Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage by Health Havrilesky

When I first met my husband Jeff, he said point blank: I don't want to ever get married again. I Iaughed, threw my long hair back with a giggle, and said right to his face: "Oh gawd no. I don't ever want to get married again, either." That was a lie. From the moment I first met Jeff, I knew he was my person, and I wanted to marry him. I just had to patiently wait another year - five times - for him to come to the same conclusion. "Foreverland" by Heather Havrilesky, is the story that details the anatomy of her marriage to a professor named Bill. Heather writes the "Ask Polly" advice column, and lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and two daughters. She met Bill when he first emailed her to praise her column. The two then met in person, fell in love, got married, and have now been together 17 years. The book chronicles the highs and lows of their marriage, and is brutally, sometimes painfully, honest. "Marriage is a spectacle and everyone is invited to watch," she writes. She criticizes her husband "phlegmy" throat, and refers to him like "A heap of laundry: smelly, inert, useless, almost sentient but not quite." Their differences don't seem to be deal breakers, even when the possibility of infidelity and health issues are brought into the mix. Havrilesky's deep dive into her own marriage is witty, sometimes heartbreaking, but always fascinating. Marriage is complicated. Marriage is hard. But when you find your person, as this author has, you don't want to suffer anywhere else. To buy this book on Amazon click here.