the refuge of a good marriage

Helen Ellis is an American treasure. She is a sophisticated humorist with a dirty mind. She currently lives in New York City, but she grew up in Alabama, which is like hitting the lottery for a funny essayist. She and her husband have been married for over twenty years. They stayed in the city during the pandemic, and now not only are they still together, they are happier than ever. Her latest collection of essays, Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge, is Ellis sharing her happiness with us, and it’s filled with lots of color, memories of growing up, tips for plant lovers, and a lot of love for Dynasty’s Joan Collins.

Whether she’s writing a letter to her catsitter about her two fur babies and their very particular eating habits or remembering how her friends once hypnotized her at a sleepover, encouraging readers to clean drunk or listing all the times that things went wrong at weddings she’d been to, Ellis brings us into her life, gets us a cocktail, and tells us stories that make us laugh until our sides hurt.

Ellis has a way of making even ordinary things seems extraordinary, and extraordinary things seem like a celebration. And while not all of us can collect art alongside James Franco or turn our New York City apartments into a greenhouse, we can all take a closer look at our relationships and figure out how to make them stronger. As long as you’re both on the same page about what you want, then you don’t have to be the couple that runs or that swing dances or that kayaks together or that stays in your friends’ guest rooms.

Maybe you’re the couple who makes your own handmade Valentines or who has a gold Christmas tree or who sleeps in separate rooms because of the snoring. Or the couple who names their TV room the Coral Lounge and keeps a bag of cat food there because one of the cats is super picky and will only eat off the coffee table. Or the couple where the wife writes hilarious essays while also promising not to make the husband go ziplining just so she can write about it.

So if you’re in that kind of relationship, or want to be, the kind where each partner gets to be who they are without judgment or death threats, then this may be the book for you. Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge is not only seriously funny, it’s also a celebration of love and marriage in this post-pandemic world. It’s like a Valentine for readers, and a love letter to Alexis Carrington Colby and her fierce pot-stirring skills.

Egalleys for Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge were provided by Doubleday Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.