Falling in Love When You Thought You Were Through

June 10, 2002
In her previous memoir, Past Forgetting, novelist Robinson described the extraordinary experience of amnesia following a swimming pool accident and the gradual recovery of her memory. This time she teams up with her third husband to recount their meeting, courtship and the early days of their marriage in 1980 (before the amnesia). Alternating the voices of husband and wife, both Robinson and Shaw (an Englishman and PR executive) write extremely well, but offer only an ordinary tale of middle-aged love and blended families. Both divorced with almost-grown children, Robinson and Shaw met at a 12-step meeting, fell in love and proceeded down the well-trod path of uniting their lives, families and friends. The most unusual aspect of their story is that because of Robinson's background (as the daughter of Dore Schary, who was the one-time head of MGM and writer/director/producer of Broadway hits), they dine with the rich and famous, and doors that are firmly locked to most people seem to fly open for them. For example, Martha Stewart arranged their western-themed wedding reception gratis and a friend found them a great flat in London within a week of their decision to move there. This ease of life (along with the absence of any mention of Robinson's amnesia) lessens their drama of emotions, relationships and struggles to adapt their egos and lives to love and marriage. Shaw muses, "Falling in love is child's play: staying in love stretches patience way beyond what one had considered to be breaking point." Unfortunately, this story ends before such patience is really tested. (Aug. 1)Forecast:The real poignancy of this work may be lost on those who have not read
Past Forgetting, which describes Robinson's struggle to recognize her husband and remember their life together. Robinson's fame may not be enough to spur high sales.

September 15, 2002
John B. Rehm is a retired attorney, while radio personality Diane Rehm authored Finding My Voice. Together they have been working at their marriage long enough (43 years!) to make it look easy. Like everyone, they started out "with gross ignorance" of themselves and each other. Through devoted, sometimes dogged commitment to each other, they found that "marriage-or any long-term relationship-is a never-ending process of exploration and growth." The reader becomes a fly on the wall during the couple's discussions of some 25 topics (e.g., food, sex, commitment) in individual and then mutual conversation. These transcriptions tastefully make public the very private and often profound musings, reflections, and wisdom of two intelligent people who have been through life and now know something about it. Readers should listen up-they just might learn something. While the Rehms chose the straight and narrow, Robinson (Star Country) and Shaw walked the razor's edge. Two former alcoholics (now in recovery and in their sixties), they here describe their courtship and chronicle their misspent pasts in lurid detail. The authors alternate first-person narrative, a method that quickly becomes tiresome and confusing, and their pompous, self-important tone doesn't hide their obvious desperation. This offers zero how-to advice and is a bit too confessional in nature. Both books present the very personal side of the individual/couple dynamic as examined in self-help books like Martha Baldwin Beveridge's Loving Your Partner Without Losing Your Self. Of course, marriage doesn't universally equate to happiness and success, as Xavier F. Amador reminds us in Being Single in a Couple's World. Also consider Laura Davis's I Thought We'd Never Speak Again for a concerned, optimistic take on reconciliation. Toward Commitment is recommended, while Falling in Love is not.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.