The 158-Pound Marriage (John Irving) Chapters 6-7

Chapter Six begins, ‘Then one night Severin took Utch to the wrestling room.’  This is an odd enough thing to do, but it seems to have some special significance to Severin and, as we will presumably find out later, to Edith and Utchka as well.  When Severin comes home and it’s time for The Narrator to go home, Severin seems particularly giddy and mentions that The Narrator will find his house “neat as a pin.”  This seems somehow ominous to The Narrator, and in a moment of doubt, his trust in Severin is badly shaken:  ‘I was chilled in the car.  I had a momentary vision, terrible and clear, of coming home and finding Utch murdered in our bed, her limbs twisted and tied into some elaborate wrestler’s knot; the rest of the house would be “neat as a pin.”’

As mentioned before, this is one of those plots that skip all over the time line to provide back story on the characters.  Not my favorite technique as a reader, but John Irving does it so well.  Each of our four main characters gets the spotlight shone on their past, and the times when the two couples first met are outlined as well.  The passage on the meeting and subsequent marriage of The Narrator and Utchka is especially interesting.  Their journey as newlyweds back to the United States coincides with the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination.  One paragraph is particularly fine:

‘When we landed in New York, some magazine had already printed the picture of Mrs. Kennedy which was to be around for months.  It was a big color photograph – it was better in color because the blood really looked like blood; it showed her stunned and grieving and oblivious of her own appearance.  She had always been so concerned about her looks that I think the public liked seeing her this way.  It was the closest thing to seeing her naked; we were voyeurs.  She wore that blood-spattered suit; her stockings were matted with the blood of the President; her face was vacant.  Utch thought the photograph disgusting; it made her cry all the way to Boston.  People around us probably thought she was crying for Kennedy and the country, but she wasn’t; she was reacting to the face in the photograph, that grief, that look of being so totally had that you just don’t care anymore.  I thing that Utch was crying for Kudashvili, and for her mother, and for that terrible village she came from, which was just like any other village.  I think she empathized with the vacancy on the face of the President’s widow.’

The humor in this story is often quite subtle.  The description of how the ladies sleep is a nice example: ‘She [Utch] did not curl tight and protect herself; she sprawled.  If you wanted to cuddle against her, she didn’t mind, but she herself was not one to cuddle.  Edith slept like a cat – contained, a fortress, snug against you.  Utch spread herself out as if she were trying to dry in the sun.  When she lay on her back, she didn’t seem to notice where the covers were, and she lay on her stomach like a swimmer frozen in the instant of the breaststroke kick.  On her side she lay like the profile of a hurdler.  In the middle of the night she would often lash an arm out and swat the bedside lamp off the night table or bash the alarm clock across the room.’

It is during a discussion of this quirk between The Narrator and Edith that he mentions the fact that Severin took Utch to the wresting room at night.  Edith freaks out and we suddenly have a little mystery on our hands.  Apparently there is a secret that has been withheld from him about someone named Audrey Cannon.  We end chapter seven with The Narrator demanding of the other three to tell him who Audrey Cannon is (and, subsequently, why the name seems to stir up such emotions in the others!).

March's book of the month:

“Heart of Brass,” by Kate Cross!

Ladies, if you like Romance Novels, this one’s for you!  The Steampunk element should be a big plus as well! 

"Fabulously entertaining—a great romance in an inventive, believable steampunk world!" — New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens

“Riveting! I couldn’t put it down. I can't wait for the next book!”  — #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Alexander

Week 1:  Chapters 1-6

(First post, 3-6-15)

Week 2:  Chapters 7-11
Week 3:  Chapters 12-16
Week 4:  Chapters 17-End


[Watch for a new format in April - a major change in how the club operates! If you have suggestions about how it should be run, now is definitely the time to chime in. Thanks!]