Joshua Henkin Matrimony

Matrimony

Joshua Henkin

Pantheon, Oct 2007, $23.95

ISBN: 9780375424359

In late 1986, elitist Manhattanite Julian Wainwright attends Graymont College in Massachusetts for two reasons. First he needs to escape his loving stifling Ivy League parents although he loves them dearly; second he wants to study fiction writing under the tutelage of Professor Stephen Chesterfield. At the limited workshop, Julian and another student of the working middle class gene pool Carter Heinz become friends because they share in common the acceptance that the great Professor Chesterfield deems they might have some talent.

In the cafeteria Carter meets Pilar while in the laundry room Julian meets Mia Mendelson. Each becomes a couple although Carter begrudges Julian's upper class attitude. Over the next two decades, the pairs have trials and tribulations, but as the new millennium begins, Julian and Mia head to California where Carter reveals a secret that could destroy all their relationships.

This is an interesting look at relationships between friends and lovers starting in the second Reagan term up until the present. Readers get to understand what motivates Carter, Julian and Mia, however, major events in their lives never come across deep enough to comprehend what they do to the individual's needs. Still this is an entertaining character driven tale that focuses on the roller coaster rapport and discord between companions.

Harriet Klausner