I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

Listen to the Marriage narrates the story of the marriage between Gretchen and Steve, with their narration taking place inside their marriage councillor's office. As the story progresses, the reader takes in a bigger picture on what has happened with the couple, and their issues they each need to work on. I like the impartiality of the narration, as marriage stories are usually told in the eyes of the couple. It wasn't very long, which worked in its favor because of the limited setting, and a style like this could get repetitive and the story could just go in circles. However, as much as I liked the impartiality of the narration, it would have made more of an impact if the reader was rooting for something - either for them to reconcile or proceed with their divorce. Even if they were to work on their faults, and neither character is likable, it didn't really make you care for the outcome either. At the end, I was just reading it to finish, but I didn't really care about the outcome of their sessions.

4 stars! Three characters. One therapists’ office. Four chairs. A marriage on the verge of divorce.

This is an intimate, powerful and eye-opening look into one couple struggling to fight for their marriage.

Gretchen and Steve are in marriage counselling with Dr. Sandy Hyland. Steve had an affair. Gretchen and Steve are separating and learning how to share custody of their young children. Steve wants to repair their marriage. Gretchen thinks she wants a divorce.

As the reader, I felt like the fourth person in the therapists office — a fly on the wall. It was intense — grief and anger flare. It was frustrating — the back and forth of their feelings and emotions. It was emotional and heart breaking — they laid their hearts on the line. I have a whole new respect for marriage counsellors after spending time with these characters in this setting.

I was both sympathetic and frustrated with each character at various points throughout the book. The frustrating repetition of ups and downs takes so much patience to overcome, which was the point of the narrative. The writing is great — simple and to the point — no unnecessary extra detail. Strong communication is a focal aspect throughout this book, which is no surprise.

The green chair in the room — this is where “the marriage” sits so it can be acknowledged — brilliant! A simple concept yet so extremely effective. Opened my eyes to a new way of working through issues.

Overall, this was an informative, entertaining and unique read. I enjoyed spending time with these characters and learning from them. Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy!

Who wouldn't love this book!? The characters make you feel you are part of their lives, you experience their highs and lows just as you would in your own lives with the hope that the ending would turn out well for them, after all a fairy tale always does doesn't it? Set in wonderful San Francisco this is a fabulous book, humorous, poignant and a true reflection of modern life. A great read - highly recommended.

Through marriage counseling sessions, we see how this separated couple goes through crisis. Honestly I do not understand how they were able to go out with someone else other than their partners, but the reasoning was quite interesting and it was fun reading how they consider and accept the partners adultery.

I received an ARC copy form the NetGalley and this is my belated but sincere review.
I enjoyed reading someone else’s problem.

This book takes place entirely in the office of a therapist who is counseling a married couple as they contemplate the state of their relationship. Because the setting was so confined, I found it difficult to get a full picture of Gretchen and Steve.

This was a quietly powerful work that I ended up being pleasantly surprised by. I enjoyed the in-depth look into Gretchen and Steve's marriage and how they navigated their problems throughout therapy. My only issue was that I wish there had been more of a glimpse of the two of them outside of the counselor's office.

Listen to the Marriage is an interesting series of conversations between Sandy, the therapist, Gretchen, the wife and Steve, the husband, which only involves their therapy visits over the span of about a year. It was an easy, intriguing and thought provoking story of a marriage with advice that can be applied to your marriage or life in general. The characters are appealing, evolved and relatable. It is well written, enjoyable and a quick read.

I loved this highly original and very readable novel. It offers a glimpse into the therapy room and takes place entirely in that space. Gretchen and Steve have come for counselling -- and we are witness to therapist, Sandy's musings on both her own life and the couple before her. Told entirely through the sessions, it's compelling, and I gulped it down. It's both an exploration of marriage and therapy. Highly recommended. A definite highlight of the year so far.

Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for giving me access to Listen to the Marriage in exchange for an honest review.

Listen to the Marriage read more like a play than a novel. Sandy is a marriage counselor for Gretchen and Steve and the entire novel takes place over 10 months. Never once is there a scene outside the couselor’s walls and we only know what they choose to share in sessions.
Gretchen and Steve have been married for a while, both successful and have two kids. When Gretchen learns of Steve’s affair she separates from him and they start marriage counselling. Most of Listen to the Marriage is from Sandy’s point of view, what she thinks of her clients through all their sessions.

A short, interesting though narrow focused character study, Listen to the Marriage is entirely focused on this marriage and what went wrong. We never learn about the characters outside this moment in time though some of their reactions to new information hints at their characters and previous challenges, none of that is brought up.

Thankyou for giving me access to this book!

Excellent intense and deep analysis of the day to day normal and abnormal life that we lead

<i>What can a marriage withstand? When do you throw in the towel? How do you fix what is broken? How do you get to the place where it is safe to start over?</i>
I hesitated to read this book after seeing reviews that said it was "slow moving". I however did not find this to be the case. In my opinion <b>Listen to the Marriage</b> was a character study. One that was admittedly at times uncomfortable. It had me squirming in my seat while Sandy the counselor proceeded to lead the conversation in directions that had this reader questioning her motives. You would have thought I was in her office chair my problems laid bare before her. Yet I have to say that the story arc intrigued me. I felt like I was able to identify with both of the main characters despite finding Gretchen a little whiny. This is a testament to Osborn's writing. I really appreciate how he treated the marriage as if it were a character unto itself and had us consider not what is best for this spouse or that spouse but for the union. Overall, <b>Listen to the Marriage</b> is a very strong book that I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates three dimensional characters and honest depictions of our individual failures.

Listen to the Marriage was a new take on what goes wrong on the way to happily ever after. Told from a marriage counselor's point of view, we're not encouraged to form our own opinions on the couple who come week after week to hash out what's left of their union, but to listen to the voice of the marriage itself.

