Reviews

A predictable storyline, with quite a lot of frustration with the main character. No character was likeable, all awful in their own way. An interesting perspective of 2nd wave feminism, but frustrating non the less. I almost blanked out the very ending, but don't actually want to return to it.

katie_killebrew's review against another edition

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5.0

This was my first Meg Wolitzer novel and I look forward to more! A perceptive look at gender roles in the mid-twentieth century and what women sacrificed when they married. (Perhaps not as different now in the twenty-first century as we would hope.)
Her observation about how even wives need a wife is wonderful:
“Everyone needs a wife; even *wives* need wives. Wives tend, they hover. Their ears are twin sensitive instruments, satellites picking up the slightest scrape of dissatisfaction. Wives bring broth, we bring paper clips, we bring ourselves and our pliant, warm bodies. We know just what to say to the men who for some reason have a great deal of trouble taking consistent care of themselves or anyone else.
‘Listen,’ we say. ‘Everything will be okay.’
And then, as if our lives depend on it, we make sure it is.”

tobesmagobes's review against another edition

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5.0

Shocking, as her novel Belzhar is the lowest rated novel I’ve finished on Goodreads, but I loved this. Prose can get repetitive, plot was predictable, but the characters were so well drawn. 4.5 stars.

jimio's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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