Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart
Harper Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 19, 2011)
Harper Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 19, 2011)
Paperback, 352 Pages
Review Copy
Sarah Price has never regretted trading her MFA for a steady job so that her husband, Nathan, could write fiction. But at age thirty-five, her world is turned upside-down by a shocking revelation: Nathan’s upcoming novel, Infidelity, is based on fact. Reeling from his betrayal, Sarah is plagued by dark questions. How well does she really know her husband? More important, how well does she know herself?
For answers, Sarah looks back to her artistic twentysomething self to try to understand what exactly has happened to her dreams. And so begins her quest to discover which version of herself is the essential one—the artist, wife, mother, or someone else entirely—an eye-opening journey that leads Sarah hundreds of miles away from her marriage and back to herself.
Review
Sarah is a working mom who in support of her husband Nathan gave up her dreams of being a poet, so he could pursue a full time writing career. Sarah isn’t bitter about this though, she loves Nathan and is happy he’s at home with kids; she feels that they have built a good life together and she loves her Binx and her Maddy. Everything changes in a blink of an eye, when Nathan confesses to an affair that happened during Sarah’s second pregnancy. Left numb and confused Sarah go’s through the beginning emotions of betrayal, shock and anger. As Sarah delves into her own thoughts and mind frame, the reader gets to feel all this with her, we feel the anger, the hurt and the betrayal. We feel the sadness as this once happy marriage becomes toxic with the stain of infidelity.
Sarah becomes a very relatable character as she takes us through everyday life and flashes back to a time when Nathan and poetry was everything she breathed. In the midst of the depressing we do get a few peeks at the humorous life with children and the memorable moments of falling in love. The overall plot of the novel though is watching and waiting for Sarah to sort things out and see if the marriage can move forward. She dabbles in lost hopes and a few lost relationships, until one path takes her down a new probable future.
Leah Stewart is no doubt a talented writer, her ability to create characters that come alive seem as easy to her as breathing. While I loved Stewart's style, I didn't like this book, it was just to depressing for me and most of the decisions Sarah made I had a hard time agreeing with. I could defiantly feel her anger, her sadness and confusion, but I still found myself angry at her for the path she decided to take in order to heal herself which in the end, the reader wont be able to determine Sarah's outcome, its left for us to take the story into our own outcomes. When I finished reading this I felt so gloomy, I went outside to listen to birds and get some fresh air, so I could shake off the hopeless feeling the story left me with. I hugged my husband and said a silent thank you for a faithful spouse. I also had to clean my eyes out, this novel said the f-word more than the movie The Departed and that's a lot of f words..... If your looking for a depressing, gloomy and wow their marriage really stinks kind of book I would suggest trying this out. If you like happy things like rainbows and skipping stones and are easily depressed, Id say skip this one.
Rating
Husband and Wife is recommended to adult readers and contains: Graphic language, sexuality, infidelity, martial relationships and problems, parenting, friendships and topics on divorce, finances and reconciliation.
3/5- Contemporary Fiction
Thanks to Harper and Tlc for review Copy
Hm. I think I'll pass on this one. I don't like walking away from a book weighed down. I like books that evoke strong emotions, but in the end I'm a big fan of a HEA or at least the promise of hope, and I think if you're upset with some of her decisions, then I probably would be too. Fantastic review though Tina!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your honest review. You left me wondering about the ending. And thanks for the F-bomb warning.
ReplyDeleteThis book definitely was gloomier than I expected. I don't remember the F bombs, LOL.
ReplyDelete"If you like happy things like rainbows and skipping stones and are easily depressed, Id say skip this one." Now that part had me actually laughing out loud. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry this book wasn't a good fit for you but I appreciate that you gave it a thorough review. Thanks for being on the tour.