A couple determined not to end up like their divorced friends try a radical experiment—and get in way over their heads—in this hilarious, heartfelt novel from the author of We’re All Damaged.New York Post’s Best Books to Read in Our Age of Social Isolation • “[Matthew] Norman’s funny and feeling writing makes for an irresistible read.”—Esquire (Best Books of 2020) The Core Four have been friends … of 2020)
The Core Four have been friends since college: four men, four women, four couples. They got married around the same time, had kids around the same time, and now, fifteen years later, they’ve started getting divorced around the same time, too. With three of the Core Four unions crumbling to dust around them, Jessica and Mitch Butler take a long, hard look at their own marriage. Can it be saved? Or is divorce, like some fortysomething zombie virus, simply inescapable?
To maximize their chance at immunity, Jessica and Mitch try something radical. Their friends’ divorces mostly had to do with sex—having it, not having it, wanting to have it with other people—so they decide to relax a few things. Terms are discussed, conditions are made, and together the Butlers embark on the great experiment of taking their otherwise happy, functional marriage and breaking some very serious rules.
Jessica and Mitch are convinced they’ve hit upon the next evolution of marriage. But as lines are crossed and hot bartenders pursued, they each start to wonder if they’ve made a huge mistake. What follows is sexy, fun, painful, messy, and completely surprising to them both. Because sometimes doing something bad is the only way to get to the heart of what’s really good.
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LAST COUPLE STANDING gets my vote for the best escapism from the s***show of 2020. A hilarious novel with a big heart, it explores complex relationships and serious family turning points with empathy, hope, and laugh-out-loud moments.
What couple hasn’t wanted to breathe new life into the craziness and exhaustion of their marriage while raising young kids? What forty-something woman or man hasn’t wanted to feel desired by an attractive stranger?
With their closest friends getting divorced because of sex—either lack of, or with other people—Jennifer and Mitch are the last couple standing in their group. He’s a beloved high school English teacher, she’s a successful psychologist. They’re good together; they binge on golden Oreos when the kids are asleep, still go on date night, and have great banter. Their wooden bed might be broken–literally, they sleep on the floor–but their marriage is not.
Even so, they come up with a radical idea to save the marriage before it needs saving. The agreed-upon conditions and ground rules blur the lines of fidelity, but will launch them into a more relaxed, evolved marriage. That’s the big plan, and it goes horribly wrong. Or does it?
I loved all the characters, but especially Mitch, who can’t handle three negronis (a gin cocktail) and accidentally traumatizes his kids by suggesting they watch one of his favorite movies, ET. In their young minds, ET becomes the monster that haunts their bedrooms and ensures no one in the house gets a good night’s sleep.
The penultimate scene is one of the best and funniest I’ve ever read. It brings all the threads and characters together on a suburban driveaway. No spoilers, but it definitely belongs to Mitch and Jennifer’s seven-year-old daughter.
Want to buy yourself a Christmas present? Order this book from your local indie bookstore.
This was a good, fast-reading book. Some of it was predictable, and I was a little mystified as to why a wife would actually help her husband be unfaithful. Then, it dawned on me that this is a humorous story. It was a pleasant read.
What would you do to save your marriage when your friends are all divorcing? Now imagine if your carefully imagined plan puts everything you hold dear at risk. This book is a fresh take on marriage and the work it takes to keep it alive and intact.
Story line a little far fetched but a quick read for the beach or a rainy day!
Well Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman is sure a lot of fun! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Kristen Sieh is a freaking master. I loved her different voices and tones that she used to sound different for different characters, and when she voiced Jessica and Mitch’s kids I would almost die laughing. I loved the book in general, but if you are looking for a great audiobook this one is it. I enjoyed so much about this book, the format, the characters, the hilarity, it was a little like a fun train wreck filled with lots of drama and a tiny bit of steam.
I have never read a book by Norman before, but after reading Last Couple Standing you best believe I will be looking up everything he has. This is like THE perfect beach/summer read and perfect for when you want something lighter. There are still a few serious topics, but the overall feel was light and easygoing. I saw the humor of this book described as a bit dry and not laugh out loud funny, but for me I laughed out loud quite a bit and I do agree that while the humor is on the drier side, it was the kind I like (clearly), and the end is enough to leave you in tears laughing.
Frankly, I NEED to see Last Couple Standing as a movie so I hope someone is paying attention out there! I also loved so many of the characters, and I loved what each one of them brought to the book. Read this if you need a light, hilarious, and fun train wreck in your life. Because, how is that not what you’re going to get when a couple decides to relax their marriage?
A well written interesting story that had potential, but just didn’t hit the mark for me. Divorce is like a virus in crowds. Often when one couple in a group falls apart it is just the beginning. Like dominos, the first one goes down and so go the rest. And so starts this book. Friends since college and all coupled off life is good. Hectic and a little crazy, but working. Until it isn’t and suddenly Mitch and Jessica are the last ones of their “Core of Four” that are still married. They decide that as sex seems to be the major downfall of their friends marriages they decide to take the bull by the horns and redefine the rules of their marriage. Um, it just didn’t work for me. Contrived, false and somewhat ridiculous. Im not uptight nor do I have a problem with people who make and or change the rules together and are open and honest with each other. Kudos to them. I just didn’t seem right for them, all seemed forced, untrue and not interesting to me. I liked Mitch. Everyone should have a teacher, neighbor, uncle or dad like him. Jessica, the instigator of their experiment not as much. She was literally being a pimp for her husband so she could validate wanting to be with other men to prove a point. She came off more as a caricature than actual person. The whole Ryan thing…ewww. So messed up, a little gross and completely wrong, ridiculous and pathetic. That she is a therapist. Seriously?? I cannot imagine why Mitch would ever want to be with her anymore. Though I did finish I did struggle to do so.
I was looking for something mindless to read during week 432 of the COVID Quarantine, and this book fit the bill. Even though Mitch and Jessica were seriously flawed, I liked them, and I was rooting for them throughout the book.
Having been married for the past 17 years, I understand how a marriage can start to feel ‘stale’. Your 20’s fly-by in a whirlwind of school, dating, new jobs, and weddings.
Your 30’s are where the babies and toddlers usually show up, and you’re settling into parenthood, a mortgage, and feeling more secure in your chosen career. You don’t have time to question things because you’re so damn busy and tired that the crazy of everyday life keeps you distracted.
Your 40’s? Well, that’s where life can start to screw with you. You start to realize just how young you’re NOT, and you look at ‘kids’ in their 20’s not with a feeling of solidarity, but with annoyance and jealousy. You realize just how out of touch you are with all the things that are now considered ‘cool’, and you’re finding that your favorite music and clothing is now labeled ‘vintage’. Marriages can start to feel tiresome and boring, and you long for some excitement in your life. Anything that will make you feel ‘alive’ again while trying to forget that you’re getting closer and closer to your 50’s.
This book is the story of how one couple chooses to handle their ‘stale period’, and how even the best-laid plans can go terribly awry.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was funny yet serious all at the same time. I appreciated the story because these people and their friends are my age group, and while I don’t have this particular problem in my marriage, I can understand how one can get to this point.
This was a great way to pass a couple of evenings during quarantine, and I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is interested.
Wow! What a breath of fresh air. So unlike anything I’ve ever read. This is my first Matthew Norman book, and I was delighted. In it, we follow the Core Four: a group of four couples who’d met in school. When 3 of the group members get divorced the “last couple standing” , Mitch and Jessica try to spice things up to keep their marriage strong. But quickly come to find their presumptuous plans have holes in it. Will disaster strike? Will Mitch and Jessica thwart divorce? Or will they end up just like their friends?
Final thoughts…
Felt this book was funny, which I wasn’t expecting. It has everything you want in a book and sucks you in from start to finish. Thank you so much NetGalley, Matthew Norman for providing this copy to review. All thoughts and comments are my own.
You know a book’s good when you text your closest friend halfway through it and tell her she has to read it the minute you’re done. Matthew Norman’s latest novel is a smart, spot-on, and often laugh-out-loud funny take on marriage at midlife. While the premise—a couple attempts to rekindle their flame even as everyone around them seems to be in the midst of divorce—may be familiar, Norman’s writing is fresh and unexpected. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a page-turner that’s light without being fluffy.
This is a story about four couples who met at college and stayed friends until long afterward who became to be known as the Core Four. While three of these couples ended in divorce, Mitch and Jessica try something out of the ordinary, for them, to try to keep from ending up like their friends. Does it work? You will have to read to find out.
I enjoyed this ARC from Ballentine Books.
Last Couple Standing was a breath of fresh air in a world filled with dark psychological thrillers and all the other genres we all love that are the it things right now. This book was fun and while it covered a subject that is very common in our world, it did it in a way that drove home a point without preaching.
Jessica and Mitch were an interesting couple to get to know. I “felt” Mitch much more than I did Jessica. When they decided upon their idea to try to save their marriage, I wanted to yell at them and ask them to stop.
While I don’t know that I’d have chosen the path they did, I really enjoyed reading about it.
If you need a bit of light relief, a story that isn’t about someone not stalking, killing, ghosting or ruining someone, this is the one you want to read.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC at my request. All thoughts in this review are my own.
Matthew Norman again tackles the complications of domesticity in his signature style. Jessica and Mitch Butler have reached the point in their lives when they recognize that they are no longer young. The carefree days of only having to worry about each other’s needs are gone because they are parenting two adorably inquisitive children under the age of ten: Jude and Emily. Mitch is a high school English teacher, while Jessica is a psychotherapist. Juggling the demands of careers and family life leaves them understandably tired, and intimacy is a priority less often than either would like. And predictable. They haven’t fallen out of love, but their relationship has evolved into one of comfort and reliability. Watching their friends’ relationships fall apart — some surprisingly — frightens them. Neither of them want to live without the other and, as Jessica texts Mitch during a girls’ night out with her now-single friends, “Divorce is awful. we’re never getting one.”
