You're Married to Her? [Paperback]

As the anti-Vietnam War movement drew to a close, a twenty-six-year-old unknown playwright began an affair with a glamorous older woman, a feminist activist and acclaimed poet/novelist at the height of her career. What she saw in a neurotic, sexually naïve, poorly educated but very sweet guy was apparent to no one, especially him. Using a wildly self-skewering but oddly sympathetic narrative voice that fulfillsThe New York Times' assessment of his special gift for heartwarming comedy, Ira Wood re-imagines his early years with Marge Piercy in a series of chronologically linked essays, never failing to raise the question that few have failed to ask: You're married toHer?

With the brazen candor of Toby Young'sHow to Lose Friends and Alienate Peopleand the wicked lunacy of David Sedaris, Wood tells tales of his first true love, who he told his parents were dead; his disastrous affair with a promiscuous single mother, while he was involved with Piercy; his childhood dependence on speed; and running for public office on a lark—and winning—only to find himself responsible for the government of a small town. Thirty years later he's still married to Her, confident enough to share, and laugh at, what men do when their behavior slips to the level of their self-esteem.

Ira Woodis the author of two novels and the co-author, with Marge Piercy, of two highly acclaimed books, a novel and a writing text. His talk showThe Lowdownstreams on WOMR-FM, a Pacifica network affiliate.