My First Lesson in Point of View
When I was in my early teens, my mother had a subscription
to The Ladies Home Journal. I wasn’t interested in the stories or the recipes,
but I was fascinated by the column, Can This Marriage Be Saved? The column had a
simple format: first, the wife would relate her grievances in the relationship;
then the husband would tell what he felt was wrong with the marriage.
The first time I read the column, the wife immediately had
my sympathy. Her husband didn’t make an effort to remember her birthday and
their anniversary; he belittled her in front of their friends by telling jokes
at her expense; he spent weekends either golfing or napping instead of
participating in activities with her and their children. No wonder their marriage
was in trouble!
But then I read his side. She’d plunged them into debt by
spending more than he was earning. Although she didn’t work, their house was a
dirty, disorderly mess. When he’d married her, she was slender. Now she was
grossly overweight and unappealing.
It was a eureka moment! For the first time, I vividly saw
two sides to the same story.
Years later, an image of three middle-aged adults sitting at
a dinner table, an attractive married couple and an unmarried man, popped into
my mind. The husband was asking the man what his intentions were, and the
fellow replied, “I intend to marry your wife.” The image was a gift, and I had
to run with it. Since the novel would be about a marriage, it seemed
logical that the married couple, Buddy and Ginger Middleton, should alternately
tell what happened to them. The result was The Last Season, the Story of a
Marriage.
About the Author
Although Marian has lived in Virginia for twenty-five years,
she still has a Buffalo, New York accent. She doesn’t miss blizzards, but she
does miss Buffalo’s summers.
You can find Marian here:
