Why We Stay Together: 20 Writers on Marriage and Its Rewards

Every marriage is an intricate maze of love and compromise. There's no single reason why one marriage outlasts challenges and tribulations that might end another. Many husbands and wives who stay together find that attention to the basic issues at the foundation of their relationship is key to a long-lasting marriage. Jennifer Schwamm Willis in Why We Stay Together has assembled work from twenty writers. Each explores the complex, challenging and continually evolving nature of marriage its conflicts and costs, its joys and rewards Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569245401
• ISBN13: 9781569245408
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Some wonderful perspectives

Every submission isn't the most interesting thing in the world -- but there were a few things I've read that have absolutely changed certain behavior in me for the best. This is why people read things like this anyway -- to affect behavior. I've read so many books over the years. This is one to keep -- and to find the particular sentences that makes you reflect and ponder.

A thoughtful and thought-provoking collection

Why We Stay Together is a collection of essays and poetry and fiction about the critical moments--turning points--in a marriage. The pieces vary in style and genre, but they are all thoughtful, honest explorations of the travails and rewards of marriage--without sugar coating. Highlights are John Bayley's haunting excerpt from Elegy for Irish, Louis Auchincloss's "Anniversary," and Cheryl Jarvis's piece about her experiment with a "marriage sabbatical" -- a break from being a wife & mother. A few of the pieces are over-exposed and predictable selections (O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi"), but overall it's a carefully chosen anthology, fun-to-read anthology.