(image from Amazon.com)
The Husband’s Secret, by Liane Moriarty. I started this book, but gave up just as I started the second chapter. The gimmicks INSTANTLY bothered me: drawn-out mystery, switching storylines at a cliff-hanger, starting a new storyline in a way that deliberately makes the reader wait a page or two to know what on earth is going on. Plus, there was lots of irritating exposition: we’re reading about a woman wondering whether or not she should open the “in case of my death” letter she found written by her husband (who is not dead but is on a business trip), but the author is using the scene to explain to us in a distracting, noticeable way what the main character and her life are like. Why not go all the way and have her look in a mirror in order to describe her hair and eyes?
But then my mom read it, and she said I should give it another chance. She assured me that the drawn-out mystery was worthwhile (I’d have placed a money bet that it would be drama for the sake of drama, followed by a disappointing reveal) and not overly drawn-out, and that the book hit its stride pretty soon. And I DID give it another try, and I DID like it. Very much! Very, VERY much! So!
I did strongly object to the amazing number of times a size-18 woman was referred to as “morbidly obese” and considered wayyyyy too fat for anyone to ever be interested in her—the kind of fat where she’d walk into a room and people would stare and whisper and giggle. It made me think of those web sites where people send photos of what “size 18” or “200 pounds” actually looks like at various heights and on various body types, to counteract the weird impressions society has about what the numbers look like.
It’s a Maeve-Binchy-like book, in that there are several interlocking storylines. When I was describing the book to someone else, it sounded soap-opera-y (hardly anyone in real life has SO VERY MANY dramatic things happen to them), but it didn’t seem that way when I was reading it. Instead I came away with a fresh dose of that slightly jaw-dropped understanding that these dramatic things really do happen to real people.
There are several Quite Sad scenes involving children and parental grief. I found I was able to bear it, but it was a close call and I did some skimming. There were a lot of scenes where a character was thinking in a way I recognized, which gave me that happy bonding feeling you get when someone’s thought processes are very similar to your own. Things are tied up nicely at the end (not entirely, but enough), and there’s some Omniscient Narrator stuff of the sort I enjoy. I was always very eager to get back to the book, and I thought about it a lot when I was reading it and also afterward.
(image from Amazon.com)
I would have said I didn’t want to read EVEN ONE MORE coming-of-age novel about a teenaged boy, but I was wrong. (I think what I actually want is to never hear another novel about a teenager referred to as a coming-of-age novel.) I added Blind Sight, by Meg Howrey to my library list on Meredith‘s recommendation, and I loved it so much I’m reluctant to recommend it, because what if you don’t like it? Also because it’s a teenaged-boy coming-of-age novel so there are a lot of embarrassing sexual references in it.
I generally don’t like books written as letters or as essays or whatever, but I thought this one pulled it off (and it’s only PART essays). When I was reading the first page or two I thought, “Hmmmm….I don’t think I’m going to like this…” but I very quickly changed my mind. I thought it ended up working great, in fact: a way to see the main character as he saw himself in addition to how the author described him.
I liked the basic story (teenaged boy meets father for the first time), but what I MOSTLY liked were the boy’s thoughts and observations and the way he expressed them, and the way the characters acted and talked. I kept saying to Paul, “I can’t believe how much I like this. This is just exactly my kind of book.”
At the end, I was disappointed to be left hanging on an issue or two. I wanted MORE. I think there needs to be a sequel.
I also liked this book and have read What Alice Forgot by the same author and enjoyed that as well. Right now I am reading Tell the Wolves I’m Home. Have you read that one? It is very good so far…I have gotten teary more that once and am about 3/4 of the way through.
I LOVED Tell the Wolves I’m Home!
I recognize the description on Amazon so I must have read it, but I don’t remember it well.
I highly recommend joining the goodreads website – it helps me Tremendously with remembering which books I’ve read, especially if the author has tons of books. I don’t get too into writing long reviews, but more to track my books and a quick jot about what I thought and a star rating. You might be on there already, but thought I would mention it!
It pleases me SO much to know that a book I loved and recommended is “just exactly [your] kind of book”! I get nervous when I recommend books, too — as if people will come after me with pitchforks if they don’t like the book. So, whew.
The Husband’s Secret KEEPS coming up in my Recommendations for You list on Amazon, so it looks like I should go ahead and give it a whirl!
Well, I loathed The Husband’s Secret and I ADORED Blind Sight, so I am thrilled with this review. I get VERY tense when I recommend certain books too and I was especially concerned that Blind Sight was one of those “will I be the only one that loves this book so much?” books so I am relieved that it wasn’t just me. Her other books (The Cranes Dance) was the first one I read and that’s how I found Blind Sight, because I loved that one so much too.
Oh, to be a perfectly lovely size 18 again…
Such a nice thing to say!!! We are all “perfectly lovely”, no matter our size!
i really liked the husband’s secret. at first i thought it was going to be absurd…but i ended up totally riveted.
Yay! I’m glad you ended up liking The Husband’s Secret even if not at first. It’s definitely one that made me uncomfortable at times (also SAD) but I was anxious to keep reading it and didn’t want to put it down to go to sleep (or go to work).
Now I feel like I need to read Blind Sight. Adding it to the list!
I just started a book wherein the character looks in the mirror to describe her hair and eyes in the first couple of pages and I would have stopped reading, but it’s for book club. Sigh.
Also, I just come here for my happy similar-thought-process bonding. You never have clunky exposition!
I’m glad to hear you ended up liking The Husband’s Secret. It’s the selection for my book club next month and I’ve been pretty decidedly Not Pumped about it – and nothing makes me feel like life is terribly short and time precious than trudging through a book I despise. Here’s hoping it will surprise me too.
I love your book reviews. i am very hesitant to recommend books (i rarely give books ratings on Goodreads–just track what I’ve read). thanks for the recommendations.
Wow!! I have no comments about books, but the “morbidly obese” comments about the size 18 woman hit me hard! I wear a size 18, and unfortunately am over 200 lbs (barely!). I never consider myself “morbidly obese”, although I probably am. I was just at the dr yesterday, and she didn’t say a single thing about my weight, and never has.
I just started reading The Husband’s Secret for book club so I had to come back and re-read what you had said about it. Agree, so far! Also: MY KINGDOM FOR A NOVEL THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE A DEAD CHILD.