I read many reviews of this book while I was reading the actual book. This book, more than many I have read recently made me long for a book group to discuss it with. This book felt very REAL to me. It is clear that is did not meet the expectations of so many out there as many of the reviews stated he had done this wrong; not included enough of his wife's perspective, not conveyed enough of his emotion etc. Still I felt it was a perfect testimony to their years together! Sad, heartbreaking, honestly broken and sweet! Yglesias takes us through the daily struggles of hospice care, the physical, mental and emotional aspects of each moment. Illness is not only an issue for the patient, the one who is ill, but it is a family issue in every sense of the word. Not only was Enrique caring for his wife, but also caring and trying to comfort his sons, and everyone else around him. The novel is an excellent study on family dynamics during the course of incurable illness. It is a study on marriage, love and its endurance, during an age when it takes little for marriages to fall apart.A Happy Marriage is not only a story of love, but one of loss and family dynamics during the most difficult of times that a family can endure. It is a novel written masterfully, with insight, determination and dedication. Rafael Yglesias is brilliant in telling the story of Enrique and Margaret. Their story is his story, and he tells it with deep respect, grace, forthrightness, and with everlasting love. A Happy Marriage is a tribute to the love that Rafael Yglesias and Margaret shared, a way of honoring her memory, and her short-lived lifespan. It is an tribute to their marriage, their “happy marriage”. I highly recommend it to everyone.
What do You think about Glückliche Ehe (2010)?
An incredible love story, all the good and bad.
—Bastille
