Fiction Review   

Reviewing Remind Me AGAIN Why I Married You for the current issue of Southern Scribe has a certain symmetry. After all, June is supposed to be the most popular month for weddings and it's hard to believe some newlyweds won't be asking themselves the same question by the July issue.

Once upon a time, before dating one's boss was a sin and corporate downsizing was every day news,  Eben Straus and Elisabetta Diodetto worked together.  Upon discovering Lisa was pregnant, Ebb proposed to and fired her simultaneously. After five years of marriage, they've settled into a routine of sorts. Lisa attends corporate functions with her husband (where his Brooklynese pronunciation of her name, "Liser," grates on her nerves as much as the perfectly maintained homes) and Ebb maintains a secret calendar at work in hopes of spending quality time with his family.

On the surface, their homelife seems traditional, Ebb has worked his way a couple more rungs up the corporate ladder since their marriage and Lisa is a stay at home mom to Danny. Ebb forgets to take out the trash and their real estate agent asks Lisa to keep the house "cleaner." People always compliment them on "what an unusual couple they make." Ebb and Lisa's already hectic lives are taking on a new dimension with the search for a bigger house and their attempt to have a second child.

Both Ebb and Lisa are keeping secrets. Ebb passionately hates his job, his secretary, and his work life. Lisa longs to be a best-selling author, reads PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, has been corresponding with one the hottest literary agents in New York, and has just published her an excerpt from her novel in PLAYBOY.  The ways in which they communicate their secrets gives the novel its' comic focus, "Can love survive marriage?"

Remind Me AGAIN Why I Married You tells the unvarnished truth about the hilarity, humanity, and sweetness in the best of relationships.

Rita Ciresi, lives in Florida with her husband and daughter, is also the author of the novels, Pink Slip and Blue Italian, in addition to the short story collections, Sometimes I Dream in Italian and Mother Rocket.    

 

Pam Kingsbury

Southern Scribe Reviews

© 2003, Southern Scribe Reviews, All Rights Reserved