Cleaving: The Story of a Marriage

Rating:
Summary: TMI
Review: Dennis and Vicki Covington are accomplished novelists, but in Cleaving they leave fiction behind to present a candid, revealing account of their marriage which has endured and survived alcoholism, mutual adultery, and antagonistic abortion. They spare neither themselves nor the reader from their lapses of faith, failures, betrayals, and addictions to alcohol and drugs. Cleaving is a mesmerizing biography, a lot like driving past a literary car wreck. Totally fascinating reading, and a testament to what the human spirit can cause, endure, and occasionally triumph over.

Rating:
Summary: Moving Toward the Light, Wreaking Havoc as They Go !
Review: Dennis and Vicki Covington's spiritual journey is a path of destructiveness, leaving in their wake the shattered lives of the families of those they beguiled and bedded. They express sorrow only when caught and then seem to feel sorry only for themselves. Their civility and concern for the children of El Salvador, but not the children whose mother and father Dennis and Vicki respectively kiss and tell about, victimizes them one more time. These authors, while good writers, are not good people. From the book, it is evident that Mrs. Covington feels that "being delivered" one day years ago on the kitchen floor gives her the all- clear to wreak havoc as she pleases and fall back on her faith when it is convenient. What is missing from this book besides a happy ending? The Covingtons seem to have broken all the commandments and remain unrepentant and unapologetic for much of it. To this reader this is another version of "The King Has No Clothes." Some of us will see beauty in the telling of this story, and some of us will see that the Covingtons are trying to dupe the reader and profit from the continued mismanagement of their lives.

Rating:
Summary: Honesty in writing vs. Honesty in relationship
Review: how many of us have the courage to write about our mistakes and tribulations in the tornado maelstrom that is our divorce culture. there will be many who will get out the judgement stones to throw, but to me, literature is above society and has its own arena. is it compelling? yes. i could not put it down. is it honest? refreshingly so. is it amoral? oh well, who cares. history is stacked with the bodies of moral and amoral alike, and we all live and die and in the end have our own maker to face. i have no fear that these two individuals will ascend the naysayers and be able to say , "I told my truth", those who can't handle it are free to leave. I was deeply impressed by the adroit writing skills of both authors; doubtless it is their shared interests and gifts that cleave them together. I cannot empohasize enough their daring and their adept wordsmithing. i applaud their efforts to speak reality as it exists in so many homes, homes in which people are cowering and whitewashing and not able to come out of the marital closet. the truth shall set you free: marriage is hard work, and it seems to me that these two people have taken it on with heart and a special kind of honesty that eludes the bible belt class. I wish there were more books out there which truly portayed marriage as the out and out war/power struggle/grace that it is. i loved this book; not just for its skillful writing, but for its forthrightness and daring. please dont stop writing, covingtons. you covingtons are way ahead of your time. much love and support and prayers to you from another woman who has felt the slings and arrows of family and love and will continue to tell her own truth, by your fine and sometimes frightening example. I honor your efforts and wish you peace and love and a thick skin for the small minded who would judge. you are two people I admire, more so because your own daughter has voiced her support in this sometimes cruel and petty arena. you must have done something right to earn such loyalty...and count me among the loyal. bless you tenfold.

Rating:
Summary: TMI
Review: I am a fan of both Covingtons, however, this novel falls under the category "Too Much Information". Their betrayal of each other pales in comparison to the damage putting this information out there may have caused their two daughters, now teenagers. If they needed to write this in order to facilitate their own healing, fine, but it should have been kept in a locked drawer in their study, not published for the world to see. They live in an upscale community and have some prominence in this city and I cannot imagine how their children have felt about having the details of their parents infidelities printed for the world to see. Maybe they felt their daughters were "strong enough" to handle not only knowing this themselves but having the whole world know it....but that is something they should not have had to handle. I've lost a lot of respect for the authors, not only because they couldn't manage to keep their plonkers in their pants, but because they refused to protect their children from their indiscretions.

Rating:
Summary: Gut level honesty
Review: I live in Birmingham also, and I loved this book. It takes a lot of guts to air your secrets in this town. Most Southerners like to hide behind their pretentions. Kudos to the Covingtons for writing such an eloquent and genuine story. In some eyes, maybe the Covingtons will temporarily fall from grace, but they will probably go on to achieve something higher than a "public reputation". That something higher is simply the truth, plain and unadorned, and well worth the read!

Rating:
Summary: Honest, but very disturbing
Review: I've read all of Vicki Covington's novels and think she is a great writer. My book club really enjoyed BIRD OF PARADISE. And Dennis's book about snake-handling churches was fascinating so I read this story of a marriage hoping to find kindred people. I admire honesty but I was very disturbed by this couple and their obessions. I'm not a prude and I've always been a Christian( even though some youthful love affairs) but I don't understand raising two daughters and continuing in the way the Covingtons have. I also don't understand having an abortion because you can't tell who the father of the fetus is. Again I believe that abortion is very necessary but not for the reason Vicki gave. "What kind of marriage do you have?" was the question the wife of Vicki's lover asked and it's a valid question. We all have our definitions of marriage and we all lead lives that call for forgiveness but we're also called to repentance. I didn't see much of that in CLEAVING. Sometimes the honesty is too much.