The War of The Roses
Encyclopedia
The War of the Roses is a novel
by Warren Adler
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to aid in the upkeep of the house and the children as Barbara has embarked in a gourmet business endeavour. She has received a small amount of acclaim for her pâté.
Somewhere along the road to building to this ideal family unit, Barbara fell out of love with Jonathan. She realizes it as Jonathan has what is believed to be a heart attack. Suddenly, it would not be so bad if he died. She would not be distraught. Jonathan, on the other hand, only thinks of his wife as he is rushed to the hospital and cannot understand why she did not come to his bedside as he waited for the prognosis.
Upon returning home, Barbara tells him their marriage is over. It’s been over for some time and he never realized it.
Divorce. Barbara hires the best divorce attorney in town. Smart enough not to represent himself, Jonathan puts an attorney of his own on a retainer. Jonathan would like the divorce to go smoothly. He offers Barbara a generous monthly allowance, as well as half of everything they have. That’s not enough. She wants it all, the house and all its contents. She has earned it, putting the house together and making it home they both wanted. She raised his children in the house. It belongs to her. Jonathan had to work to provide for her, the family, and the home. He cannot let her have it so easily.
He opts not to move out, citing an old legal precedent which permits a couple to live under the same roof while going through a divorce. Barbara is less than thrilled at the prospect of having him continue to live there.
Despite the warnings of their attorneys, both take it upon themselves to make the other miserable. It begins with small acts of sabotage, but soon escalates. Only the children are off limits, everything else, from careers to prized possessions, is fair game. Their previous life together, a life of love, vanishes as aggression
and territoriality engulfs both Jonathan and Barbara.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Warren Adler
Warren Adler
Warren Adler is a world-renowned American novelist, short story writer and playwright based in New York, NY. His books have been translated into more than 25 languages and two of his novels, The War of the Roses and Random Hearts, have been made into movies, shown continually throughout the...
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Plot introduction
The War of the Roses tells the story of Jonathan and Barbara Rose, and their descent from a picturesque family life into a world of macabre self-destruction.Plot summary
The novel begins quietly, introducing us to Jonathan and Barbara as they are introduced to each other for the first time. Fast forward some years, and they are living the good life in a Washington, D.C. suburb. They have the dream house, filled with a lifetime’s worth of antiques they’ve collected, two children (Eve and Josh), a dog, and a cat. Jonathan’s law career could not be better, and they had recently hired an au pairAu pair
An au pair is a domestic assistant from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a small monetary allowance for personal use...
to aid in the upkeep of the house and the children as Barbara has embarked in a gourmet business endeavour. She has received a small amount of acclaim for her pâté.
Somewhere along the road to building to this ideal family unit, Barbara fell out of love with Jonathan. She realizes it as Jonathan has what is believed to be a heart attack. Suddenly, it would not be so bad if he died. She would not be distraught. Jonathan, on the other hand, only thinks of his wife as he is rushed to the hospital and cannot understand why she did not come to his bedside as he waited for the prognosis.
Upon returning home, Barbara tells him their marriage is over. It’s been over for some time and he never realized it.
Divorce. Barbara hires the best divorce attorney in town. Smart enough not to represent himself, Jonathan puts an attorney of his own on a retainer. Jonathan would like the divorce to go smoothly. He offers Barbara a generous monthly allowance, as well as half of everything they have. That’s not enough. She wants it all, the house and all its contents. She has earned it, putting the house together and making it home they both wanted. She raised his children in the house. It belongs to her. Jonathan had to work to provide for her, the family, and the home. He cannot let her have it so easily.
He opts not to move out, citing an old legal precedent which permits a couple to live under the same roof while going through a divorce. Barbara is less than thrilled at the prospect of having him continue to live there.
Despite the warnings of their attorneys, both take it upon themselves to make the other miserable. It begins with small acts of sabotage, but soon escalates. Only the children are off limits, everything else, from careers to prized possessions, is fair game. Their previous life together, a life of love, vanishes as aggression
Aggression
In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
and territoriality engulfs both Jonathan and Barbara.