Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani Shapiro
The Husband and I recently celebrated our 25th anniversary, putting both of us in an especially reflective frame of mind. We’ve been through a lot during the past quarter century (!!!!) and then some. This milestone made this the perfect time for me to read Hourglass, Dani Shapiro’s gorgeous memoir about…well, exactly what the title promises: time, memory, and marriage.
Dani Shapiro has emerged as one of my favorite authors and someone who I consider to be among the best memoirists. I’ve read two of her previous books — Slow Motion (1998), about a tumultuous previous relationship and a car accident that left Shapiro’s parents critically injured, and Devotion (2010), described as “a searching and timeless memoir that examines the fundamental questions that wake women in the middle of the night, and grapples with the ways faith, prayer, and devotion affect everyday life.” (My thoughts on Slow Motion and Devotion here.)
Dani and her husband M. (she doesn’t name him in the book) have been married 18 years. Hourglass is a lovely reflection on their life together, the good and the difficult parts combined. It’s a quick read (but one that you’ll want to savor as long as possible) about the passage of time, the fragments of memory, and connection between two people. To quote the publisher’s description, it’s “an inquiry into how marriage is transformed by time–abraded, strengthened, shaped in miraculous and sometimes terrifying ways by accident and experience.”
It’s also full of gorgeous, insightful quotes, way too many to share here, but enough to inspire me to start a commonplace book.
Absolutely loved this one. Highly recommended.
Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage
by Dani Shapiro
Knopf Publishing Group
2017
160 pages
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