Couples: Scene from the Inside Book

Equal parts sociology, advice guide, and domestic thriller, Sally Cline's study of the institution of coupledom will reassure readers that there is always someone in a weirder, wilder, or less workable relationship than oneself. Drawing on interviews with straight and gay couples of various ages, races, and social backgrounds, Cline establishes that strong couples have six qualities in common. She calls these "the five C's and the one I"--Commitment, Communication, Coping, Cherishing, Compromise, and Interdependence. (Coitus and Cohabitation are not even on the list.) With the help of long quotes from Cline's subjects, Couples describes how partners feel about each other and about the rewards and constraints of a shared life. Although she has tried "to separate the institution of coupledom from the experience of individual couples," the conclusions Cline draws are inevitably drier than the individual stories, which often leap off the page--like the absorbing section on creative couples, in which she interviews writers Michael Holroyd and Margaret Drabble. --Regina Marler Read More