UN man dressed in jeansT -shirt and an apron with the writing “We roast the patriarchy” descends the stairs of the attic of the London house where Lauren lives, a woman who believes she is not married and instead finds herself, suddenly, to live with a stranger that behaves as a husband.
The jeans man went down after another had first risen. The nudist (yes, was always half naked between kitchen and bedrooms), or the one who had taken the place of that always in slippers, and even before the actor … In short, what is consumed in Lauren’s attic is an infinite ups and downs of husbands. A shock for her that every time needs to ask for details on the wedding in which she is catapulted to friends, neighbors, grandchildren, photos on the mobile phone.
Everyone has memories with the husband of the present, she doesn’t. She investigates. Cautious. A bit like we do all of us struggling with the eternal comedy of the choice of the perfect man. And from comedy it is in fact the tone of Husbands by Holly Gramazioa novel that knows how to make even the magic of a attic from whom all the chances of falling in love with the right person come realistic.
Gramazio is Adelaide’s game designer based in Londonand despite being familiar with the games he did not want to treat that of couples in his literary debut but a more serious thing. The irreproducible algorithm that pushes us to the altar and becomes doubtful, orgasm, cry, mortgage, light -heartedness, crisis, connection. That is: marriage.
Holly Gramazio is a writer and game designer of Adelaide, residing in London. He founded an experimental games festival and wrote the script of the award -winning video game Indie Dic Dungeons (Diana Patient)
Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Why did he write it?
I have friends who come out exhausted from the selection of people in that apparently infinite reserve that are the appointments apps. Instead, before I meet my husband, I mostly had long -term relationships. I am bad with random appointments and usually things become serious quickly: if I saw someone, then we would practically live immediately together. So in some ways it is a bit like with the attic!
Do you have one at home?
No, and I have a husband, only one, Terry, to whom I dedicated the book.
The protagonist thinks that you cannot remain married with someone just because a nice afternoon got off the attic. So what would be the meaning of this male relay?
That there is no single perfect decision. Some options are good, others bad and others in half. And you can’t always know in advance. So what is the point of living trying to understand what is the best ever? A partner, or a taste of ice cream, can be good or bad in different ways. Sometimes just choose and see how it goes.
Holly Gramazio’s husbands, Einaudi (pages 360, euro 20)
Weddings can be terrible even for the party to be organized, says a friend. Do you think so too?
My main regret about mine is that we should have had more cake. If you plan a traditional wedding, you must know that when the cake comes out, people will have already drunk, so if it is good they will eat huge quantities.
Among the many “certainties” for a successful marriage we read the one relating to the perfect profession for a husband: architect. “Ambitious but concrete, artistic but practical”. But in the end the choice should not be tested on the desire to build a relationship rather than on these details?
Yes, of course, good relationships must be built on the desire to spend time together and understand how to share their lives. Jokes, habits, small moments and large decisions. But I also think that there should be mutual attraction, one thing that over time can grow but usually you cannot convince you to do it. As for the details, I believe that Lauren’s attic, like the appointments apps, tend to encourage sudden judgments. If you scroll down the potential correspondences, maybe someone has included a photo of himself as he takes a hobby that you come embarrassing, and you say no, forward the next! If, on the other hand, I had met him before in person, perhaps that detail would not have disturbed you in the same way.
Are there rules in marriage?
No, obviously not all weddings are the same. Lauren lives rather different relationships in order to explore his idea of marriage and the different ways in which life can be shared with someone. The less internal rules we internal, the greater the possibility of finding and negotiating a version of the Union that works for us.
Could AI give us a valid advice?
At most, look at the things already said and propose them to us!
Sex, in weddings, is reduced to a game of favors and compliance, we read.
Lauren believes that the rhythms and routines are varied. With one he does things that both like them and always, with another he has no active sex life at all. And with another perhaps more adventurous.
Everything is relative and you don’t need to take yourself too seriously, right?
Oh, of course! For me, the idea that there is no “only true love”, a predestined partner with whom you could be happy, is rather joyful. If you are with someone, it’s because you have chosen it, he has chosen you, and now you can make choices together.
In the end the attic goes on flames and Lauren finds herself giving her hand to Sam, her last husband who went down.
That’s the moment in which it realizes that every decision must be faced with a certain lightness of the heart. It is a feeling that grows over time and never suddenly. But it comes.
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