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drcarrieg's review against another edition
1.0
Boring until about 75% through, then a little crazy, then an abrupt ending which left me wondering if I somehow missed huge chunks of the story.
lisanreads's review against another edition
5.0
Although this novel is compared to Gone Girl, it is a much more plausible story about the disintegration of a long-time relationship. The detailed explanations of Adlerian psychotherapy could have been deleted; the central character is a psychotherapist. Otherwise, it was an excellent book that I could not put down.
itswessums's review against another edition
3.0
I just put The Silent Wife down a few minutes ago and I'm still reeling from what I just read. The novel tells the story of Jodi and Todd, whose marriage is crumbling due to Todd's inability to stay committed to his wife. The story is interesting enough, but one of the major problems is that the synopsis lets the reader know right away what is going to happen, and the rest of the book is the revelation of how these two got to this point. I truly think it could have been more exciting if you didn't know right away where the story was going, and the context that is given leading up to the big event isn't exciting enough to really push the novel to a strong finish in the end. With all of that being said, I was interested in the characters and their story--I just feel that there could have been a little more.
bridget_in_md's review against another edition
1.0
Very disappointed in this book. Critics claimed it was the next "Gone Girl" - well, the characters were about as likeable as the ones in GG, but I kept WAITING for the "shoe to drop" - and waiting and waiting and waiting... and this book is truly just another "woman scorned?" so she hires a hitman to kill him off before he marries his young impregnanted girlfriend (and his common law except they aren't common law, just not married) becomes his heir? ho hum....
ashley_kelmore's review against another edition
3.0
Best for:
Fans of mysteries told from a couple of different perspectives.
In a nutshell:
Jodi and Todd have been together for 20 years, though they aren’t married. Todd regularly cheats on Jodi. Todd has gotten his latest paramour, Natalie, pregnant. Natalie is the daughter of one of Todd’s childhood friends, Dean. Events transpire.
Worth quoting:
Really anything Todd from Todd’s perspective was so representative of how I imagine oblivious vaguely misogynistic men think. I could quote him endlessly here, always followed with a giant eye roll.
Why I chose it:
It’d been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years and thought I’d finally read it.
Review:
Ah, this book has one of my favorite storytelling devices: alternating perspectives. Every chapter is from either Jodi or Todd’s voice. They never talk about the same events, so it’s not like we get Saturday night’s perspective from Jodi, followed by Todd’s take on Saturday night. Instead, they alternate each chapter, building on the time line.
Todd is a builder / property investor. Jodi is a psychologist. She never wanted to get married, so they didn’t. They also don’t have children. Then one day Todd is told by his lover Natalie (who is a good 20 years younger than him) that she is pregnant, and she expects that he’ll be leaving his wife and marrying her. And he just sort of … does. Without ever directly telling Jodi. She hears it from Dean, Natalie’s dad. And him leaving her, when they aren’t married, leaves her in a bit of a pickle, financially speaking.
Neither Todd nor Jodi are particularly sympathetic. I kept wanting to throttle them, telling them to use their words, act like grown-ups. Not be assholes. Todd is the primary jerk, but Jodi definitely doesn’t do herself any favors.
I can’t share more without giving away way too much of the plot. But I do think it’s worth a read, especially if picked up at your library.
(There was a sort of shoehorned in story line about possible child abuse that I just didn’t think really fit; otherwise this would have been a four-star book for me.)
Recommend to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it
Fans of mysteries told from a couple of different perspectives.
In a nutshell:
Jodi and Todd have been together for 20 years, though they aren’t married. Todd regularly cheats on Jodi. Todd has gotten his latest paramour, Natalie, pregnant. Natalie is the daughter of one of Todd’s childhood friends, Dean. Events transpire.
Worth quoting:
Really anything Todd from Todd’s perspective was so representative of how I imagine oblivious vaguely misogynistic men think. I could quote him endlessly here, always followed with a giant eye roll.
Why I chose it:
It’d been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years and thought I’d finally read it.
Review:
Ah, this book has one of my favorite storytelling devices: alternating perspectives. Every chapter is from either Jodi or Todd’s voice. They never talk about the same events, so it’s not like we get Saturday night’s perspective from Jodi, followed by Todd’s take on Saturday night. Instead, they alternate each chapter, building on the time line.
Todd is a builder / property investor. Jodi is a psychologist. She never wanted to get married, so they didn’t. They also don’t have children. Then one day Todd is told by his lover Natalie (who is a good 20 years younger than him) that she is pregnant, and she expects that he’ll be leaving his wife and marrying her. And he just sort of … does. Without ever directly telling Jodi. She hears it from Dean, Natalie’s dad. And him leaving her, when they aren’t married, leaves her in a bit of a pickle, financially speaking.
Neither Todd nor Jodi are particularly sympathetic. I kept wanting to throttle them, telling them to use their words, act like grown-ups. Not be assholes. Todd is the primary jerk, but Jodi definitely doesn’t do herself any favors.
I can’t share more without giving away way too much of the plot. But I do think it’s worth a read, especially if picked up at your library.
(There was a sort of shoehorned in story line about possible child abuse that I just didn’t think really fit; otherwise this would have been a four-star book for me.)
Recommend to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it
keidra88's review against another edition
2.0
I struggled to finish the book. I really only finished it because I thought it would get better and was too far in. I wouldn’t classify it a thriller either. I’m not really a thriller-genre reader, but surely this isn’t it.
galvineyezing's review against another edition
3.0
Liked this book...NOTHING like Gone Girl...which is what got me to read it...so...definitely disappointed.
teagan821's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it a lot and I read it pretty quickly. I really like what details Harrison chooses to focus on, and her matter-of-fact tone. I like how she talks about what they're wearing, what they're eating, subtle comments about the seasons, and for some reason she makes it all interesting and not trying too hard to add detail. I liked the way it ended but it was definitely chilling. I would've liked more references Jodi's not-all-there mental state, because clearly, she wasn't.
cheylouis's review against another edition
3.0
Reading The Silent Wife was like being dropped inside the mind of someone in a true crime documentary. The prose was very smart, filled with stunning and vivid imagery. The emotions were raw and real, but the story left much to be desired. I wished for an air of mystery that never came, due to the fact we knew what the characters were thinking all along. However, the psychology of it all, left me with questions I can't answer and I suppose that is the whole point of the book. What is right and what is wrong? Read The Silent Wife to find out.
kimabill's review against another edition
3.0
An oddly compelling book about two completely unlikeable characters whose marriage is falling apart in a big way. The narration alternates between "Him" and "Her" as the story unfolds. The entire time I was reading, I felt really unsettled because it was clear that no one in the book was being completely honest. Both narrators were concealing important bits of information from each other, from themselves, and from the reader. This made the whole story very ominous because I never knew what was lurking around the next page. Was EVERYTHING a lie? Much of the story was pretty far-fetched, and that was a little bit annoying, but soemthing about this one pulled me in.