RollnSmoke Reviews: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE

THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE by Andrew Sean Greer (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2008). “We think we know the ones we love” is how this story of a marriage, set in 1953 San Francisco, kicks-out. Pearlie marries Holland Cooke, a loyal, decent soldier whose truths are revealed when, one day, a stranger appears at her doorstep, a conscientious objector whom Holland knows from days spent in wartime “mental deferral.” While the element of surprise ultimately sustains the plot, Pearlie’s giant “mis-read” is almost hard to believe, though the vibrant setting and backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Rosenberg spy scandal and Korean War is vivid. (8/10).