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A review by mikes_
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
3.5
Ordinary People is a pragmatic piece of work that centers itself on the expenditure of love. This is a story that explores the difficulties of love and how it bends and breaks with time. In this story, we follow our primary couple, Melissa and Michael, and the endlessly complicated dynamics of their partnership and, well, love. We also follow their good friends and a married couple, Stephanie and Damian.
The storyline mainly focuses on Melissa's faltering affection for Michael and the constant deliberation in her mind about their domestic shared life, which seemed to ignite when children entered the picture. We follow her everyday life, including its joys and struggles as a mother, as she navigates taking care of the house and her two children, which, in time, became a lonely situation as she also learned how their differences started to pose a deep barrier to her relationship with Michael. We watch how the story unravels the moments that consumed her affection for Michael and transformed it into a longing, resentful kind. This book is also quite reflective of the role of marriage and sheds light on how love in partnerships, even past the point of negotiation and skepticism, can still feel fragile and solitary in time. There's this reflective exchange that also feels like a mirror to all the dialogue happening in this book, wherein Stephanie says, “We all are, aren’t we? We’re all different from who we started as. I would hope so anyway," and then by Melissa saying, "Or are we just the same? I think we’re static inside. It’s deviation from this static state that causes pain and friction."
This book further examines how children transform the love between two people and how sometimes they fail to make space for it and drift apart. The depiction of the work done by Melissa and Stephanie to consider their partners beyond understanding is well-intentioned and made me more immersed in the characters. It also opens up sentiments about fidelity and its opposite.
Michael and Damian's intrusive thoughts that swirl around the idea of finding another life wherein they could be a ‘bachelor’ again felt provoking. Why is it a harsh reality that men have a choice about whether they want to be fathers or not? That they could just run from the responsibility and have a better chance of a clean slate? Women, on the other hand, do not have the same power, for they will be painted as evil just by the idea of not facing the consequences they led to themselves. Women do not get the same privilege to have a 'break'. After all, equal partnership has always been an illusory concept.
The writing skills are commendable, but some parts felt too convoluted to process or weave into the storyline. The secondary characters, Damian and Stephanie, felt underdeveloped and left me with more questions than answers. I recommend this book, for there are so many important topics to unpack here and a variety of insights to speculate on and gain from this story. I may need to revisit this book in the future, and I have this need to dissect all the excerpts I got from it.
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𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 3.5 stars ★
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𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨/𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: (just some)
“It was hard, she found, blending with someone in this way, no longer walking alone, and taking these differences into your mind. It made her feel cluttered inside. She did not want to blend. She did not want to be two. Yet she wanted Michael, or the part of Michael that was the same as her.”
“Truth is the only foundation for broken things, as earth is the only foundation for the rebuilding of a house. Go home. Go home to your house and tell your woman what you have done, and whatever happens, however she responds, take it as it is, be prepared for anything. Let avalanching stones fall down on your shoulders. Let lava flow. It’s the least you can do.”
“The greatest challenge in life is not to die before we die. I read that somewhere. It happens to a lot of people. I think it’s happening to me.”
“The evening passed, the next day came, and things went on as normal. If you entertain and act on every impulse that passes through your mind, went his line of reasoning, you will find yourself in chaos. Hold on to the things that bind you. The self is a doomed and wayward creature. It can be neglected and this will not kill you, at least not in every way.”
The storyline mainly focuses on Melissa's faltering affection for Michael and the constant deliberation in her mind about their domestic shared life, which seemed to ignite when children entered the picture. We follow her everyday life, including its joys and struggles as a mother, as she navigates taking care of the house and her two children, which, in time, became a lonely situation as she also learned how their differences started to pose a deep barrier to her relationship with Michael. We watch how the story unravels the moments that consumed her affection for Michael and transformed it into a longing, resentful kind. This book is also quite reflective of the role of marriage and sheds light on how love in partnerships, even past the point of negotiation and skepticism, can still feel fragile and solitary in time. There's this reflective exchange that also feels like a mirror to all the dialogue happening in this book, wherein Stephanie says, “We all are, aren’t we? We’re all different from who we started as. I would hope so anyway," and then by Melissa saying, "Or are we just the same? I think we’re static inside. It’s deviation from this static state that causes pain and friction."
This book further examines how children transform the love between two people and how sometimes they fail to make space for it and drift apart. The depiction of the work done by Melissa and Stephanie to consider their partners beyond understanding is well-intentioned and made me more immersed in the characters. It also opens up sentiments about fidelity and its opposite.
Michael and Damian's intrusive thoughts that swirl around the idea of finding another life wherein they could be a ‘bachelor’ again felt provoking. Why is it a harsh reality that men have a choice about whether they want to be fathers or not? That they could just run from the responsibility and have a better chance of a clean slate? Women, on the other hand, do not have the same power, for they will be painted as evil just by the idea of not facing the consequences they led to themselves. Women do not get the same privilege to have a 'break'. After all, equal partnership has always been an illusory concept.
The writing skills are commendable, but some parts felt too convoluted to process or weave into the storyline. The secondary characters, Damian and Stephanie, felt underdeveloped and left me with more questions than answers. I recommend this book, for there are so many important topics to unpack here and a variety of insights to speculate on and gain from this story. I may need to revisit this book in the future, and I have this need to dissect all the excerpts I got from it.
____________________
𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 3.5 stars ★
____________________
𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨/𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: (just some)
“It was hard, she found, blending with someone in this way, no longer walking alone, and taking these differences into your mind. It made her feel cluttered inside. She did not want to blend. She did not want to be two. Yet she wanted Michael, or the part of Michael that was the same as her.”
“Truth is the only foundation for broken things, as earth is the only foundation for the rebuilding of a house. Go home. Go home to your house and tell your woman what you have done, and whatever happens, however she responds, take it as it is, be prepared for anything. Let avalanching stones fall down on your shoulders. Let lava flow. It’s the least you can do.”
“The greatest challenge in life is not to die before we die. I read that somewhere. It happens to a lot of people. I think it’s happening to me.”
“The evening passed, the next day came, and things went on as normal. If you entertain and act on every impulse that passes through your mind, went his line of reasoning, you will find yourself in chaos. Hold on to the things that bind you. The self is a doomed and wayward creature. It can be neglected and this will not kill you, at least not in every way.”