You Can Be Right (or You Can Be Married): Looking for Love in the Age of Divorce [Paperback]

A collection of candid and illuminating break-up stories resulting from three years of interviews by an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker—“a wonderful and important piece of thinking and reporting” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

It all began as a self-help journey in the purest sense.A serial monogamist for more than two decades, Shapiro wanted to know why the honeymoon phase of his relationships never lasted until the actual honeymoon. Believing that you learn more from failure than from success, he spent the next three years criss­crossing the country with a tape recorder, interviewing hundreds of divorced people, hoping to become so fluent in the errors of Eros that he would be able to avoid them in his own love life—and one day be a better husband.

The result is a timely treasure trove of marital wisdom that is as racy as it is revelatory. Shockingly intimate and profoundly personal, this is a page-turning, voyeuristic investigation of modern love and a practical guide for any couple looking to beat the roulette-wheel odds of actually staying together forever.Dana Adam Shapirodirected the Academy Award-nominated documentaryMurderballand the Independent Spirit Award nomineeMonogamy,starring Chris Messina and Rashida Jones. He is the author of The Every Boy, a former senior editor atSpin, and a contributor toThe New York Times Magazine. He lives in Venice, California.You Can Be Right (or You Can Be Married)

INTRODUCTION

My grandma keeps company with spirits. A Dewar’s on the rocks every day at four o’clock on the button, and the spectral kind that rattle around her head. This isn’t some crackpot theory; it’s a l³#