Having spent fourteen years of my life as a military dependent, I had high hopes for this novel. "The Wives", by Simone Gorrindo started off with the promise of being a novel that would provide insight to non-military readers, memories to past military members and their dependents, and to provide a positive read to existing military members and their dependents. Unfortunately, in my opinion, this memoir failed miserably. First of all, even though Ms. Gorrindo did not grow up in a military environment, her lack of patriotism is appalling. She did not understand and did not like the fact that her husband and members of his unit hung the US flag at their homes! Seriously?? Second of all, she made the entire novel about herself and her unhappiness of being a military wife. News flash, it's what you signed up for. Military spouses are well aware, that for the mental and physical wellbeing for their soldiers, they need to be supportive. The soldiers would be unable to complete the task at hand, if they are constantly worrying about their spouses and children. The entire novel focuses on their troubled marriage and inability to communicate in a healthy manner. Third of all, the military community, is tightknit group of individuals. We keep each other's conversations in confidence. There was constant gossiping among the spouses in this novel. Finally, in the (literally) last few pages of this novel, the family has a child, moves to Washington state, and all of a sudden, the marriage is perfect and everything in their lives falls into place. Not very realistic. If you are looking for a novel or memoir that depicts actual life in the military, I would keep looking.