Showing posts with label joshua henkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joshua henkin. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Talking with Joshua Henkin


On Monday night, my book club had the honor of chatting with Joshua Henkin, author of Matrimony. If you missed it, click and read my review of Matrimony. The first surprising fact we learned was that it took ten years for Mr. Henkin to write Matrimony. It was in the last year that he felt the book really came together. He wrote the book in chronological order, without an outline, and let the story tell itself. Mr. Henkin told the group that he was just as surprised by the ending as we were.

Mr. Henkin talked about how the death of one character is the pivotal plot point and without it the story might not have found Julien and Mia getting married. When asked who his favorite character was he explained that he felt the author's job was not to favor one character over another. He is currently working on his next novel tentatively titled The World Without You, which tells the story of a family's struggle with grief after the death of a family member in Iraq. Thanks again to Joshua Henkin for taking the time to speak to our book club, we look forward to reading more of his work.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Review -- Matrimony

Matrimony
by Joshua Henkins
Pantheon Books, 2007
291 pages

Summary: Julien and Carter meet their freshman year of college and instantly become friends. They both have a growing attraction for Mia, a classmate from Montreal. Julien meets her first and begins a courtship that ends in marriage after a terrible death. As Julien and Mia continue through the day to day life of marriage and work, a secret is uncovered that threatens to tear them apart.

Review: A quiet novel that communicates the characters and their relationships through the little everyday things, Matrimony is a great read. The compelling plot steadily takes the reader through the struggles and triumphs of the lives of the characters. Joshua Henkin tells a gentle tale of love, marriage, sacrifice, loss and forgiveness that find the extraordinary in ordinary lives. Rating: **** out of 5.

Check out my book club wrap up post on Thursday, where I will recap our club's discussion with author Joshua Henkin!