Book Report #151 - This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is the beloved author of Bel Canto, a book so beautiful that I put it on my short list of all time favorites. She's a celebrated contemporary author. I always thought she honed her writing skills at the Iowa Writer's College and then went off to write novels. Turns out she wrote articles for Seventeen, and then graduated to more mature magazines. That's how she paid the bills until she "made it."

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a collection of essays she's written over the years, most previously published, some fleshed out because word count was no longer important. I was surprised to find they all featured Ann, considering I was used to her novels and only got to know her through her memoir about her best friend, Truth and Beauty.

My favorite essay was The Sacrament of Divorce, a touching story of forgiveness that features the ending of Ann's first marriage. My second favorite was This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, about her second marriage to a kind doctor who dearly loves her. It's funny how when you stop fighting and resign yourself to what is in front of you, you sometimes find that it's exactly what you never thought you could dream of having. And that what you wanted was more simple than you ever let yourself believe. But Ann imparts all that with more eloquence than I probably can ever hope to have.

There are plenty of interesting essays here, and I appreciated the order of them. They carried the book well. Don't miss The Wall about Ann trying out for the LAPD! It's gold.

General consensus: A pleasant and thought-provoking journey.