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Lottie is far from sympathetic. In order to escape her household and feel more grownup, she announces she’s marrying. No one believes her, which is funny and telling, but it eventually comes out that she’s been having an affair with an older composer of religious music, her teacher. Who is already married. Time passes, they marry, she has children, and life is tough. She has what she wants, but of course she isn’t happy. Her husband actually uses space in his ex-wife’s house to do his work because his home with Lottie is too chaotic. And in the end she is left longing for more. As is the reader. I did not enjoy this story much and found that I really didn’t care what Lottie did. I felt some sympathy for Edgar, her husband, but we got to see so little of him it was hard to really know if that was misplaced since, after all, he had a history of fooling around with students. I think this is one of my least favorite stories of the year so far.
October 8, 2007: “Married Love” by Tessa Hadley
