Gretchen has had enough of her husband, Steve. He’s been obsessed with work and emotionally distant for years. She’s sought revenge for his affairs by embarking upon one of her own. Gretchen is ready for a new life.
But before the couple splits, they decide to visit a marriage counselor. With Sandy’s guidance, the couple learns to look beyond the surface of what the other says and examine what’s really happening in their relationship. The time they spend in Sandy’s office requires Gretchen and Steve to slow down, listen to each other and listen to their marriage.
It’s been 37 years since John Jay Osborn’s last novel, and 47 since his debut, The Paper Chase, soared onto the literary scene. That novel followed a first-year law student as he dealt with a professor he both admired and feared. It was ultimately adapted for both television and film. Though decades have passed, Listen to the Marriage shows Osborn is still able to home in on the heart of a story and reveal its characters’ motivations.
Counseling sessions can be revealing, and so it is for Gretchen and Steve. Listen to the Marriage is set entirely in Sandy’s office, where they reconvene each week to discuss the obstacles between them. The novel is a page turner, with the reader thrust into the characters’ most vulnerable moments, and it’s easy to read in a single sitting.
Osborn’s tale focuses on a single relationship, and in doing so, examines the power of empathy and invites readers to consider how they relate to others in their own lives.
