{"product_id":"cleaving-9780865475892","title":"Cleaving","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Marriage is like a rain forest,\" Vicki Covington writes in Cleaving. \"The story of a marriage contains all that grows in the canopy, all that is visible from an aerial, or public, view. The understory of a marriage is the place where . . . we struggle, fight, and conceive. It's the place where compost is made, where anything can grow, including forgiveness.\" Told in the authors' alternating voices, Cleaving is both the story and the understory of a marriage. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChildhood acquaintances, Vicki and Dennis meet again in their twenties and wed. they \"promise each other nothing\" and get more than they'd bargained for: alcoholism, infidelity, infertility, uncertainty. tumult gives way to sobriety, parenthood, and meaningful work, but a yearning remains. In a quest to root themselves in the larger world, they embark on a mission to dig water wells in Central America, assuaging a spiritual thirst by addressing a practical need. Yet even this is part of the story-the visible, overarching canopy-of the marriage. The understory-and the triumph of this haunting book, which is neither sentimental nor cynical-is its portrayal of the eddying of passion through the institution that enshrines but cannot contain it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA soulful and unsparing portrait of the forces that threaten-and sustain-a relationship over time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e North Point Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/08\/2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780865475892\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.52lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.89h x 5.07w x 0.62d","brand":"Dennis Covington, Vicki Covington","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51299063398581,"sku":"9780865475892","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_ef2adf61-ba0a-42e5-82ba-9b7a4a2ff70b.jpg?v=1751985166","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/cleaving-9780865475892","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}