months ago by Pastispast
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended
I read other reviews of this book and thank goodness I wasn't put off by those who only gave it 3 and 2 stars. It was a fabulous read. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Kindle Junkie
4.0 out of 5 stars
Portrait of a marriage
I am such a fan of Anne Tyler's books that I always try to keep one or two in hand so that I have one to fall back on when I want to read something I know I can depend on. Read more
Published 15 months ago by hiljean
5.0 out of 5 stars
An everyday family's experience elevated to a good read.
The story of the marriage of Michael and Pauline, a mismatched couple if their ever was one. The main dramatic event in their marriage is the disappearance of their eldest... Read more
Published 16 months ago by LindyLouMac
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Amateur Marriage
I liked this book. It was a great page turner. Thank you. I hope to read more of her books in the future.
Published 23 months ago by sabine
3.0 out of 5 stars
this "marriage" lacks Tyler's usual sparkle and humor
This book is a slog read about a marriage that, while not abusive, is a sad mismatch stemming from a chance wartime meeting. Read more
Published on 15 April 2011 by rob crawford
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Tyler
This is one of those expansive Anne Tyler novels that covers decades of time. It follows the lives of two people, and the families they create, from the start of WW2 to the turn of... Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2010 by A. Butterfield
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nosy neighbours
Just finished this book - it's by first Anne Tyler book so I have nothing to compare it too.
I enjoyed it, yes, but in an uncomfortable way. Read more
I enjoyed it, yes, but in an uncomfortable way. Read more
Published on 9 April 2010 by R. Meyrick
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