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Favorite falling-out-of-love stories

07.10.11

Last year, I took the rare step of reading the big book of the season when it came out, instead of three years after everyone else read it: Jonathan Franzen ’s Freedom , which turned out to be an in-depth chronicle of one relationship in particular, from its awkward origins to its heyday to its trials to its gradual dissolution, as the central couple grow up, change, find other interests, and eventually find other lovers. It’s an admirably mature and detailed book about the reasons people get together in the first place, the reasons they stay together, and the reasons they might eventually let go. It’s rich in characterization as well as incident, and it’s one of the best books about relationships I’ve ever read. There’s nothing particularly mature about another favorite of mine, Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking” : Her kiss-off to an unfaithful lover is all self-righteous attitude and aggression. But there’s something to be said for art about being confident and certain when a relationship comes apart, instead of clingy and miserable.

Source: A.V. Club