What We’re Reading: Mary

L’Amour Dure Trois Ans, by
Frederic Beigbeder

This French novel takes place during the mid - 1990’s. It’s a polemic on the state of “being in love,” and its allegedly short duration. The author’s initial premise, as the title states, is that love lasts three years. The author describes his own marriage, and its incumbent stages of deterioration. To paraphrase: The first year is great; the second year, people you meet on the street take your wife to be your sister; and the third year you can’t stop yourself from looking at “les demoiselles fraiches” who light up the street.
The author goes on to describe his festive debaucheries in celebration of his divorce; and then on to his slow slide into depression.
The tables turn somewhat when he meets the infatuation of his life at a funeral. (A fair amount of humor is blended into this whole discourse.) Then the author’s depression takes on a more concrete subject, as he becomes the victim of unrequited love.
The rest of this novel describes his back and forth situation as the sometimes accepted, sometimes rejected paramour, and eventually evolves into a relationship that continues for nearly three years. The last pages very touchingly, and poetically, describe the final countdown to the three year mark, and sum up the author’s feelings from this vantage point. Much food for thought here.