FOREVERLAND

“One of the first honest moving and funny portrayals of a solid marriage I have ever read.” —Jessica Grose The New York TimesA Best Book of 2022 from The New Yorker and Chicago TribuneAn illuminating poignant and savagely funny examination of modern marriage from Ask Polly advice columnist Heather HavrileskyIf falling in love is the peak of human experience then marriage is the slow descent down that mountain on a trail built from conflict compromise and nagging doubts. Considering the limited economic advantages to marriage the deluge of other mate options a swipe away and the fact that almost half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce anyway why do so many of us still chain ourselves to one human being for life?In Foreverland Heather Havrilesky illustrates the delights aggravations and sublime calamities of her marriage over the span of fifteen years charting an unpredictable course from meeting her one true love to slowly learning just how much energy is required to keep that love aflame. This refreshingly honest portrait of a marriage reveals that our relationships are not simply “happy” or “unhappy” but something much murkier—at once unsavory taxing and deeply satisfying. With tales of fumbled proposals harrowing suburban migrations external temptations and the bewildering insults of growing older Foreverland is a work of rare candor and insight. Havrilesky traces a path from daydreaming about forever for the first time to understanding what a tedious glorious drag forever can be.