A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias

From the Publisher

A Happy Marriage is both intimate and expansive: It is the story of Enrique Sabas and his wife, Margaret, a novel that alternates between the romantic misadventures of the first weeks of their courtship and the final months of Margaret's life as she says good-bye to her family, friends, and children — and to Enrique. Spanning thirty years, this achingly honest story is about what it means for two people to spend a lifetime together — and what makes a happy marriage.

Yglesias's career as a novelist began in 1970 when he wrote an autobiographical novel at sixteen, hailed by critics for its stunning and revelatory depiction of adolescence. A Happy Marriage, his first work of fiction in thirteen years, was inspired by his relationship with his wife, Margaret, who died in 2004. Bold, elegiac, and emotionally suspenseful, even though we know what happens, Yglesias's beautiful novel will break every reader's heart — while encouraging all of us with its clear-eyed evocation of the enduring value of marriage.

The New York Times - Dinitia Smith

Rafael Yglesias has transformed the story of his life and that of his wife, Margaret Joskow, who died in 2004, into a profound deliberation on the nature of love, marriage and the process of dying.

The New York Times Book Review - Malena Watrous

…full of feeling but void of bathos…The mystery of what's at the heart of a marriage can't be unlocked, or even fully captured in words. But Enrique and Margaret are anything but common, distinct both as characters and in the endurance of their love.

Publishers Weekly

Yglesias (Fearless) delivers his first novel in 13 years, an autobiographical and devastatingly raw appraisal of a nearly 30-year marriage. As the novel opens in 1975, 21-year-old Enrique Sabas, a high school-dropout literary wunderkind, has just met Margaret Cohen, a vivacious, beautiful budding graphic designer who will become the love of his life. Enrique and Margaret's romantic and sexual misadventures during the first awkward weeks of their courtship are interspersed with scenes from the couple's three decades together before Margaret succumbs to cancer: raising children, losing a parent, the temptation of an easy affair. Margaret's physical decline and Enrique's acknowledgment of guilt, inadequacy and a selfish desire to postpone his loss are described in blunt, heart-wrenching detail, and Enrique's ongoing struggles to define the nature of masculinity, the significance of art and the value of marriage add a philosophical layer to the domestic snapshots. Although the couple's privileged lifestyle can get in the way of the reader-character bond, the texture of their marriage and the pain of their loss will be familiar to anyone who has shared a long-term relationship. (July)

Joanna M. Burkhardt - Library Journal

Enrique and Margaret Sabas have been married for 30 years. Now, Margaret is under hospice care in the final stages of cancer and asks Enrique to control access to her during her final days so that she can say good-bye to a select few on her own terms. Enrique does so, patiently waiting for his own turn. As he waits, he remembers their life together, from their first conversation forward. Yglesias alternates between past and present, contrasting the budding and then mature relationship to the sad reality of its end. This heartbreaking story is told from personal experience, adding to the deep and vivid depiction of events. Yglesias, the author of eight other novels (e.g., Fearless) and several screenplays, provides a moving and emotional picture of how a successful marriage comes to be-and ends.

Kirkus Reviews

Autobiographical work from novelist/screenwriter Yglesias (Dr. Neruda's Cure for Evil, 1996, etc.) chronicles a man's confrontation with the imminent death of his wife. The novel begins with the 1975 meeting of precocious young novelist Enrique Sabas and beautiful, artistic Margaret Cohen in his walk-up Greenwich Village apartment, then flashes forward to the novel's present, when she begs him to help her die rather than let her suffer anymore from terminal cancer. From there, odd-numbered chapters chronicle the couple's courtship and flawed marriage; even-numbered ones return to the present, as Enrique, now a successful screenwriter, searches for the strength to help his wife bid loved ones farewell and die with dignity. The flashbacks illuminate Enrique's psychology but give the narrative a disjointed quality. The back story devolves into confessional: Enrique blames himself for unhappiness in their marriage, breast-beating over his lack of sexual self-esteem due to occasional impotence-which makes an absurd combination with a libido depicted as so ravenous that it has strained his relationship with Margaret. Enrique's painful honesty about his pathological self-consciousness and solipsism might, in lighter doses, pass for self-deprecation, but when he tells us all about the technological wonder of his Treo smartphone before turning his attention to his dying wife, he is both unlikable and impossible to take seriously. Granted, he's under extreme emotional duress. The frequency with which his mind wanders over trite details unrelated to the dire matters at hand, however, make it exceedingly hard to buy into the tragic scenario the author has set up-that Enrique has only recently becomeaware that his wife is the love of his life. Near the end, past and present scenes alternate with greater rapidity, contrasting early episodes of romance and sex with the brutal details of Margaret's progress toward death. Yglesias knows how to pluck the heartstrings but flounders in the execution. A would-be tragedy that plays unsuccessfully on the inherent fascination with sex and death. Author events in Los Angeles and New York Tri-State Area. Agent: Lynn Nesbit/Janklow & Nesbit

