Joshua Henkin

MATRIMONY is a book to savor slowly, to read a little and then stop and consider what you've read and to make inevitable connections of your own. Because Joshua Henkin has somehow managed to tap into the mainstream consciousness of what it was to be young and then suddenly not-so-young back in the 80s and 90s. And yet his characters are unique, memorable and all their own. Henkin has figured out how to combine Everyman and his own particular voices or characters, represented here by Julian show more Wainwright and alternately, his wife, Mia Mendelsohn. Granted, these two main voices may seem to come from lives of comparative wealth and privilege, but their hopes and dreams, fears and disappointments, heartbreaks and joys are universal.

I especially enjoyed the various academic settings, shifting from Ivy League (the fictional Graymont College) to Big Ten (U of M in Ann Arbor) to the Iowa corfields (the Iowa Writers Workshop). Henkin provided plenty of satisfying and authentic details and description, particularly with the two latter campuses. In the Iowa section, Henkin also quite perfectly describes his own writing style, in a passage on a story Julian was working on -

"The story was quiet; all his work was. Perhaps it was a matter of differing aesthetics. There had emerged in American fiction a strain of excess, he believed, a group of knowing authors whose every sentence seemed to shout, 'Look how smart I am.' He had nothing against muscular prose; it was the flexing of those muscles he objected to, and along with it a disregard for character, which, for him, was what fiction was about."

A quiet kind of fiction with emphasis on character - that's what Joshua Henkin writes, as exemplified both here, in MATRIMONY, and also in his wonderful debut novel, SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON.

I was reminded of other novels of academia I've read in the past. They may not have a lot in common, but I'm going to list a few anyway. Philip Roth's early novel, LETTING GO, has always been a particular favorite of mine. So have John Irving's THE WATER METHOD MAN, Marge Piercy's SMALL CHANGES, John Williams's STONER, and Larry McMurtry's MOVING ON and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. What is the biggest difference between those novels and MATRIMONY is the sweetness Joshua Henkin brings to his stories. He is not afraid to let his feminine side and sensibilities show, as in his description of Mia's fears over a lump she finds in her breast and in his treatment of the whole concept of gene-related breast cancer.

As was true of his first novel, MATRIMONY is a book about love. This time love is examined in the context of marriage, with all its ups and downs. And not just in Julian and Mia's marriage, but in those of their parents - both sets - and their friend Carter. Henkin treads softly and carefully in these areas, and in so doing he has created a story that is both complex and simple all at the same time. Discerning readers will come to care about Julian and Mia, and probably see a bit of themselves in them. I may have said the same thing about SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON, but what the hell, I'll say it again. I loved this book. show less

During my wedding rehearsal I giggled at ‘for richer and for poorer’. My future sisters-in-law had taken me aside and told nineteen-year-old-me that my husband would never make any money and it was up to me to have a money career, like data processing. My blue collar childhood wasn’t flush with money but I had what I needed. I was not motivated by money and I continued with my plans for an English major, a surefire guarantee of unemployability.

But I didn’t think about ‘in sickness show more and in health’ much then, and even 49 years later I still don’t dwell on it. My husband’s people are long live; mine are not. But recently, my husband has become concerned. His brother, seven years older than him, has developed Alzheimer’s disease. Their dad became confused in his nineties, and their grandmother had mini-strokes and senility in her upper eighties. Now, he is worried.

I suppose I should be, too. Especially after reading Joshua Henkin’s Morningside Heights, his novel about a woman who marries a brilliant, but eccentric, professor who is seven years her senior and develops early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

The book is the story of Spence Robin and Pru Steiner’s whirlwind romance and marriage. Spence was Pru’s Shakespeare professor. She gave up her Ph.d for him. She has a boring job and they have a lovely daughter, Sarah. She plans to become a doctor.

Spence has a child from an early marriage. Arlo struggles with an aging hippie mom and was raised in a commune, and without proper education to help his dyslexia. He moves in with his dad but has trouble adjusting to normal life, blending into the family, plus his dad seems more interested in raising a scholar than loving a son. He returns to life with his peripatetic mother.

I loved these people, so very real and likeable. They have their troubles but they are the kind of problems that every family faces. Henkin’s insights into people have a touch of humor. A character realizes that “what we didn’t know could be as much a source of pride as what we did know.” Um, is he talking about me?

The story turns somber when Spence develops signs of dementia and loses his position at Columbia. Pru must juggle work, caring for Spence, and the financial burden of round the clock care. And, the loneliness of a marriage to a man who can no longer provide companionship or affection.

A man comes into Pru’s life and she must decide if she can turn to him for what Spence is no longer able to give, or if her vow to Spence does not allow bending to circumstances.

