Reviews

I Married You for Happiness by Lily Tuck

dcmr's review against another edition

5.0

I am moved by this beautiful book, so skillfully rendered. This is a love story told in elegant stops and starts that mimic memory and grief.

cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition

4.0

Recommended by Susie

Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Si%20married%20you%20for%20happiness%20tuck__Orightresult__U1?lang=eng&suite=pearl

shareh's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

It was a good and quick read. The format was a bit confusing at first but what made it interesting was how it connects to the concept: A woman whose husband recently died and she recalls their past and experiences throughout the relationship. Having a format with different timelines and written in short sentences or paragraphs, it gives you an accurate feel of actually remisniscing random moments that happened. The main character, Nina, was written in a way that it's hard to sympathize her current situation. I did not get the sense of having a character development from any of them. Though, I really liked the husband, Philip; him lecturing about maths, probability, logic, and more gave him a sense of uniqueness and made me more intrigued by him.

I liked it. Majority of the reasons why the story captivated me was the lectures and revelations mentioned as you read. And, generally, the book has an elegance to it that I could not describe through words.

bethpeebles's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

cdhotwing's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

heyyyther's review against another edition

5.0

The kind of book that needs to be read in one sitting. A beautiful collage of love and loss and grief and memory. Overwhelming emotion that feels familiar and also very distant.

emmylib's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

dannb's review against another edition

2.0

Recommended by CML. Not so much....very little about happiness.

stacey987's review against another edition

2.0

As the book begins we realise that the narrator is a very recent widow, having just found her husband dead, and we are hearing her thoughts and reflections upon their marriage and life together. There are no actual chapters, just fairly short paragraphs and page breaks. To begin with, I found this format really interesting; with each paragraph we jump with the narrator to another memory or back to the present. Its not always clear straight away if the current memory is before or after the last, but although at first confusing I felt that it reflected someones mind when they are grieving well with thoughts all over the place, jumping from one memory to the next, going through various emotions, not always making sense etc. However, towards the end of the book I felt that this wasn't working for me anymore as I didn't feel like I had 'got to know' any of the characters very well and despite getting an overview of their many tears together, I felt as though I didn't really know anything about them and that there wasn't really much plot.

I've been left in two minds about this novel. I did find it fairly enjoyable to read and whilst I won't be going out of my way to recommend this to people, I wouldn't tell anyone not to read it either. If you have this book then give it a go, I feel that the author does manage to reflect a grieving mind very well - but if you like a 'plot heavy' book with lots going on then you might find this is not for you.

gracecsmith's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75