Jessica and Mitch are likable, earnest, and devoted to their children. Clearly, they have an enviable relationship as illustrated by Norman through their frequently hilarious conversations. They know each other well, they anticipate each other’s thoughts, and they co-parent effectively. Well, except for Mitch having taken the kids to see E.T. which has convinced both of them that the scary little extraterrestrial is lurking in the closets of their bedrooms. As a result, the kids are having trouble sleeping, and the bleary-eyed parents end up sleeping with them when efforts to convince them that E.T. went back to his home planet fail.
A series of believable discussions lead to Jessica and Mitch agreeing to an “open” marriage — with ground rules, including a prohibition on repeat instances of intimacy with someone else because that would venture into the realm of an affair. They agree to be honest about their extramarital activities, but are limited to three questions that can be posed to each other about their encounters.
The arrangement leads to complicated feelings and Norman explores them with candor and empathy. The situation becomes competitive. And there’s the issue of where to meet new people in the age of dating apps and swiping right or left which leads to complications.
Set in Baltimore — Smalltimore, as Norman dubs it — the story is populated with an intriguing and entertaining cast of supporting characters, including the other members of the Core Four and Luke, a sensitive and outstanding student in Mitch’s class who also lives next door. Jessica and Mitch spend several evenings observing Luke’s father moving out of the family residence while Luke hides on a tree stump in the backyard, reading. And there’s Scarlett, an extremely intelligent but wild student who is Jessica’s client, as well as one very hot bartender who builds furniture from repurposed wood.
Are sexual encounters with new partners an effective way for married couples to find their way back to each other? Norman examines what actually constitutes love in the context of marriage, as well as jealousy, societal norms, parenthood, and the logistical considerations when children must be cared for. In his capable hands, the results of Jessica and Mitch’s experiment are frequently hilarious, often heart-wrenching, and always, despite the seeming absurdity of their thesis, engrossing and touching.
Last Couple Standing is extremely entertaining and thought-provoking, and could inspire dialogue between married couples about how to safeguard their relationship from destruction.
Thanks to the author for a complimentary copy of the book.
I very much enjoyed this third novel from Matthew Norman. What happens when everyone around you is getting divorced and you very much don’t want to? That’s the central issue that the couple in this novel is facing. Their solution? An open marriage–which makes a crazy kind of sense. But along with the idea comes many surprises, and a resolution that you won’t see coming. Highly recommend!
Last Couple Standing is a hilarious novel that certainly has a unique storyline regarding marriage, relationships, parenting, and friendship. I enjoyed all of the characters, although, surprisingly, Jessica was my least favorite of them all. Mitch stole my heart from the beginning and I honestly felt as if I related to his character more than Jessica’s. I feel almost anti-feminist saying this, but her desire to try new rules in their marriage seemed selfish, as to where Mitch’s agreement to the new rules felt like something he was doing simply to appease his wife.
This book is a quick and fun read despite the heavy topics included in the plot and subplots. It made me laugh out loud several times and as I said before, I fell in love with almost all of the characters. I definitely recommend this one to readers who want a funny and unique take on growing up and growing apart from one another. Most of all, I’m so happy to have discovered Matthew Norman and can’t wait to read more from him in the future!
*Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Let me start out by saying I am 42 years old and still cannot watch ET. My kids have never seen it for all the reasons hilariously scattered throughout this book!
Ok, on with the review. I like Matthew Norman’s writing style. He adds humor, wit, and personality to real life stories and issues about family and family dynamics. Many of the little bits and pieces in this book are absolutely relatable, especially at this point in life.
The story is a good one, though perhaps a bit far fetched, but it may be possible that I live in a bubble and real people do this sort of thing. There are a lot of characters at the beginning, but you don’t have to pay too close attention to who is with/without whom because it doesn’t really matter. Jessica and Mitch are the main characters here. Jessica is looking to spice things up a bit and affable Mitch is along for the ride to make his wife happy.
Plenty of humor with grown-up situations and some serious relationship notes. I enjoyed reading this ARC from Netgalley and look forward to future books.
Go find We’re All Damaged and Domestic Violets for more good reads.
This was my first book by Matthew Norman and it has been a pleasure to read. He has an amazing ability to create a world where you feel at home, that the characters are your own friends and you are just on the sidelines watching it all play out. I felt connected to the story, as many married individuals may, because at one time or another you may have had the same feelings and thoughts as those characters. I thought I had the story line pegged from the beginning, but I was completely wrong (and I love that).
*I received the ARC for this book from netgalley. All thoughts and comments are my own. *