TWICE AROUND A MARRIAGE

This literary pas de deux from the veteran author and Pulitzer winner Butler is ostensibly set in Paris in 2020. That’s where novelist Amanda Duval and literary scholar Howard Blevins had hoped to revisit the places they first met in 1968—before they married, divorced, and remarried back in the U.S. But with Covid forcing everyone indoors, the novel largely takes place in their rented apartment, and more precisely in their memories. To pass the time, they encourage each other to write and share stories about their courtship, split, and reconciliation. Litigating the past is fraught for the two—an infidelity, acknowledged but not discussed in detail, prompted their divorce—but Butler’s goal is more subtle than staging he-said-she-said debates. Rather, by having them write out their recollections, Butler plays with their distinct styles—Amanda more literary, Howard more bluntly factual—to show that while a couple might agree on the facts, their meaning and the intensity of feelings they evoke can differ substantially. There are silly moments that feel forced, like Howard’s tryst with a fellow modernist scholar determined to precisely reenact the closing pages of Ulysses, but Butler’s approach is generally sober, built on less explosive vignettes about the couple’s past romances and relationship with their daughter. While the overall mood is generally tender and affectionate—the two are in their 70s and disinclined to fly solo again—Butler also adds enough tension to suggest that a marriage involves navigating and reconciling a lot of miscommunication, regardless of the couple’s stage in life.