Reviews

The 158-Pound Marriage by John Irving

dalefu's review against another edition

4.0

For most people relationships start and end with monogamy. The infinite depths of a single other person are enough to spend a life time exploring and discovering. But for some, monogomy is only the beginning.

Many, if not most, believe this can never work. A permissible sexual fantasy, but an invitation to disaster in reality. I consider myself an open minded person, and I believe it can work, though I fully admit that the complications would grow exponentially by every person added to the mix.

A failed relationship of the conventional standard is hardly an argument against monogamy, and I don't consider a failed menage-a-quoi an argument against polyamory or being "monogamish". In fact I find most forms of relationships rather similar. More will fail than succeed, but the ride should be enjoyed while it lasts, and you should leave richer for the experience. Your chances of success are increased if the people involved are mature, considerate and self-aware. And the clincher is open communication.

Spoilers follow:

Spoiler

These are not the type of people this book focusses on. Early in the book all four characters are conversing in-between bouts of sex with one or both of the wives. The topic comes to defining what it is they're going to call this foursome of theirs. "Just sex" is the definition offered by one of the husbands, "a holiday". While it's clear two of the others have allowed emotions to get involved, and feel no reason to apologize.

Scenes like this made it hard to empathize with these characters. They had decided to wait this long to have this conversation!? They were so careless and impulsive in how they handled the whole thing. I decided early on that they deserved whatever was coming. Throughout the book this juvenile outlook was reflected in their terrible parenting. These were not people approaching the situation with maturity, but treated it with the kind of impetuousness of teenagers.

All that aside, I enjoyed the book. As I said earlier, one failed relationship is not an argument against that form of relationship. Some may take this book as an example of why anything beyond monogamy is doomed to fail. To me, it was just another breakup story. This just happened to be two couples breaking up. Of course that added some very interesting and unique twists to the story. And for that, I found myself quite intrigued.

momus's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

adamd's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

mg_libros's review against another edition

4.0

Una historia de un intercambio de parejas venido a más seguramente es lo más alejado a mis intereses vitales y como lectora.
Pero como John Irving me gusta mucho y entro siempre con mucha facilidad a su universo de abandonos, osos, luchadores y vieneses, la verdad es que lo he disfrutado un montón.

aparisoriginal's review against another edition

1.0

I’m a big John Irving fan but this was insufferable

mamalemma's review against another edition

5.0

Based on the reviews and the questionable subject matter, I was unprepared to actually *like* this book. What a pleasant surprise! It is deeply moving, tragic, and painful -- the story of four children playing an adult game whose consequences they are unwilling to consider. The story arc, which mirrors real life in this situation, wraps up as untidily as it would in real life, with no real growth of any of the characters, no happy ending, no real promise, even, that the characters won't repeat their mistakes again. But that's real life ... and I loved it! John Irving is a brilliant master of human emotions; I have yet to read a book of his all the way through that I haven't loved (though I am struggling to get into one of his most acclaimed: The Cider House Rules.) The 158-Pound Marriage isn't for everyone; however, if you're not discomfited by loose ties, no morals, and messy human emotions, it's a terrific read.

jammasterjamie's review against another edition

2.0

A tale about the trials and tribulations of relationships that are fraught with infidelities, an area of expertise in the writing mind of John Irving, I was expecting a whole lot more from this book than I actually got. As with most Irving novels, there's plenty of Vienna for the reader to sink their teeth into (after all the John Irving I've read over the years I feel almost as intimate with Vienna as I am with my own Toronto, and I've never even been there!), and no bears to mar or confuse this story which is a nice change for early Irving, but the tone and characteristics of the antagonists, and they're all antagonists in this one, just sort of fell flat for me and didn't ring with the usual realism that make John Irving's characters so sympathetic. I felt their jealousy for their scorned and spurned lovers, but I didn't care about it or them as much as I should have. It was a very quick and easy read, but probably not one I'll ever read again which is a shocking review for me to make, indeed, since I think John Irving is one of those writers who wasn't meant to be read, but rather he was meant to be re-read, re-visited, and re-loved. I will do none of those things with The 158-Pound Marriage, but rather just go back and re-read Garp the next time I want to read about the sexual politics of couples as he told the same story in that book, and did a much better job with more fulfilling characters. The second wind of the cuckold, indeed...

glendaleereads's review against another edition

4.0

I can't seem to get sick of Irving. This is one of his shortest novels I've read and that threw me off a bit because I've been reading a lot of Irving lately and all his novels are thick. I picked this book up because I heard that it was similar to the world according to garp (which I loved). This book was about two married couples that enter into a foursome. At first it was a bit unclear how this foursome started and Irving was a bit vague about that but once you get deeper into the story it starts to unfold and each of the four character story is told and you love some and hate the others. Though there are four people in the foursome its told from the perspective of one of the husbands who isn't talking about himself but narrating the life of the other husband and how the three are living in his world. I don't want to give the ending away but this novel was enjoyable to read. One thing thats different from this novel from the other works of Irving I've read is that its not a crazy twist or plot involved, yes its a odd topic but its simple and Irvings prose as always is fantastic and on point.

megran22's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

bookshy's review against another edition

3.0

This was definitely before Irving hit his stride as a writer, but better than most authors first attempts.