A Box of Darkness
The Story of a Marriage
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3.9 • 47 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In the tradition of Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, comes a poignant memoir about a marriage that was as deep and strong as it was mysterious and complex
Upton and Sally Brady were a rare breed: cultivated and elegant, they lived a life of literary glamour and high expectations. Sally a debutante; Upton a classics major from Harvard, they met at the Boston Cotillion. He was articulate, witty, and worldly, and he danced like Fred Astaire. How could she resist? Despite raising four children on Upton's modest wage as the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Monthly Press, theirs was a world of champagne, sailboats, private islands, famous writers, family rituals, and ice-cold martinis. They lived life on their terms. But as time wore on, Upton, the charming and brilliant husband, the inventive, beguiling partner, grew opinionated, cranky, controlling, and dangerous.
When Upton died suddenly one evening in their Vermont cottage, Sally began uncovering secrets. As she went through his papers, she discovered that her husband of forty-six years had desired the love of other men. Her riveting, charismatic husband was not quite the man he appeared to be, and a year of mourning became for Sally a time to unravel the dark and unexpected web he had left behind. Hers is a moving and powerful story of coming to terms with what cannot be changed. It is also a story of great love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"It's not hard to identify my emotions. What's hard is filling in the gaps of a forty-six-year love affair," confesses Brady (A Yankee Christmas series) in her account of life with longtime Atlantic Monthly Press editor-in-chief Upton Birnie Brady. In 1956, 17-year-old Ryder met Upton when he cut in on a dance at the annual Boston Cotillion. Feeling an immediate rapport with the dashing Harvard student ("our bodies fit, leg to leg, pelvis to pelvis"), she harbors hopes of meeting him again. They do, and in 1962, they marry. Soon after, Brady experiences Upton's spiraling anger and depression, and begins scavenging for insights into Upton's character (through Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited) and proof (e.g., a cassette of Everly Brothers songs). The shock of finding gay pornography in Upton's bedside table drawer, yields unexpected gifts along with pain. Readers will be captivated by Upton's ability to resuscitate a fading antique carpet with crayons; make elegant clothing for his wife (with whom he had four children); plan and execute formal dinner parties; and dance a hypnotic merengue. Diagnosed by his therapist with narcissistic personality disorder, Upton, in Brady's view, is both superhero and deeply flawed man; her memoir is as searing and tender as the life she describes.
Customer Reviews
Interesting story
Well written but leaves you wanting to know more.
A box of, "Really?!"
Brady's story is not atypical. While tragic, it is difficult to empathize with any of the characters as we have heard this story many times. Though to Brady's credit, what is worthwhile and memorable is the expanded picture she depicts of an "imperfect love," that is the root of her long, confusing marriage. She does manage to get the reader to contemplate love with regard to our perceptions of it's definition from day to day, to the event and journey it is, in the breadth of our lifetime.
What is rather comical though and yet simultaneously boring, is the way we are able to glimpse at Boston Society. For all it's self-professed "progressivism," Bostonians remain imprisoned by their puritanical roots. Really?! Still?! Certainly poor Upton (Brady's sexually repressed, Catholic, slip cover making, and you did not know he was gay, alcoholic husband) suffered so. This story would not even have been written in LA or NYC, well maybe so, but about 15 years ago. While it is a bit too passé for any impact or shock value for today's society, I do suppose for Bostonians, the provincial snobs that they can seem, it is right on time, perhaps even shocking, and could very well be the literary equivalent to Paul Revere's famous ride, welcoming them to the 21st Century.
We are not alone!
As a gay man married for almost 35 years to a wonderful woman, this book touched me in so many ways. My faith and beliefs has not allowed me to be completely true to myself. I can only say as for me I truly love my wife which I believe to be true of Sally's husband. I loved this book I often felt the writer was somehow writing about me. I could hardly put it down. Thanks for sharing your story.