It was here that I suddenly considered my husband’s brother’s wife. We saw them nearly a year ago, when his brother sat quietly docile, every now and then surprising us with a pertinent question. But this spring, they went on a trip, and on the plane going back home, he panicked and was hospitalized.

What would I do, if my husband developed this dreadful disease? We don’t have the money for round the clock care. I don’t have the physical strength to aid a man who towers over me. Like Pru and Spence, we have one child to help out.

What I love about Morningside Heights is that it is a story about a marriage that I can relate to and even be inspired by. The problem they encounter is tragic, leaving a brilliant man bereft of his intelligence and personality, but it’s not really a story about a disease. It’s a story about life and love and how we face the unimaginable. It’s about the friendships that support us along the way. How we all muddle through the best we can, staying true to ourselves and our values. What an inspiration.

I received a free book from the publisher through the First Look Book Club. My review is fair and unbiased. show less

Lovely and heartfelt. When a story can cover decades in couple chapters, I appreciate the forward motion without being swamped with detail. That is what happens here, and instead we get some thoughtful character traits and the heart of the book, which is love, love missed, love lost. Pru Steiner and Spencer Robin meet in grad school - she is a student, he is her rising star professor and their love story is sweet and true. But Spence had a brief first marriage, so has an ex-wife, Linda and show more son Arlo. This is the 70s...and the earth-mother way Linda raises Arlo (named for Guthrie) borders on neglect, especially in Spence's traditional view. She has moved him around - either in pursuit of a man or a temporary job - she wants to "poop in all 50 states." She has also 'home-schooled' Arlo, and Spence who is the youngest tenured professor in Columbia's history is aghast at her rejection of traditional education. And she has lied to both of them: telling Arlo Spence rejected them, when the reality is she has kept him away. She is not entirely malicious, just completely flighty and stubborn and self-centered. Consequently, Arlo's relationship with Spence is full of misunderstanding, resentment, and missed opportunities. Meanwhile, Pru and Spence have a fulfilled life in NYC, with a daughter Sarah. Spence teaches for 30 years to much fame and accolades, Pru gave up her advanced studies, but works in development at Barnard, Sarah learns and grows, and pursues medicine after university. Arlo drifts in and out of their lives. This is the kind of flow the narration offers, with lots of quirky, thoughtful backstory of their inner lives revealed. For example, Pru was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home in Columbus, OH and though she calls herself an atheist, she still retains some of the ritual and instruction of her childhood. Spence came from a working class family and was an academic wonder all along. He has a sister, Enid who is institutionalized after brain damage in a car accident in her 20s. These things help shape and define them and what they bring to the story and the relationship. But the true conflict and turning point in the story is when Spence develops early-onset Alzheimer's in his late 50s. Here the author's skill is even more evident as that becomes the 'planet' around which all their lives orbit. The brain failure of a man so invested in his brain has tragic overtones that are combated by the love of his family. show less

Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin is a very highly recommended profound, tragic, and compassionate family drama.

In 1976 graduate student Pru Steiner falls in love with Spence Robin, her young Shakespeare professor at Columbia University, and they marry. Spence is a rising star, a lauded professor who receives acclaim and awards for his scholarship. Pru sets her career goals aside, has a child, Sarah, works an uninspiring job fund raising for Columbia, and loves Spence and Sarah. She show more learns to love Arlo, Spence's son from an earlier marriage. Pru has an Orthodox Jewish background but turns to a more secular observance, like Spence.

They have a good life - and then something changes. It slowly becomes clear that something is wrong with Spence. This man of words misreads an invitation, he is cold all the time, can't concentrate, and is unable to finish new, annotated Shakespeare. At 57 Spence is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and it is up to Pru, 51, to figure out his care on her own. Sarah, who is at medical school on the west coast, flies out briefly, and Arlo keeps his distance.

The writing is excellent. This is a brilliant, complicated novel that captures an extended, heart-breaking time in a family. It is a portrait of a marriage facing hardship, when a spouse suddenly is turned into a caregiver. It depicts a normal family, where their love and devotion to each other is evident alongside their flaws and struggles.

These are not perfect people, but they are realistic. Certainly Spence and Pru are portrayed as real, complicated, and flawed individuals, but Sarah and Arlo also have chapters where their stories are told through their distinctive, imperfect, and individual points-of-view. All the viewpoints, turmoil, questions, and complications that can be an integral part of an ordinary family are depicted with a nuanced sensitivity and realism as the family, but especially Pru, handle his care while Spence essentially slowly dies.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Pantheon.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/07/morningside-heights.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4093019060 show less