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Marriage Confidential (2011)

by Pamela Haag(Favorite Author)

3.11 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0061719285 (ISBN13: 9780061719288)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Harper

review 1: I found the book to be a fairly obvious analysis of the social mores that govern modern marriage. Do we really need 20 pages of "scientific" footnotes and end notes to tell us that affairs are somewhat common and often cause divorce? That many marriages could be happier? That marriages are often for convenience only? That the "modern way" is becoming "permissibly polyamorous"? Her major claim is that most people settle for "semi-happy" marriages.Author Pamela Haag, who has a PhD in history from Yale, claims these phenomena are largely due to womens' changing roles and to the increasingly common voluntary separations among married couples who are pursuing separate career goals in different cities. Haag then goes on to contrast this dynamic with the stay at home wife who tur... morens the other cheek in an unhappy or unfaithful marriage for the sake of financial security, convenience and/or raising children.I actually found the book somewhat depressing and very dry, but who am I to talk? It was so boring I couldn't finish it. The book does serve my bookshelf well as a dust collector. Dr. Haag would be better off leaving sociology to the sociologists.We all know marriage isn't what it was in the 1950's, 60's, and 70's and this book spends an inordinate amount of time examining the "why's" and the "how's" behind this. It barely scratches the surface of what trends in marital attitudes truly mean for society as a whole. It offers pathetic "case studies" that are simply conversations she's had with her own friends about their marriages.
review 2: Interesting book. An investigation into the realities of modern marriage. What isn't working, what people are doing to make them work, what marriage is in the digital age, what cheating looks like assisted by social media. This book isn't prescriptive--it's a candid look at the interior lives of marriages and the general malaise that surrounds them. The author questions the function and attainability of traditional marriage structures and discusses alternatives that are working for some couples. Definitely enlightening when it comes to the diversity of the marriage landscape these days. less

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