The Husband's Secret*- Liane Moriarty
Like The House of Mirth, this book was sent to me by Beth, and I spent forever getting around to reading it! When I started hearing more and more good things about it, I knew I had to put it on the top of my pile.
The Husband's Secret follows the lives of different women whose lives intertwine in ways that become increasingly clear as their stories develop and close towards each other. All stories revolve around a letter found by Cecilia, written by her husband only to be opened in the event of his death. Eventually curiosity gets the better of her and she reads the letter to discover information that changes her life, and the lives of the other women, forever.
I'm going to put this out there straight away: It's predictable. As predictable as can be. I knew the secret within about 15 pages and, although I thought it couldn't possibly be that obvious, it turns out it was. The main women are irritating: Cecilia spends far too much time fussing, simpering and generally being a do-gooder and Tess needs to stop fat-shaming her beautiful, witty cousin. Rachel is adamant on ruining a man's life because she suspects him of killing her daughter and ends up neglecting her son as a result.
Having said that, it wasn't a terrible book. It's pretty much the epitome of a summer beach read: Nothing challenging, nothing confusing. Even the parallel stories are easy to follow. It was entertaining enough and I became impatient to find out how the stories would come together even though, as I said, I didn't expect my prediction to be completely accurate. I will also say that Moriarty's use of short sentences to build up tension in the climax of the novel is well developed and certainly creates suspense.
Although the book wasn't terrible, it was far from the best book I've ever read. This may be influenced by the fact that, as a rule, I'm not interested in what you may call "light women's reading". I'd still encourage people to give it a go, though, as it seems very divisive- some people were not impressed while others absolutely loved it. For me, though, it's a four out of ten.
If entwined, character-based stories are your thing, I completely recommend JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. It's a lot more complex than The Husband's Secret but also more developed and a lot less predictable!
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I read this only because of the mention of Marfan's Syndrome (as I have it!) and I also found it incredibly predictable, it was a good read but I couldn't help but be put off by how predictable it was. I'll always like it thought because of the mention of Marfan's!
ReplyDeleteI think I must be really dumb because I had no idea what the twist was until it happened! Feeling a little silly now, though I'm never very good at thinking ahead with books. I am a big, big fan of books with loads of characters that all come together in the end, I love seeing how they all interlink and I really enjoyed this aspect of the book. Have you read either The Woman Before Me or Before I Go To Sleep? xx
ReplyDeleteYou're not dumb at all! I found this predictable but I bet there are books that left me clueless where you would have got it. I've not read either of those- Do you recommend them?
DeleteMy Mum read this and she thought it was okay, but she always predicts the ending with everything when I'm clueless lol - she's so clever! I've not read it yet but sounds like a good Summer read, one for the garden/poolside when you're more bothered about sunbathing than being mentally challenged lol!!
ReplyDeleteKat | www.kathorrocks.com
I tend to predict endings of books too which is annoying. I haven't read this one and it sounds like it's written in a way I like, but I wouldn't want to immediately know! I see in a comment above Before I Go To Sleep was mentioned, I've read that and it was pretty cracking! Was a while ago I read it though. Two of my fave books are Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. Incredible books, with really well developed characters, and elements of feminism and how shit our current society and attitudes are! Which always makes me happy! I'm glad to see more women's work getting noticed and more women putting these opinions out there super plainly for everyone to see.
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