Synopses & Reviews
An unexpectedand surprisingly positive exploration of the benefits awaiting married baby boomers in their bonus years from the New York Timesbestselling author of Intimate Partners.
In September Songs, journalist and author Maggie Scarf finds that marriage has undergone some fascinating changes since she wrote her bestselling Intimate Partners. Over the course of the twentieth century, thirty years of life have been added to normal human life expectancywhat the author calls the bonus years. This means that couples will often live together for years after their children have left home, and perhaps well past retirement. This extra time is bringing change to our long-term relationships, especially marriage.
In a series of intimate interviews, Scarf delves into the lives of couples married for more than two decades and discerns encouraging new insights about marriage. Seen through the eyes of these baby boomers as they move into this new phase of life, we hearin the couples own wordshow they survived the bumps together and learned to balance their needs with those of their partners. Scarf reveals that, in many ways, men and women in long-term marriages are far happier and more fulfilled in their relationships today than when they were younger.
A compelling and human portrait of the long-term emotional, psychological, and physical benefits of a lasting commitment to another, September Songs uncovers the challenges and new opportunities couples find to love, cherish, and live alongside each other in the extra years they have together.
Review
[An] engrossing investigation into enduring marriage
[Maggie Scarf] is a gifted interviewer, knowing what to ask and when to back off. Her gently probing questionsabout retirement, health, sexual activity, finances, children, religion, disappointments and regretlead her subjects to some unexpectedly candid answers.
The New York Times Book Review
A journalistic book
the clearest message, both from the research and the couples, is upbeat.
The Economist
Scarf adroitly examines how they negotiate the challenges of marriages that have lasted more -- and sometimes far more -- than two decades. And Scarf is good
. a probing but tactful questioner, an active listener and even, on occasion, a quasi- therapist.
The Washington Post
Living what shes preaching
[Scarf] has been married for 55 years.
USA Today
A fascinating overview of an unexplored topic that should appeal to couples of all ages.
Publishers Weekly
Review
"[An] engrossing investigation into enduring marriage...unexpectedly candid"
-The New York Times Book Review
"Scarf is good...a probing but tactful questioner, an active listener, and even, on occasion, a quasi-therapist."
-The Washington Post
"A journalistic book...the clearest message, both from the research and the couples, is upbeat."
-The Economist
"Scarf wonderfully captures those insights that give meaning and joy to life even as the clock ticks."
-Jerome Groopman, M.D., author of How Doctors Think
Synopsis
From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Intimate Partners" comes this unexpected--and surprisingly positive--exploration of the benefits awaiting married baby boomers in their bonus years.
Synopsis
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, thirty years have been added to the normal human life expectancy. In
September Songs, the follow-up to her bestselling
Intimate Partners, Maggie Scarf investigates the surprising and profound evolution marriage has undergone in these ?bonus years.? In a series of intimate and provocative interviews, she delves into the lives of couples married for more than two decades and uncovers the welcome news that most couples are more satisfied in their marriages today than in their early years together. By giving voice to both their struggles and their triumphs, these husbands and wives reveal how they?ve balanced their emotional and physical needs with those of their partner?s, and how the lessons they?ve learned over time have helped them find new opportunities to love, cherish, and live alongside each other in the extra years they have together.
About the Author
Maggie Scarf is a journalist and the author of the bestselling Intimate Partners, as well as Secrets, Lies, Betrayals; Intimate Worlds; Unfinished Business; and Body, Mind, Behavior. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, and a Fellow of Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University. She is a contributing editor for The New Republic.