An awful lot of time is spent looking at the beginning of a relationship, but instead this book looks at the years thereafter. It considers the trials and tribulations of a married couple, Rabih and Kirsten, and how their relationship deals with hurdles throughout the years.

The book’s written from the perspective of an omnipresent narrator. This narrator sees everything and is intimately acquainted with the inner minds of both characters. Each chapter is titled according to the content of what it’ll explore. For example, one chapter called ‘The Proposal’, concerns the marriage proposal from Rabih to Kirsten and looks at the thoughts of Rabih’s character before and after he does this. Another chapter is called,  ‘Love Lessons,’ and looks at Kirsten’s thoughts throughout the chapter when considering her pregnancy.

The books a kind-of philosophical look at the course of a marriage and is interspersed at points throughout each chapter with impeccable pieces of wisdom, such as this:

We should add: it is a privilege to be the recipient of a sulk; it means the other person respects and trusts us enough to think we should understand their unspoken hurt. It is one of the odder gifts of love.

I saw one review where the person said this book should be read by everyone before they marry and I agree. It gives us so much insight into why most people do what they do. At many moments during reading I was laughing or gasping in understanding. This one had me laughing a lot:

The most superficially irrational, immature, lamentable, but nonetheless common of all the presumptions of love is that the person to whom we have pledged ourselves is not just the centre of our emotional existence but is also, as a result-and yet in a very strange, objectively insane and profoundly unjust way-responsible for everything that happens to us, for good or ill. Therein lies the peculiar and sick privilege of love

It’s a book that I would urge you to read regardless of whether you’re in a relationship or not. Don’t think that there isn’t a story, either, because there most certainly is. We see every significant moment between the couple up until their two children are in early adolescence.

I loved it and I’ll leave you with a parting slice of wisdom.

She, too, is looking for love to rebalance and complete her. Love is also, and equally, about weakness, about being touched by another’s fragilities and sorrows, especially when-as happens in the early days-we ourselves are in no danger of being held responsible for them. Seeing out lover despondent and in crisis, in tears and unable to cope, can reassure us that, for all their virtues, they are not alienating invincible. They, too, are at points confused and at sea, a realization which lends us a new supportive role, reduces our sense of shame about our own inadequacies, and draws us closer to them around a shared experience of pain.

Whatever modest denials parents may offer-however much they may downplay their ambitions in front of strangers-to have a child is, at the outset, at least, to make an assault on perfection, to attempt to create not just another average human being but an exemplar of distinctive perfection. Mediocrity, albeit the statistical norm, can never be the initial goal; the sacrifices required to get a child to adulthood are simply too great.

I've failed miserably at the readathon! I managed to read for about another hour, another 50 pages or so. My concentration just isn't there today. Honestly, though, I don't mind at all. As I said before, the readathon was done in an effort to get me to read more. It was also a test to see if readathon's are really my thing and....drumroll please....they're not! I love to read, but on my own terms, so I don't think I'll participate in another one for a while :) I'll update tomorrow, if I decide to continue...

This had me laughing a lot:

The most superficially irrational, immature, lamentable, but nonetheless common of all the presumptions of love is that the person to whom we have pledged ourselves is not just the center of our emotional existence but is also, as a result-and yet in a very strange, objectively insane and profoundly unjust way- responsible for everything that happens to us, for good or ill. Therein lies the peculiar and sick privilege of love

I'm feeling a little foggy today, as I often do with my illness, but I've still managed 90 minutes of reading, translating to roughly 40 or 50 pages. I know that doesn't make a huge dent in the 24 hour goal, but it's better than normal when I'm feeling like this. Plus, what I really want is just to read more than I normally would and maybe finish a book I'm currently reading, like this fantastic one. Here's a great quote. I'll update you all again later.

We don't need to be constantly reasonable in order to have good relationships; all we need to have mastered is the occasional capacity to acknowledge with good grace that we may, in one or two areas, be somewhat insane