Score

From your inclusion of Albee's "Virginia Woolf" I conclude that plays qualify? In that spirit, I've added Shakespeare's "Henry VIII" and "A Winter's Tale" -- though if you'd rather not see the list being extended to drama, I'll happily remove it again.

ETA: As well as, of course, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"!

Themis-Athena wrote: "From your inclusion of Albee's "Virginia Woolf" I conclude that plays qualify? In that spirit, I've added Shakespeare's "Henry VIII" and "A Winter's Tale" -- though if you'd rather not see the lis..."

Your acronym, "ETA" stands for "Edited to Add" ?

Yes, it does.

I added Revolutionary Road. That one sure was depressing...

Yes, plays definitely qualify.

Good grief, at this point merely looking at this list makes you wonder why people would want to get married at all, doesn't it?

Themis-Athena wrote: "Good grief, at this point merely looking at this list makes you wonder why people would want to get married at all, doesn't it? "

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laughs - happy marriages are not such interesting subject fodder I suppose. It's the same with books that deal with the future, they are all car wreck scenarios that would make you wonder why people would want to live further at all.

Oh, sure, it's always more interesting to write about a train wreck than about smooth sailing -- if there weren't some sort of challenge to overcome, what would be the point of the story?

Still, I think it's amazing how many books have been placed on this list already, and how many voters it has attracted in a single day ... The topic does seem to strike a certain chord, doesn't it? (Or is it just me? :~ )

Themis-Athena wrote: "Oh, sure, it's always more interesting to write about a train wreck than about smooth sailing -- if there weren't some sort of challenge to overcome, what would be the point of the story?

Still, I..."

I like your emoticon. Son Chris wants to find one for "chagrin".

I guess we could start a Happy Marriages list and see which one attracts more voters. I think people are drawn to lists like this because they're not as abstract as, and/or don't require as much specialized reading background, as lists like "best Renaissance literature" or "novels written in the first person" or "the literature of Arizona." The unhappy marriage is something you can easily get your mind around and usually it's a feature of a novel you remember.

That's part of what I meant -- these are books dealing with something we can all empathize with, even if we've never been married (or do live in a happy marriage) ourselves. Which is probably why it is, in turn, such a prevalent subject in literature, too.

I still wonder, though, why people seem to be particularly drawn to this topic, or these books for that matter -- is it because after having turned the last page they can happily conclude "Thank God my own bad relationship is long over and I am NOT married to a guy like Karenin myself now," or because deep down inside they're saying, "yes, that's EXACTLY how things are" (even if they're reading a novel set in 19th century Russia, which for all practical purposes couldn't possibly be any further removed from their personal circumstances)?

Of course all great literature is great because it deals with universal subjects and feelings. Put this generally, that's nothing more than a truism, though. And if you think of how many people, especially these days, principally read books in order to be entertained, you'd think they would empathize much more with a hero (or more often than not, a heroine) who in the end overcomes the challenges (s)he meets -- call it happy ending or whatever you will. (Which would certainly also be more in tune with what's understood to be a role model in modern society: we're told to learn from those who successfully overcome their challenges, not those losers who commit suicide or crawl into the farthest recesses of some dark hole to live out the rest of their lives in total oblivion.)

Not here, though; a substantial number of the books on this list, and certainly the majority of the top 10 or 15 entries, deal with people who ultimately FAIL -- for whatever reasons, but the point is still that their stories are depressing in the extreme, and even if the hero(ine) doesn't commit suicide in the end, their outlook is far from uplifting. And you would expect that their being set in a society different from our own (and, like "Anna Karenina," concerned with an in-depth analysis of that society, too -- whatever the Hollywood version, the book is about much more than Anna's own relationship tangle, after all) can't exactly add to their accessibility, either.

Now mind you, personally I do find it extremely gratifying that these books (or, for that matter, something like Sylvia Plath's "Bell Jar," which has to be one of the most depressing and yet one of the most brilliant books ever written) still enjoy the readership they have. I just wonder how they manage to beat the odds (and what that says about modern society, or at least modern society's perception of itself)?

Themis-Athena wrote: "That's part of what I meant -- these are books dealing with something we can all empathize with, even if we've never been married (or do live in a happy marriage) ourselves. Which is probably why ..."

Salman Rushdie recently said the Family is not a natural institution, on the contrary, said he, it's one of the most bizarre creations on Earth. I remember heavy programming growing up in the 1940's-1950s that ALL anyone should care about was love&marriage. I guess, post-war that became the newer version of the American dream, that and of course "Beat the Russians". The whole utopian fantasy was a ship built to sink. If you haven't seen the film of Revolutionary Road, you might wanna get a snoot-full first. Leaving out the histrionics, it was my parents' story. My father sat of the couch drinking beer. My Mom banged pots and pans in the kitchen, venting her frustration. My sister and I grew up screwed up in the thundering silence between them. I think of the '60s now domestically as the Revolution of Falling Expectations.

I think of the 60s as the Decade from Hell.

And the 70s as the Fashion Decade from Hell.

Susanna wrote: "And the 70s as the Fashion Decade from Hell."

Noooooooooooo! - my maroon velvet bell bottoms with the knee horizontal seam and thigh-length purple suede platform boots would never see the light of day if I believed you.

hahahahaha

Themis-Athena wrote: "That's part of what I meant -- these are books dealing with something we can all empathize with, even if we've never been married (or do live in a happy marriage) ourselves. Which is probably why ..."

Well, I definitely go through periods where I can't read depressing novels, or at least certain types of depressing novels. For example, I haven't picked up a Thomas Hardy in years, even though some of them are on my to-read list. And after I've finished a Wharton, it's often a huge relief to pick up an Austen, or a lightheared police procedural set in gloomy Sweden. Reading moods can be strange and unpredictable.

Thom wrote: "Themis-Athena wrote: "That's part of what I meant -- these are books dealing with something we can all empathize with, even if we've never been married (or do live in a happy marriage) ourselves. ..."

Why am I not surprised that Salman Rushdie would find the Family a bizarre and unnatural institution?

Lobstergirl wrote: "I guess we could start a Happy Marriages list and see which one attracts more voters. I think people are drawn to lists like this because they're not as abstract as, and/or don't require as much s..."

Good idea! but are there any books to go on it?

I'm terrible at remembering stuff like that. Other people will have to do most of the remembering.

If someone wrote a novel about the last ten years of my marriage...it could make this list.
And, it might even get more than just my vote! *grin*

Oh dear.

Freak: The True Story of an Insecurity Addict

You add books to lists at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."