Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us: A Novel Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen Top-notch writing and great characterization feature in this novel about a married couple being put together twice—a tale of first and second wives and possibly a third—in today’s Manhattan. But just who are these characters? That is the meta mystery in this novel. Early in the novel the characterizations are beautifully clear; you know the type, you see the social satire coming. But as the novel progresses just who these characters are becomes the enigma to unravel. And the reader has to work at it because you enter each new chapter not knowing exactly who the point-of-view character is nor where on the timeline the scene is set. Are we at the beginning of the first romance or the beginning of the second romance—or the end of the second, or was that really the first? There are two wives here, first and second. Or are there? And the older sister, a character almost out of a Hitchcock movie? And what of the male protagonist? At first, this highly successful thirty-something hedge fund manager comes through as a Mitt Romney-like Ken-Doll, an archetype simply ordered up from the Harvard Business School emporium and assembled like a human being from IKEA. One deliciously awaits the send up. So Mr Right is looking for Miss Young Perfect to bear children and keep the suburban house in pitch perfect condition and the family a glossy photo out of the New American Dream. But what happens when messy womanly imperfection stumbles on the runway into the Perfect American Life? How intense can the guilt be for being imperfect? Perfection can beam a very hard stare at remiss—not so much disappointment as a gauge of not measuring up, not making the metric. You didn’t stand up well in the B-school seminar today, lass! Then there is the apple in Eden. There is that one stolen kiss from the charismatic bad boy barrista at the club at that last going-away party night, one last touch of the raunchy, vibrant Manhattan life from which she came, before her departure for the suburban sequester. The new sex is of course good—grist for contentment—but the remembered sex with the bad boy had been the best—the nonpareil. Leaving that behind? Forever? The stories are multi-layered and full of skewering satire. The send up of upscale parents and over-parenting in the Manhattan pre-school with its overly tracked small children and their drill-field existence drained of fun and fantasy is pitch perfect. There is a story about life at an all-to-perfect top and a story about authenticity and pretense. And modern women striving for “having it all” but with their imperfections sure to undermine the perfection demanded by having it all. So the dream is not only the quest for the perfect husband in the perfect house but a quest for perfect children—which are never realized in the novel since conception—the desired outcome—is striven for but never reached. There is a strong echo of “The Handmaid’s Tale” here and the story of the young woman domiciled to bear children for the Commander. The novel then moves into something of a Gothic phase following the decomposition of lives to an ending I would not have contrived but does provide an “answer.” Overall in this well-told story, we see the inevitability of our own lives within the context of modern life and the role of constant imperfection in our lives.

I can't decide exactly how to rate this twisty, turney thriller, so I'm going with somewhere between 3.5 and 4 Stars.

Some parts of it were fantastic and original, yet a few parts seemed almost identical to another book I've recently read.

SUMMARY Part one of the book is told from a duel point of view.

The first narrator is twenty-seven year old Nellie, an engaged woman in the weeks leading up to her wedding. She is ecstatic to have found the perfect man. Richard, nine years her senior, is wealthy, sophisticated and so very enthralled with her. Not only is he her protector, he is so incredibly thoughtful and romantic. He thinks of everything and always seems to be right there any time she needs him. Is he too good to be true? That's what her roommate Samantha is starting to think...

The second narrator is Vanessa, a woman who is trying to recover from the demise of her marriage. Her husband Richard has left her for a younger woman. And somehow he ended up with all the money, the house, cars and all their friends. Vanessa is staying in her Aunts spare bedroom and working as a sales person at a large NYC department store where she used to shop. Starting to make a connection between the two narrators?

As the book evolves, with a single point of view beginning in part two, the reader gets a front row seat to the deterioration of Vanessa and Richard's marriage, the fairytale (ish) engagement of Richard and Nellie and the complicated origins of the relationship between Vanessa's husband and her "replacement" (as Vanessa refers to her husband's fiancee). Just when you think you've got it all figured out, there is yet another twist.

WHAT I LOVED The development of complex, interesting characters can make or break a book. This book has some very intriguing characters!! Every time I tried to categorize one of the characters, I would realize a couple chapters later that I was wrong and that character was not as easily defined as I had thought.

I loved Nellie's pre-wedding life. She and Samantha were living such a 20-something year olds post college NYC adventure. It's what I wished I had the nerve to do at her age. In later years, they would laugh about the roaches in their apartment and how they had to work two jobs to stay afloat but remember those days as the time if their life. I think Samantha would have made an awesome roommate / bestie.

I love Vanessa's Aunt Charlotte. Every one should get to have an 'Aunt Charlotte" in their life; a person who will love you and take you in no matter what has happened in your life. Richard's, sister, Maureen, was fascinating. I couldn't figure out exactly what her angle was until it was basically spelled out for me.

Again with the NYC setting. It is such a great backdrop for a book. It adds a certain vitality.

This book had some AMAZINGLY great twists!! The first big twist sucked me right in. Hook, line and sinker! And the final couple of twists were so darn worth the wait.

WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE There was one major issue which brought the book down a few points for me. I don't was to give away too much, but about half way through the book, there was a twist and plot line almost identical to another book I have recently read (and loved). Both books were published within weeks of each other so I can't accuse either author of 'borrowing' the plot from the other BUT I kept thinking, "I've already read this book but with a different title." Clearly I'm reading too many thrillers since I've felt that was about the last two books I've read. Kind of disappointing though. There was way more to this story than one shared plot line so it didn't ruin the whole story for me but those 50 or so pages dedicated to that plot line was almost offensive to me due the similarities.

OVERALL Worth reading for the characters and the twists even if one part is pretty unoriginal.

