Memories of a marriage, by Louis Begley

Perhaps I really don’t care that much about the lives of the rich and privileged – I found this book tedious and a waste of time.  The narrator, Philip, who enjoyed a long and happy marriage, runs into an old acquaintance, Lucy, at the ballet.  His beloved Bella has died, and Lucy has long since divorced her husband Thomas.  Thomas, although extremely successful in life, began as a “townie,” and married far above his station.  Lucy’s savage bitterness towards her former husband, who remarried and who has recently died, intrigues Philip.  Through a series of meetings with her and others in their overlapping social circles, Philip tries to discover what really happened between Lucy and Thomas.  Lucy is a totally repellant character and Philip is pretentious.  Ick.  188 pp.