Jan 4 Tip: Ann Patchett: "In bad relationships there comes a day when you gotta go"

Ann Patchett: "In bad relationships there comes a day when you gotta go"

(The February 4 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace)

http://www.npr.org/2014/01/23/265228054/patchett-in-bad-relationships-there-comes-a-day-when-you-gotta-go

The title essay of Ann Patchett's latest book, This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage, isn't exactly what it sounds like. It's actually the story of an unhappy marriage that ends quickly in divorce and results in a strongly defended refusal to marry that lasts many years. But eventually, it does lead to the happy marriage.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan describes the essay as "a spirited contribution to the larger story of romantic relationships that aren't, well 'romantic' in the swooning ways we're used to reading about or seeing in movies." She adds:

"Patchett's down-to-earthness also sets the tone for her essays on the easily sentimentalized subject of caregiving: She writes here about tending to her beloved dog, an elderly nun friend and her 90-something-year-old grandmother. That particular essay, called 'Love Sustained,' is a must-read for anyone in the draining role of caregiver."

In the book's introduction, Patchett describes her essays as "made from the things that were at hand — writing and love, work and loss. I may have roamed in my fiction, but this work tends to reflect a life lived close to home."