The gentle and loving essays in Kate Braestrups's Marriage and Other Acts of Charity were a calm and encouraging oasis in my reading life. Although she doesn't skimp on the awfulness of the rough years of her first marriage, she concentrates on the benefits to everyone when adults treat each other with respect and love. Or at least try to, since as a minister she notices how frequently she fails. The marriages covered in the book include her first, with its hard times and then more joyful years until her husband dies, her second, involving middle aged lovers instead of young idiots, two marriages of her co-workers, one just beginning and one trying to tear itself apart, and glancingly, her parents and other family and friends that she encounters.
It's not a paean to the bliss of the married state, but an examination of the joy and work that family entails. I'll probably look for other works by her; her other memoir concentrates even more on her job as a game warden chaplain, I think. B+
This was supposed to be my "M" book, but I'm two weeks late. And it's not looking good for the letter "O" either.
1 comment:
I enjoyed this one too! You should consider joining our Reagan Arthur Books Challenge - http://rabookschallenge.wordpress.com/
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