Monogamy

Sue Miller is known for framing the ordinary lives people live. Annie and Graham are two people we might know. Both had left short-lived first marriages when they first meet. Annie is a reserved photographer while Graham is a bookseller with an outsized gregarious personality. Decades pass and life goes on, they have a cozy home where they entertain a lot of friends who envy the couple's ease with one another. They raise two children, one of them Graham's son from his previous marriage. Frieda, the ex-wife, is Annie's close friend and is very involved in the life of their family. Annie has begun to worry that her creativity is on the wane though she has an exhibition scheduled that she hopes will kickstart her career. Graham dies unexpectedly and Annie copes with the day to day details one must attend to when this happens. She has the support of her two grown children and Frieda to help her move forward. Then she learns something about Graham that causes her to reevaluate the foundation on which their marriage was built. Watching Annie dealing with her grief and working through her anger was instructive. It caused me, as a partner in a 40 year union, to reflect on the nature of marriage. Every character reminded me of people I know or have known in the past. I enjoyed  the book  because I found it relatable but it's a very quiet book which might not have the same appeal for other readers.