summerscenario's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
kwentling3's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes I felt like the writing was trying too hard to be writerly, but overall a very captivating & quick read.
lil_owl_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
mtomchek's review against another edition
3.75
"Because as you get older, life sort of eats away at you like battery acid, and all the things you once loved are suddenly harder to find. And when you do find them, you don't have time to enjoy them anymore..."
"Maybe that was what it was like to be a writer: Even with the eyes closed, you could see."
"In life, no one gives you credit for effort."
Really enjoyed Meg Wolitzer's The Wife, it was a feminist outlook on writers themselves, and the struggles faced by female writers specifically. Not my favorite of hers, but enticing, nonetheless. Joan was a tough, almost dry main character that yearned to break from the shell placed upon her. A unique tale that can make one reflect and think about the women authors who have been lost throughout time. Glad to have so many more today.
"Maybe that was what it was like to be a writer: Even with the eyes closed, you could see."
"In life, no one gives you credit for effort."
Really enjoyed Meg Wolitzer's The Wife, it was a feminist outlook on writers themselves, and the struggles faced by female writers specifically. Not my favorite of hers, but enticing, nonetheless. Joan was a tough, almost dry main character that yearned to break from the shell placed upon her. A unique tale that can make one reflect and think about the women authors who have been lost throughout time. Glad to have so many more today.
kindledspiritsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Everyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with Meg Wolitzer and so it’s no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed The Wife. The novel opens on Joan Castleman, the wife of famous novelist John Castleman, as they are flying to Finland so that he can accept a prestigious literary award. While on the plane, Joan resolves to leave her husband and the rest of the novel flashes back over their relationship and the sacrifices Joan has had to make to support her husband and keep their family together. The Wife is full of Wolitzer’s classic eye for detail and incredible ability to make the mundane details of a character’s life come alive.
viksquires's review
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
elliemayxox's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-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
4.0
I adore the irony of the title when so far the book appears to be a biography about Joe Castleman told by an adoring narrator who is the wife. It adds to the idea that her identity, her future and dreams are irrelevant now she is with this man, that she has to get her life fulfilment through him. Now we start to see how her meekness and being sidelined simply for being a woman is leading to resentment.
I'm conflicted about the ending, but to be vague and avoid spoilers, if the ending had been different and been what I thought I wanted then it the point of the book about would maybe have been lost or been less powerful.
It's not the typical kind of book I read but I've given it a higher rating purely because I can appreciate the style of the writing and I think on some level it makes you think strongly about female identity and feminism
I'm conflicted about the ending, but to be vague and avoid spoilers, if the ending had been different and been what I thought I wanted then it the point of the book about would maybe have been lost or been less powerful.
It's not the typical kind of book I read but I've given it a higher rating purely because I can appreciate the style of the writing and I think on some level it makes you think strongly about female identity and feminism
nicolebonia's review against another edition
5.0
“The moment I decided to leave him, the moment I thought enough, we were thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean hurtling forward but giving the illusion of stillness and tranquility.”
Joan Castleman is on an airplane accompanying her husband, writer Joseph Castleman, to Helsinki, Finland where he is being honored with the Helsinki Prize in Literature, one step down from the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he knows that he will not get. Over the next four days, Joan revisits their courtship and the details of her marriage while waiting for the moment when she will end it all with her husband.
I can not even put into words how much I loved this book. The characters were complex and well-drawn, the story was interesting and well-plotted, and the pacing was amazing. And there is a secret, and though that secret (I think) is easily guessed, the unfolding of that secret is a beautiful thing indeed, and is the crux of the novel; how Wolitzer carefully folds, twists and gradually enlarges what we already suspect but are reluctant to say for certain. It was so stunningly well done.
Joan Castleman is so thoughtfully observant and funny in a wry way that I laughed out loud at her commentary, and I felt such an empathy with her ash she looked back on her life and struggled to find and step into herself not that she is well into her middle age and has raised three grown children. Joan’s reflections on herself and on her husband, who is one of those men “who had no idea of how to take care of himself or anyone else, and derived much of his style from The Dylan Thomas Handbook of Personal Hygiene and Etiquette.”, are so funny, and doubly so because they are accurate reflections on life and the types of people we have either heard of or met ourselves.
I loved this book as a character study of a wife finally looking to take back the power that she has been afraid to possess, as a character study marriage and how it grew and changes from the ‘60’s to the present day, as an inside , and because it was a thought provoking and humorous read. I highly recommend it.
Joan Castleman is on an airplane accompanying her husband, writer Joseph Castleman, to Helsinki, Finland where he is being honored with the Helsinki Prize in Literature, one step down from the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he knows that he will not get. Over the next four days, Joan revisits their courtship and the details of her marriage while waiting for the moment when she will end it all with her husband.
I can not even put into words how much I loved this book. The characters were complex and well-drawn, the story was interesting and well-plotted, and the pacing was amazing. And there is a secret, and though that secret (I think) is easily guessed, the unfolding of that secret is a beautiful thing indeed, and is the crux of the novel; how Wolitzer carefully folds, twists and gradually enlarges what we already suspect but are reluctant to say for certain. It was so stunningly well done.
Joan Castleman is so thoughtfully observant and funny in a wry way that I laughed out loud at her commentary, and I felt such an empathy with her ash she looked back on her life and struggled to find and step into herself not that she is well into her middle age and has raised three grown children. Joan’s reflections on herself and on her husband, who is one of those men “who had no idea of how to take care of himself or anyone else, and derived much of his style from The Dylan Thomas Handbook of Personal Hygiene and Etiquette.”, are so funny, and doubly so because they are accurate reflections on life and the types of people we have either heard of or met ourselves.
I loved this book as a character study of a wife finally looking to take back the power that she has been afraid to possess, as a character study marriage and how it grew and changes from the ‘60’s to the present day, as an inside , and because it was a thought provoking and humorous read. I highly recommend it.
dannyaa's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
First book that I read from this author. The way it was written was not my favorite thing, and I knew almost from the beginning what was the "secret". I was happy Joan was going to get divorced from him, but that ending just threw away the whole point of the plot.
ivy_wisteria's review against another edition
reflective
sad
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? Yes
2.0