I enjoyed this review despite knowing nothing about the subject, Marilynne Robinson. I take that back. I do know that Robinson is a great favorite of other writers. She is also devout and has, in one of Joan Acocella's many arresting phrases, "been accustomed to interrupting her career as a novelist to produce essays on such matters as the truth of John Calvin's writings." Well, maybe, but I hope she doesn't care if I read all her books before starting in on his.
The same issue of The New Yorker includes a review of the current movie Gone Girl, about a troubled marriage. Is it his fault or hers? I have no idea, but in real life, suggests the reviewer, Anthony Lane, the best answer is usually "neither" or "both." He has an anecdote covering the case. Concerning the marriage of Thomas and Jane Carlyle, Samuel Butler is said to have remarked, "It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry one another, and so make only two people miserable instead of four."
