Have you ever been in a relationship, or even upgraded the bond into the social institution called marriage? How is it going? Every relationship has a history as it meets inevitable stresses, external and internal. Alain de Botton’s (http://alaindebotton.com/) new novel charts the marriage of Rabih and Kirsten from the first flowering of attraction and the glow of the proposal to everyday business as husband and wife. It maps the small shifts in their sex life and explores the way in which habits and behaviour which once endeared them to one another become sources of irritation and frustration.
The narrative in this novel is intercut with a series of authorial comments. These dissect the couple’s motivations and impulses. For example “The accusations we direct at our lovers make no particular sense. We would utter such unfair things to no one else on earth.”
De Botton is effective at showing how society builds in us the expectation that our stories will play out in certain ways. This leads to disappointment and disillusionment, products of the gulf between the life people feel they should be living, and the life they are actually living. Who knows – in reading Rabih and Kirsten’s story a few personal echoes may float about the sitting room. It will be no less entertaining for that.
Enquire at your local library or consult https://www.amazon.co.uk/Course-Love-Alain-Botton/dp/0241145473/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462772717&sr=1-1&keywords=course+of+love for full bibliographic detail.
First published 2016
ISBN 978-0241145470
Alain de Botton