The Edge of Marriage

The Edge of Marriage, Hester Kaplan, University of Georgia Press, 1999

This group of stories looks at seemingly solid marriages that get pushed to the limit because of betrayal, illness, conflict or tragedy.

For example, a wife and mother deals with feelings about her marriage and her husband when he comes home from the hospital after being maimed in an accident. In another story, a man confesses to sympathy for his dying wife's former lover. An older man dying of AIDS goes to a small southern resort to die, and wants the help of the resort owner to hasten the outcome. A woman's best friend dies of cancer, not suddenly, and the woman pretty much emotionally collapses. A couple who run their own catering business have trouble dealing with their son, in his mid-20s, who is something of an emotional screwup. A woman reminisces about her dead mother while cleaning out her mother's closet.

These stories are very quiet, but also very good. Kaplan does a fine job looking at the "in sickness" and "for poorer" parts of the marriage vow. There is lots of insight and somber hope here, but lots of sorrow, too. It is well worth the reader's time.