Like an upmarket soap opera, this short novel has you rooting for the attractive couple whose marriage is failing, aided by the all knowing therapist. Enjoyable addictive.

This was a truly engrossing and thought provoking book. Gretchen and Steve begin working with marriage counselor Sandy, to help them with the difficulties brought on by Steve's philandering. The entire book is from Sandy's point of view and takes place entirely in her office, over the course of ten months. The story is heartbreaking and shocking and feels a bit like listening in on a very private conversation. It is very well written and a fabulous read. Mr. Osborn is an author whose work I will watch out for in the future. I highly recommend it.

Tightly written and full of heart-wrenching honesty, LISTEN TO THE MARRIAGE is a compelling domestic drama about the downfall of a marriage.

Gretchen and Steve's marriage is over --- or so they think. In 256 pages, readers attend Gretchen and Steve's marriage counseling appointments with them as they track what went wrong, how they can fix it, and if they even want to. Told from the POV of their marriage counselor, Sandy, LISTEN TO THE MARRIAGE is a testament to marriage as an institution --- with all of its flaws carefully rendered on the page.

For a book that seems simple at first, LISTEN TO THE MARRIAGE is surprisingly compelling --- a real page-turner in every sense of the word. Sandy is an unconventional marriage therapist and her attempts to upset Gretchen and Steve and force them to confront their truest feelings is wildly riveting. What makes this book so delicious is that Gretchen and Steve are merely human --- neither is without fault and neither is the perfect victim. They are just two people who need to decide whether or not they will fight for their marriage. Osborn gives readers a rare and refreshing look at marriage and how it morphs and changes as we age. It is perhaps as unflinching a look as we will ever get at the institution of marriage outside of our own.

I will say that I do not believe this book is for everyone: it is certainly uncomfortable and can be a bit boring if you do not like heavy dialogue. That said, it is shockingly fast-moving and I recommend it to anyone who has considered, lived through, or broken up a marriage.

I wish I could give this 3 1/2 stars because of my mixed emotions about how realistic it is to actual marriage counseling sessions. The unique format makes this novel stand out from other novels, especially the silent thoughts of Sandy, the therapist, during the counseling sessions that the couple are not privy to. However, the symbolism of the green chair which required Gretchen to "get her love letters back from her affair" so her husband could read them made me think..."Oh, come on! This is not realistic." If you have participated in marriage counseling, you may not recognize these sessions. If you haven't, you may not want to seek out marriage counseling. The couple was neither likable or unlikable, and the therapist only gave you a peek at her own life circumstances and then left you hanging . I was left with questions about whether a therapist's goal is to try to help the couple save a marriage or help the couple bring the problems to the surface for them to decide. In the real world is it possible for a therapist to be neutral or do they take sides? I'm glad I finished it, but I would take care before I recommended it., I thank Net Galley for an advance copy for an honest review.

Ridiculously riveting. Definitely not in a "Dear Reader" genre. I loved this book and the people in it. I loved the twisted, think-outside-the-box therapy. Beautifully written, wonderfully crafted, Listen to the Marriage tells a story of three people and this thing they've built, called a marriage. No one, not one single character, lives up to or down to our expectations. Brilliant.

I really like what John Jay Osborn did with this book. I like how he kept all of the action to one room, the marriage counselor for couple Gretchen and Steve, who have come to him to sort out their separation. There is no space for them to move around, no opportunity for privacy. Osborn keeps the three characters in such close proximity that you can feel the effect that the stifling, near-claustrophobia has on them.

I like how Osborn develops his characters primarily through dialogue. The only inner thoughts revealed to us are the therapist's, which are occasionally snarky, occasionally insightful, and occasionally self-focused. To understand Gretchen and Steve, Osborn forces us to listen to them. We hear their frustrations and fears, and we sense when they feel desperate and dejected. And yet despite this pervasive sense of a marriage breaking up, Osborn makes you feel almost hopeful that Steve and Gretchen will find a way to make theirs work.

As this is a character-driven book, Osborn gently yet quite persuasively manipulates your feelings about Sandy, Steve, and Gretchen. At times you will lose patience with them, and you will dislike them. Yet you can't stop rooting for them. Sandy's relationships may not be the subject of the counseling sessions, but they certainly play a role in what she says and why she says it.

This is a fast book to read, yet it is one that will stick with you. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

At only 140 pages, this was a quick read with much to recommend it. But I found myself wanting both more and less from it.

What I Liked:
Osborn has taken nearly a year of a marriage on the brink of divorce and narrowed it down to just the time the couple spends in the office of their marriage counselor. The reader never really leaves the office and yet Osborn manages to bring in the couple's children, friends, and lovers. I enjoyed the tight focus on Steve's and Gretchen's emotions, reactions, interactions, and perspectives.

I have to say that both the title of this book and the cover are perfect. Those might seem like little things, as though I'm scraping for things to like but I actually very much appreciated the fact that both tell the reader a lot about the story up front.

What I Didn't Like:
Osborn works to make the counselor, Sandy, a full person in the story but it didn't work for me. While her thoughts and guidance are important, her back story is not relevant. If Osborn intended for it to be relevant, he needed to have included more of it, made is so. I haven't been to marriage counseling, so I can't speak to the reality of how Sandy handles this couple. But it didn't feel terribly professional for Sandy to divulge details about her personal life, either.

Likewise, I can't speak to Sandy's methods. But when Osborn even has Gretchen questioning Sandy's method, it did make me wonder. And I'm not sure about being so in Sandy's head. If we hadn't been, I wouldn't have gotten so tired of Osborn's use of trains on tracks as an analogy for the way the counseling sessions were going.

In the end, I would have liked the book to have less about Sandy and more about Steve and Gretchen.