Adele And Tom: The Portrait Of A Marriage

by Chella Courington

"Adele and The Portrait of a Marriage is a stunning, lyrical tour de force that evokes Virginia Woolf's best novels, fluidly tracing—in form and content—the complex, labyrinthine, back-and-forth between a married couple, both of whom are writers. It is a glorious work of art." Robin Lippincott, author of Blue a meditation on the life and art of Joan Mitchell “Chella Courington's work is fragile, beautiful, difficult, kind, and leans all the way into what it means to be both an acute observer as well as an active participant in the world. No nuance of relationship, be it loving or otherwise, escapes her eye or her interpretation of the difficulties and joys of those of us who live in the creative realm.” Meg Withers, author of Particular In Search (Prickly Pear Press 2020)

138 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2020

Reviews

[Bedside Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adele and Tom: The Portrait of a Marriage by Chella Courington is a beautifully crafted snippet of true to life fiction. Written in vignettes, this is a book that feels more like peeking through the window into the lives of the characters within.

Adele and Tom are both writers and the book follows their emotional ups and downs of marriage. This short read is more like being a nosey neighbour twitching at the lace curtains over periods of time, as you witness snap shots of the lives of Adele and Tom. Without giving spoilers, these freeze frames, taken from both Adele and Tom’s perspectives are poignant, melancholic, tender, competitive, longing and caring.

Courington’s writing is compassionate and truthful. In some cases the brief paragraphs that make up a chapter contain only a few long sentences, allowing the reader to feel as though they are tumbling inside the mind of the down hearted character.

I adored this piece of writing which could be picked up and read over an extended time frame, or like I did in one sitting. No this story doesn’t take you away to a fantasy world where romance is clearly the stuff of fiction, but it is a reminder that life isn’t always easy; it’s hard and relationships need to be a balance of give and take to work.

Given the aura of sadness I seem to have given this review I will admit that this fictional work gave me comfort and allowed me to breathe. I highly recommend this wonderful book.

[Heidi Slowinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adele and Tom: The Portrait of a Marriage is a work of short fiction, exploring the nuances between two very different writers. Tom is an economist, orderly and exacting. Adele is a creative-type, struggling in her own way.

Courington’s lyrical and poetic writing style had me engrosed from the first page. This novella captures a great deal of emotion in only a few short pages. The beautiful prose are perfect for a quiet afternoon read. I recommend retreating with this book and a good cup of tea for an afternoon. You will not be disappointed.

[L. Bordetsky-Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and lyrical novel that explores all that is underneath our daily conversations. Chella Courington creates an interior world that is complex and gorgeous.

[Anne West · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first saw the cover of Adele and Tom I thought: what is this some modern-day romance? I never would have given it a second glance, but the person who recommended it has exquisite literary taste, so I pressed forward.
The book itself is brilliant. The story of two writers who have made a life together. Tom, an economist, is an orderly, organized writer, successful and strong. Adele is a genius, who suffers, as many great writers do. Add to her writer's anxiety the struggle to rise above the shadow of her successful, aloof husband, to breathe her own creative air. Shades of Colette, Woolf, Nin,and Dinesen, Adele is every woman, clawing her way to emotional an expressive freedom, while Tom holds it all in, suffering from gut pain, and slowly giving up more freedom. As ever, the beauty is in the writing itself.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slices of prose are spliced throughout a marriage between two writers, sliding through their lives as they leave behind the remnants of their families of origin and create their own bond. Adele yearns for her own legacy--professional and personal, and yet is still in the shadow of her own beloved husband, Tom, who wrestles with his own feelings of futility. This novella captures moments and moods with a skillful touch, taking the reader from a New Orleans cafe to the Santa Barbara sunshine, and meeting two intertwined souls at the points in their shared journey where they are the most vulnerable and raw.

It's written in a way where you could dip in and out of the story, each piece its own standalone gem, but I couldn't put it down and finished it in a single sitting.

[Nick Gerrard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written Novelette

A simple story about a relationship but every line is refined with lovely prose. An insight into two writers living together, their dreams, aspirations, doubts; and the food descriptions I loved. The comparison to Virginia Wolfe's writing is there but I found this more readable. A fine Novelette, worthy of reading.

[Louella Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading Adele & Tom.

[d. phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her book, Adele and Tom, the author brings us all the way in to her head-space, sharing intimate details of a long-term marriage in "flash-moments." Reading these short chapters, some only one page long, felt, to this reader, like sitting down at the kitchen table, flipping through a photo-album with the main character who, in first person, narrates various scenes depicted in randomly chosen order.

I did not sense a narrative arc here, and that felt purposeful, almost as if, in leaving out that element of story-telling, the author pointed straight toward one of the book's central themes: long-term marriages don't have a neat story-arc and are often inhabited by intense longing for more "something," full of ambiguity and a strange kind of inexplicable discomfort.

I read this novella in one sitting and within a couple of hours but the solidarity I felt with the author/main character has stayed with me. My take away thought, "Huh. Will you look at that. A woman being honest about how long-term marriages really look and feel." I suspect any woman who's been married more than a few years will find this book, as I did, highly relatable.

If you need happy endings, don't look here. If you can stand to read the truth, this is the book for you.

[Sterling Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional achievement, Chella Courington’s recent novella, ADELE AND TOM: PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE, charms as it queries life’s questions big and small. Deftly examining shared space and typical boundaries of any committed relationship—let alone one that mildly evokes the literary tensions between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes—Courington seamlessly leads her readers though a labyrinth of personal reflection, loss, and acceptance. A wonderful book--one that invites a second read!