Product Details

• Reading Group Guide

Reading Group Guide

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. The chapters in A Happy Marriage alternate between the first few weeks of Enrique and Margaret's relationship and twenty-nine years later, as Margaret is in the final weeks of her battle with cancer. Why do you think author Rafael Yglesias structured the novel in this way? How might your response to the novel be different if the timeline were linear?

2. Enrique frequently mentions that he's half Jewish and half Spanish. Do you believe his heritage influences him and how he interacts with others?

3. "She was going to die and he was not; in the undeclared war of marriage, it was an appalling victory" (pg. 23). What does Enrique mean by an "undeclared war"? What does the institution of marriage mean to both Enrique and Margaret?

4. After she can no longer fight to stay alive, Margaret makes a series of choices about her death and her funeral and how she says her goodbyes to the people who are important to her. What do you think about these decisions she makes?

5. On his way to the orphans' dinner, Enrique "wanted to be late....which was odd, because he wanted more than anything to be alone with her" (pg. 57). Why is Enrique so nervous about how others perceive him? What examples are there of Enrique's vanity preventing him from getting what he wants? When, if ever, does he feel comfortable?

6. How did Enrique's early success as an author affect him? "He really was an American Raskolnikov, too intelligent to be reconciled to his unimportance and helpless to escape it" (pg. 64). Why does Enrique believe he cannot escape "unimportance"? Does Margaret feel the same way about him? Does Enrique remind you of any otherliterary characters?

7. Enrique frequently notes Margaret's blue eyes. What do they represent to him?

8. How does her diagnosis change Margaret's relationship with her mother, if at all?

9. How does the Sabas family compare to the Cohens? Are their reactions to Margaret's illness consistent with their characters?

10. During their first few weeks together, Enrique continuously finds himself unable to consummate their relationship because he says he's "afraid." What frightens him?

11. After years of rejecting Enrique's attempts to give her a pleasing birthday gift, he finally succeeds and Margaret leaves it up to him to choose the site of her grave. What does this mean to Enrique?

12. Were you surprised by Enrique's affair with Margaret's friend, Sally? Were they really in love, or was Enrique longing for his "reckless youth," when he was seemingly free of obligations? Why doesn't he leave with Sally? And what do you think of his choice never to tell Margaret? Is total honesty good or bad for a relationship?

13. Enrique and Margaret have a close, intimate relationship, but at times their intense love for each other almost borders on hate. Discuss their connection and how they strive to make it work. Why did it take Margaret's diagnosis for Enrique to realize what she really meant to his life?

14. "He was allowed to be the free-range artist that she had adventurously married — except with her; she wanted him trussed up like a roast" (pg. 252). Was Margaret really this controlling? If so, was she aware of how her behavior affected Enrique?

15. Margaret tells her husband, "I'm not like you. It took me a while to find out. I don't need to paint to be happy. I'm happy. Here. With you" (pg. 295). What does her art mean to Margaret, and why is her work so important to Enrique?

16. "He said his paltry goodbye and she was deaf to it" (pg. 358). Why does Enrique wait so long to tell her what she's meant to him?

17. Who or what is the love of Enrique's life?

Tips to Enhance Your Book Club

1. Rafael Yglesias adapted one of his earlier novels, Fearless, into a film. After discussing A Happy Marriage, watch the movie as a group. Are there parallels between the film and A Happy Marriage?

2. A significant portion of the novel takes place in New York City's Greenwich Village during the 1970s. Since culture was so important to many of the characters, do research on what music was popular during that era, and play the songs during your meeting.

3. Like Enrique, Yglesias dropped out of high school to write his first book, Hide Fox, and All After. Read the novel and see how the teenager's work compares to the adult's.

4. To read about Rafael Yglesias's novels, movies and upcoming appearances, make sure to visit www.rafaelyglesias.com.