Audiobook3 hours
Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give
Written by Ada Calhoun
Narrated by Ada Calhoun
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Inspired by her wildly popular New York Times essay The Wedding Toast I'll Never Give, Ada Calhoun provides a funny (but not flip), smart (but not smug) take on the institution of marriage. Weaving intimate moments from her own married life with frank insight from experts, clergy, and friends, she upends expectations of total marital bliss to present a realistic-but ultimately optimistic-portrait of what marriage is really like. There will be fights, there will be existential angst, there may even be affairs; sometimes you'll look at the person you love and feel nothing but rage. Despite it all, Calhoun contends, staying married is easy: just don't get divorced.
Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give offers bracing straight talk to the newly married and honors those who have weathered the storm. This exploration of modern marriage is at once wise and entertaining, a work of unexpected candor and literary grace.
Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give offers bracing straight talk to the newly married and honors those who have weathered the storm. This exploration of modern marriage is at once wise and entertaining, a work of unexpected candor and literary grace.
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Reviews for Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give
Rating: 3.589285692857143 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
56 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It cuts off the end of some chapters. Not sure what that’s about. The book itself is a quick and easy listen. Good for a short car trip or something.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5These mediations on marriage are thought-provoking, and perspective-lending, and relatable, and inspiring, and hopeful, and wry. I rarely buy books, but I’ll be buying this one to mark up and revisit, which is probably the best endorsement I can give.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A collection of memoir-ish essays in which Ada Calhoun reflects on the advice she'd give in wedding toasts if she could completely honest about the realities of marriage from her position as a woman married nearly twenty years. The conceit of toasts falls apart pretty quickly here as the book is really more a collection of essays reflecting on some of the challenges in Calhoun's marriage with her husband, Neal. While some of the essays had me laughing at some reactions in recognition, I found that more often the quotations from writers/religious leaders were more intriguing insights than Calhoun's own (Tolkien had some fascinating thoughts on marriage). I did rub the wrong way against some of her thoughts on fidelity and monogamy as she seemed to consider it much more fluid and that that experience was universal, which really doesn't mesh with me. Otherwise, it was funny and occasionally sweet and ultimately a very fast read. Cautiously recommended.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A sort of memoir in essays, this book explores what it's like to be married. Not a self-help book, but definitely a memoir that could help you think about what marriage is. Insightful and pleasant, even when it was difficult. A good read.