Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a brutal story, but it’s told so well, the heavy subject matter didn’t tempt me to abandon the book at any point. The story moves along at a good pace, despite the fact that there’s not much “action.” Most of the plot is internal to the different characters, and the focus changes throughout the book so the reader gets a clear picture of how the present has been shaped by what the characters endured in the past. The author’s language is accessible and clear, with wonderful imagery that is entirely appropriate, and not the kind of pedantic stuff one often encounters in modern literature. A great example of this is a short sentence about the protagonist’s negligent husband, as he settles into bed next to her:

“James punches his pillow into the shape of a mushroom and lets his head fall into it, a sudden release, like letting a suitcase drop.”

Simple language, but it says so much. The author masterfully conveys the atmosphere with such sentences, giving the reader much deeper insights into the characters, as well as the mood that surrounds them.

My only disappointment in the book, and the reason it’s not a resounding 5 stars is chapter 12. I will not add any spoilers, but I found the revelation in that chapter unbelievable: not what was done by Mary-Margaret’s mother, but how Fritz, Mary-Margaret’s husband, reacts. The reaction seems not at all realistic, but perhaps there’s something in Fritz’s character that I missed that would hint at his ability to fall for such an obvious deception.

All in all though, an incredibly well-written novel that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I will definitely seek out more works by this author.

View all my reviews

Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Unfortunately, I did not read the other Goodreads reviews before starting this book. If I had, I probably would have pulled it off the shelf and put it directly in the pile to be dropped off at one of the nearest “have a book, leave a book; need a book, take a book” bins sprouting up around the region.

There are absolutely no likable characters in story. A woman, frustrated by her inability to conceive and carry a child to term, treats her caring, thoughtful husband horribly. He reacts to this treatment by having an affair. The mistress not only dates this (married) man, but also a series of what can only be called losers – an alcoholic and a narcissist to name a couple. The mistress’s son is a manipulative jerk, who acts out and then wonders why no one wants to spend time with him. Back to the woman with the fertility issues – she uses her husband’s infidelity as an excuse to get wildly drunk and flirt with a boy half her age and have sex with a random horticulturalist who pops into the story to break the news to her that her favorite tree has to be cut down. The supporting characters’ sole function seems to be as enablers for all the screw-up main characters.

Other Goodreads reviewers mention enjoying the author’s debut novel, but after being so disappointed by this effort, I doubt I’ll come back to her other works.

View all my reviews

The Dangerous Husband: A Novel by Jane Shapiro

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Dangerous Husband by Jane Shapiro is the story of a 40-year-old woman, who “had never managed to be married” but finds herself falling in love with a man she meets at a Thanksgiving dinner party. The courtship is swift, and, after a brief, passionate honeymoon period, they start to really get to know one another. And that’s when all the “accidents” start taking place.

Even before the marriage, only a couple weeks after their first meeting, he loses his job and decides to live off an inheritance and write a novel. Soon after the marriage, the wife begins to learn other things that surprise her – he’d been married several times before, he has a certain clumsiness that becomes more pronounced with time – but the many good characteristics, such as his desire to please her at all times, with gifts, attentiveness and affection, keep her firmly committed to the marriage … at first. But the clumsiness that accompanies these attentions soon puts her at physical risk.

Taken in a purely metaphorical sense, this is a fairly clever story. For a woman marrying for the first time at 40 when she meets someone charming, in a way giving in to societal expectations, perhaps after years of listening to questions like, “When are you going to get married? Don’t you want a nice husband? Don’t you want someone to grow old with?” and, as a consequence, not only not being happier than when single, but actually risking serious injury as a result of the union – it shows us that the grass isn’t always greener. And the negatives keep piling up, as friends fall away and even the household pets meet unpleasant fates.

But there was just something about the writing I didn’t like. The jacket description calls it a “witty, dark, brilliantly funny novel,” which I think gave me the wrong expectations. It was certainly dark, somewhat witty, but I found nothing at all funny about it. On the contrary, it made me rather sad: sad for the wife, who felt, even at 40, that her life would not be complete unless she tried marriage on for size; sad for the husband, who had married so many times, hoping to find the real thing, only to drive his wives away out of fear for their safety; and of course, sad that this kind of story has to be told. That being a lifelong single person still carries so much stigma.

View all my reviews