2020-09-11

Nick HORNBY : State of the union - a marriage in ten parts

Tom and Louise meet in a pub before their couple's therapy appointment. Married for years, they thought they had a stable home life - until a recent incident pushed them to the brink. 

Going to therapy seemed like the perfect solution. But over drinks before their appointment, they begin to wonder : what if marriage is like a computer ? What if you take it apart to see what's in there, but then you're left with a million pieces ?

Unfolding in the minutes before their weekly therapy sessions, the ten-chapter conversation that ensues is witty and moving, forcing them to look at their marriage - and, for the first time in a long time, at each other.

 

It looks like the draft of a play : only dialogues, barely a few indications here or there, few characters. I'm a big fan of Nick Hornby, but here... the book is nice, not great, not up to what I expected. There were the grounds for a good story, yet it's under-developed, not as fun as his writings usually are, his characters not as deep and appealing. They could have been, with a lot more writing and pages.

It wouldn't be a long play, by the way, I read it in less than an hour and a half. Oh well, the next will be better, I hope ?

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