I did preorder this book months ago- I do that a lot. So often in fact most of the time I have zero idea by the time it arrives in my kindle app what it’s about at all. I remembered this one though bc of tag line I’ve seen so often to try and get readers to pick up whatever book it’s being used on. It uses Gone Girl in that tag line. I also preordered GG actually. Most books using that title I won’t pick up or purchase - bc I think it’s poor marketing and who wants to be “another” anything ? Wouldn’t you rather be successful and known for being just you and what you’re great at doing? Sometimes they mean it’ll be a best seller like GG and sometimes they mean it’s a mystery suspense novel like GG and mostly I think they use it hoping and praying it’ll be both lol. I personally liked GG but didn’t find it earth shattering but it was good. Just another Preorder and it wasn’t even a book I recommended to anyone when I was done even though I was enthralled and just like this very book I finished it without stopping. So the minute it qued up in my app I went for it and didn’t stop until I hit the end. I think this book isn’t terrible. I also see way too many ways it tries to be like the previously mentioned best seller. It does it.....in an obvious way which I hate. The last of it the last tiny piece wasn’t even important by then and that’s what annoyed me. I rated it highly bc while it was annoying it trying to have a million twist and turns there was one great one I never expected and felt elated and like an idiot for not realizing. It’s written in a way I don’t think most people would guess either and so it was more than an okay effort it succeeded on its own in being entertaining. If I was the editor I think I would’ve strongly advised pulling the very very end bc it’s just not there lol. Also I think there’s a place this writer could’ve ventured into more and pulled it together better but they didn’t I would’ve liked that. I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone so I won’t point out all the things that bothered me - in the future I’d say don’t try so hard to be someone else bc it’s cheating yourself and the readers but you got money and my time so bam! You win.

This book has been in my TBR for so long and few days back, I got it from Amazon. I Was totally looking forward to reading it. So, the story talks about marriage. The hidden and bitter truth of marriage. That does not mean the story is all about the negative sides of marriage. No, it is totally not! This is just a another faucet of marriage, in someone else's story. We meet the characters, Richard, Vanessa (Richard's Ex-Wife) and Nellie his current wife (to be). Richard and Vanessa has been married for, like ten years and they get divorced under a lot of circumstances. Vanessa does not take the divorce in a good way. She becomes a constant intruder between Richard and Nellie, but she had her own reasons. The story is full of plot twists which goes on up and down, like a crazy roller coaster. This has a greater effect on the reader. Which is like this, You settle down by understanding a certain part of the story but, it is not what you think it will be. It turns out to be something totally different. This is the aspect that keeps the reader engaged in the book. Once you start reading it, you are totally into it. The story is that intriguing. You feel that you need to know more. I love almost all the characters, they were well-formed to keep the excitement in the story. I love the narrating style. The story is narrated to the reader from Vanessa's point of view and Nellie's point of view. How each of them face and see their lives, pre and post affects of marriage is well written. My Rating (4/5) Exceptional The reason on why I gave 4/5 stars is, that sometimes I got a bit confused with the plot twists. But definitely, it is not a negative point. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read thrillers. This extravagant story filled with love, hatred, and obsession, I feel is a must read. As the synopsis states, Assume nothing and be ready to get into this wonderful Psychological Thriller with magnificent plot twists.

I did enjoy the story and the book was an easy-read. I finished the entire book in less than a day because the first two parts had me drawn in. For me, it became a little lacklustre in part 3 and somewhat, common in its theme toward the end, especially with Richards character. I felt as though, considering it was by two different authors - there could have been a little more depth and variety in the overall story. The epilogue twist was great. I didn't necessarily enjoy how the book was written, grammatically but that could be due to my British bias.

After all the hype I read about "The Wife Between Us"--the fact that it was already going to be made into a major motion picture (blah, blah, blah), I decided that I had to read it. Written in the aftermath of twisting psychological novels like "The Girl on the Train" and "Gone Girl" where the reader expects to be jarred abruptly from carefully drawn premises to realize that what has been crafted is just a sham--a character's skewed perspective, I figured the 'ah ha' moment in "Wife" would be well worth the reading hours.

Well, I was wrong.

As expected, Part One sets the story--abandoned wife still hungers for handsome accomplished hubby--and stalks husband's new love interest in an alternating first person and then third person narrative reflecting old wife, new girlfriend perspectives. When Part Two rolls around, the reader has already been prepared to accept a major twist which out of respect for future readers, I will not reveal here. I will only say that the change in pace is abrupt and unexpected but not in the thrilling manner we have come to expect from novels billeted as 'psychological' and 'jaw-dropping.' The anticipated 'ah-ha' moment was more like a dull 'oh'--not so disappointing as to stop me from listening on (I listened to the Audible presentation) but enough of a let down to warn me that the rest of the story wouldn't quite satisfy my craving.

More turns and twists do occur, but again, the revelations are not all that exciting. In fact, once the villain is unmasked, the story peters out very quickly in terms of roller coaster thrills . . . and yet beyond that point two other secrets wait to be revealed. Yawn.

The fact that this book is a bestseller tells me how important publicity is for without it, this book would never be discussed let alone be recommended by reading circles. The characters are two-dimensional--none are fully developed. The writing is precise rather than literary--I wasn't blown away by profound metaphors or masterful vocabulary. The passion described is indirect rather than visceral; the timeline, even after all the pieces have been uncovered and snapped together chronologically are blurry, skated over rather than detailed. The only part of this story that resonates with any emotion is Vanessa's relationship with her dog, Duke, and the solution to that mystery, rather than providing a sense of justice, is nebulous--left to dangle in the breeze when so many opportunities existed to make that one real connection sing with satisfying vengeance.

After listening to 'Wife' for eleven hours, I'm moving out of the 'Girl'/'Wife' genre and graduating to 'Women.' Hopefully, what I find there will be more mature.