Remind Me Again Why I Married You

Tho' it's a sequel, it's not Pink Slip II, and some readers expecting more antics from the colorful secondary characters have been disappointed, judging by earlier reviews (though the agents--stylish realtor Cynthia Farquahar and young hotshot literary agent "Aye Aye"--are great minor characters). The focus is pretty exclusively on Lisa and Ebb and the trials and tribulations of married life, but especially on the conflict between Lisa the (aspiring) novelist and Lisa the disgruntled hausfrau and corporate wife. Without being coyly metafictional, it's also about the dilemma any fiction writer faces in "stealing"--and altering--material from real life. How much of the intesely private Ebb should wind up in Lisa's novel, _I'm Sorry, This is My Life_? The book is also about the way the droll imagination of Lisa-the-novelist recasts real-life events, and deepens and darkens her various discontents. The events that Lisa is tempted to fictionalize--and that disrupt her writing--are recounted with the verve and wit you can count on from Ciresi: the struggle to get pregnant for a second time, the ordeal of buying a new house, the mundane problem of coping with a sick toddler in winter. The book is very carefully plotted. The alternating Ebb and Lisa sections complement each other nicely. If Ebb doesn't always seem to think and behave in ways you'd expect of a high-level executive at a major pharmaceutical firm, he's a well-rounded, engaging character and a great foil to Lisa. Bottom line: If you approach this book with too many preconceptions or expectations based on Pink Slip, you might be disappointed. It's a more complex, less outrageous book, with a more ambiguous ending. But Lisa's voice is just as funny and simpatico, it's a winning story, and I found it every bit as enjoyable.

I've read the "Pink Slip" by the same author and loved it, so I looked for another book by Rita Ciresi. I found this one but the reader reviews were mixed. I went ahead and bought it any way and finished it in a week. What a great book! It really shows the emotional struggles that go through the minds of a married couple -alternating between the husband and wife, but in a truly loving way. I loved the book! I guess the mixed reviews came from - my guess - comparing this book to "Pink Slip". But the two are not comparable! One book deals with two people falling in love that have many differences - backgrounds, religion, age, careers, families, etc. - and how they are able to overcome them, and the second book (which is a sequel) shows how they cope with married life. Excellent book, one of my favorites!

Ciresi's latest novel is just as good as the last. The novel has snappy and laugh-out-loud dialogue, that keeps the story moving. "Remind Me Again Why I Married You" also alternates narrators; switching easily between two totally opposite characters. It is interesting to see their different takes on the current situation. This book, however, is not for people who cannot laugh at bodily-function jokes!

What is original about Rita Ciresi is she's not only funny and honest, but she's masterful at her craft. Her latest book is more literature than a beach read, so if you want something candy-coated, this is not the book for you. However, I believe Ciresi's writing continues to be thoughtful and provoking, and stops to make you think about life and the woman's place in it. This book *is* different than Pink Slip, although I think in a good way. The main character has grown up and now faces new challenges, including discovering her niche in the world and what marriage is really about. Remind Me Again is intelligent, funny, a good read. You'll enjoy it.

What Rita Ciresi writes is definitely more lit than chick-lit, but it's also a type of smart chick-lit, smart in that there's a wry sense of humor and sensitivity to language at work that's not found in the vast majority of chick-lit titles that crowd the front displays of every bookstore these days. Ciresi's new novel, as with her previous books, does more than simply take the reader on a romp in the life of young professionals; she explores her characters with depth, the result of which is that you care about the people in her books and, consequently, you remember them. If you want something better written and more intelligent than Harlequin's Red Dress Ink series, I'd give REMIND ME AGAIN WHY I MARRIED YOU a try; and if you like the work of Lorrie Moore or Elinor Lipman or Nora Ephron, you most definitely want to add Ciresi to your reading list!