This novel focuses on an ex-wife that is obsessed with “her replacement,” meaning her husband’s new fiance. Initially, it appears that we are dealing with an unwell ex-wife, Vanessa, that is obsessed with her ex-husband, Richard, and his new, younger fiance named Nellie. Vanessa is painted in a very negative light, whereas, Nellie seems like a ray of sunshine. Slowly, through several “plot twists” and revelations, these characters are seen in a different light, as well as, there is the introduction of a completely different character. I’m not sure how to lay out the plot without spoilers, but this novel is basically about a man moving on with someone new and younger, and the previous wife left behind and how her world crumbles.
Honestly, this book dragged on for me. I can typically knock out a book this size in 2-3 hours. However, I read some of it on Tuesday and then spent a good deal of yesterday trudging through this one. To say that this novel includes an unreliable narrator would be the understatement of the year, but I don’t think it added to the quality of the novel. At times, I felt that Hendricks and Pekkanen’s writing was exquisite, but there were also several times where I was just completely sick of the ongoing, uncomfortable, and unnecessary details.
As promised in the blurb for The Wife Between Us, there are several twists and turns, one of which I did not see coming at all. But for me, these twists and turns confused me to death. I’ve never spent so much time going back to re-read earlier portions of a novel in attempts to figure out what the hell is going on. I continued onward, determined to see this through and figure out everything, but the ending was as disappointing as the rest of the novel. The best way to summarize this one is that it took way too much time and effort to figure things out and when things did begin to make sense, I just didn’t really care.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review!
Honestly, this book dragged on for me. I can typically knock out a book this size in 2-3 hours. However, I read some of it on Tuesday and then spent a good deal of yesterday trudging through this one. To say that this novel includes an unreliable narrator would be the understatement of the year, but I don’t think it added to the quality of the novel. At times, I felt that Hendricks and Pekkanen’s writing was exquisite, but there were also several times where I was just completely sick of the ongoing, uncomfortable, and unnecessary details.
As promised in the blurb for The Wife Between Us, there are several twists and turns, one of which I did not see coming at all. But for me, these twists and turns confused me to death. I’ve never spent so much time going back to re-read earlier portions of a novel in attempts to figure out what the hell is going on. I continued onward, determined to see this through and figure out everything, but the ending was as disappointing as the rest of the novel. The best way to summarize this one is that it took way too much time and effort to figure things out and when things did begin to make sense, I just didn’t really care.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review!