Standard Deviation
Ratings15
Average rating3.5
"The celebrated author of Single, Carefree, Mellow, returns with her debut novel--a rueful, funny examination of love, marriage, infidelity, and origami. Divorcing his wife to marry his girlfriend, Audra, is the one impulsive thing Graham Cavanaugh has ever done. Audra is charming and spontaneous and fun, but life with her can be exhausting, constantly interrupted by phone calls, burdened by houseguests, and populated by old men with backpacks full of origami paper. As Graham and Audra struggle to define their marriage and raise a child with Asperger's, they decide to establish a friendship with his first wife, Elspeth. But former spouses are hard to categorize--are they friends, enemies, old flames, or just people who know you really, really well? Graham starts to wonder: How can anyone love two such different women? Did he make the right choice? Is there a right choice? A novel as poignant as it is hilarious, Standard Deviation never deviates from superb"--
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I so-enjoyed The Portable Veblen earlier this year. I thought I would never find a similar book. Yet unexpectedly a fellow blogger led me to this book from the backlist of Katherine Heiny. I couldn't be more delighted.
Graham reflects upon his second wife, Audra, and contrasts her with his first wife, Elspeth. Which was the better choice? he wonders. No-filter Audra, who never stops talking, who befriends and brings home every stray person who enters her life? Or solitary, chilly Elspeth, still alone many years after their divorce? Audra is not an easy person to be married to, especially for quiet Graham.
Graham also contemplates Matthew, his son, with Asperger's and all its accompanying quirks, as Matthew finds friendship for the first time when he joins the Origami Club.
Humor. Wry philosophy. A small gem of a book.
I might be slightly in love with Katherine H. And her easy way of bringing characters to (my) life.
