Are you feeling anxious? Are you feeling like you might do something crazy? Not like, call-out-of-work-to-watch-Netflix crazy, or start-an-Etsy-business crazy, but like, try to murder your husband because he's taken a lover and you appear like a Normal Well-Adjusted Incredibly Patient and Privileged White Lady crazy?
THEN HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR YOU.
Gone Girl (by Gillian Flynn) has re-inspired and entire genre of "psychological thrillers" in which some incredibly rich, impossibly posh white bitch either thinks her husband is cheating, or wants you to believe her husband is cheating, or finds her husband cheating, and then she may or may not unravel and kill him instead of just taking the kids and moving in with her sister.
This narrative is impossibly boring.
And yet, I binge-listened to another book with the same plot, The Silent Wife, by ASA Harrison. Is this story compelling? No. Is it ground-breaking? No. Is it well written? Not really.
Jodi Brett, allegedly the protagonist, is a boring psychopath. She's incredibly well-educated, and a supportive, doting, bland "wife" who never bothered to fill out legally binding paperwork with her partner. She's a psychologist, or maybe a part-time psychologist, part-time housewife, who very much enjoys her housewife-ly lifestyle, and you know how much she enjoys it based on her luxury high-rise condo overlooking Lake Michigan, her designer brand but very plain clothes described in infuriatingly precise detail, and the relish with which she describes her elaborate bougie food* preparation. She apparently cares very much about her social calendar, very little about helping her few patients (who she sees more of as a hobby than a profession), and is decidedly neutral about her boring partner's non-monogamous sexual proclivities.
*I don't make the rules, serving hors d'oeuvres for your own partner in your own home on a weeknight before dinner makes you bougie. Having the gall to call them canapés makes you bougie. Oysters? Patê? Salmon en croute? Bougie.
Todd (who the fuck is named Todd?) is apparently an incredibly wealthy and well-respected real estate developer. His physical appearance is better-than-average for a middle-aged man, and perhaps the reader is supposed to feel sympathetic for him because he constantly references a previous extended episode of depression. As a depressed person, I can honestly comment that starting the workday by illegally smoking a joint out of my office window sounds great, and scheduling various illicit rendezvous with my half-my-age girlfriend, a bartender, and sex workers sounds awful and exhausting. Mr. Better-than-Average is apparently having a post-depressive-episode mid-life crisis, gets his 20 year old girlfriend pregnant (oh, she's the daughter of his childhood best friend), abruptly leaves his long-time partner and attempts to recoup financial interests held with her, and plans on marrying the girlfriend, to the general distaste of everyone except said girlfriend because she is a maladjusted child (more on that later). Instead, Jodi goes into her own depressive spiral and eventually consults her One True Friend, Allison, who helps her put a hit on her own not-husband. Todd is murdered, Jodi has a psychological break probably caused by the deadly combination of the flu, dehydration, and extreme guilt, and the girlfriend fucks off to her own destiny.
Natasha.
The 20 year-old girlfriend.
She's supposed to be painted as some temptress, some vixen, some inherent evil siren, enticing Jodi's Husband and Making Him Stray. She's obsessed with sex with her boyfriend and the scandalous-ness of being in an extramarital relationship with one of her dad's friends.
Because again, she's 20.
She gets pregnant. There's a bit of speculation as to whether this is purposeful or unintentional (cool, woman as the villain "trapping" some man with a child, not a boring dated problematic trope at all), but with no resolution. Natasha is incredibly demanding, especially of Todd the Known Cheater's time.
Because again, she's 20. And now pregnant.
Todd makes no bones about demonizing her for being demanding and controlling, despite his own demanding, controlling, horndog behavior. Natasha is generally shitty at life (because 20), jealous of Jodi (who Todd still sleeps with on at least one occasion), pregnant, and has no support from her family (because extramarital relationship with dad's friend).
The most interesting character in the book, the only character I developed any more than a passing interest, is Allison. She's a club owner or maybe an exotic dancer or a sex worker or a waitress? Jodi never really expounds on what Allison's job exactly *is*, and that is probably because Jodi can't be assed to care about other people, especially people who love her and take care of her. Allison has a string of lovers, cares deeply about the goings-on of the club/restaurant/whatever she's involved in, and tries to fix problems for people. So, when Jodi is hurting and about to be left high and dry by Todd the Scumbag, she makes a few phone calls and sorts out a plan.
She's Mary-Ann from Goodbye Earl. She's the Louise to Jodi's Thelma.
She accepts a Louis Vuitton briefcase (we wouldn't think less of you if it were just a fucking bag, Jodi) stuffed to the gills with cash, enlists the help of her ex-lover, Remy, and has Todd murdered in traffic in the Chicago lunch rush by two mopes.
Allison disappears into the wind.
Natasha is 20 and unmarried and pregnant and her dad is in prison because Allison and Remy somehow framed him for Todd's murder and her boyfriend just died but also he was cheating on his longtime partner so how sorry can you really feel for her?
Jodi is hospitalized for cutting all her hair off and letting herself get dehydrated and almost die and she reveals that she has always been closer to her little brother than her older brother because he sexually abused them when they were children. This is apparently an explanation for why she's so unfeeling and "silent". Todd's lawyer eventually re-buddy-buddies up with her so she can continue her brand-name croquette-eating lifestyle.
More than a "thriller", this book is exactly what you would expect. A scorned lover gets revenge, a cheater is punished, a young woman making bad decisions has to suffer the repercussions of her actions. Is the lifestyle porn (ala 50 Shades of Grey) the thrilling part? Is it that Jodi puts a hit on Todd? Is it that Todd starts dressing like an idiot hipster when he moves in with Natasha? Is it that Natasha is emotionally immature? The Silent Wife is worthwhile if you don't want to follow a strong plot or feel incredibly compelled by the characters, their actions, their inner workings. It's solid if you're doing yard work, but I wouldn't actively spend money on it.
I'm sure I wanted to make a point about lifestyle porn and late stage capitalism, but for now, I don't care if Jodi's driving an Audi, I just want someone to tell me what happened to Allison.
THEN HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR YOU.
Gone Girl (by Gillian Flynn) has re-inspired and entire genre of "psychological thrillers" in which some incredibly rich, impossibly posh white bitch either thinks her husband is cheating, or wants you to believe her husband is cheating, or finds her husband cheating, and then she may or may not unravel and kill him instead of just taking the kids and moving in with her sister.
This narrative is impossibly boring.
And yet, I binge-listened to another book with the same plot, The Silent Wife, by ASA Harrison. Is this story compelling? No. Is it ground-breaking? No. Is it well written? Not really.
Jodi Brett, allegedly the protagonist, is a boring psychopath. She's incredibly well-educated, and a supportive, doting, bland "wife" who never bothered to fill out legally binding paperwork with her partner. She's a psychologist, or maybe a part-time psychologist, part-time housewife, who very much enjoys her housewife-ly lifestyle, and you know how much she enjoys it based on her luxury high-rise condo overlooking Lake Michigan, her designer brand but very plain clothes described in infuriatingly precise detail, and the relish with which she describes her elaborate bougie food* preparation. She apparently cares very much about her social calendar, very little about helping her few patients (who she sees more of as a hobby than a profession), and is decidedly neutral about her boring partner's non-monogamous sexual proclivities.
*I don't make the rules, serving hors d'oeuvres for your own partner in your own home on a weeknight before dinner makes you bougie. Having the gall to call them canapés makes you bougie. Oysters? Patê? Salmon en croute? Bougie.
Todd (who the fuck is named Todd?) is apparently an incredibly wealthy and well-respected real estate developer. His physical appearance is better-than-average for a middle-aged man, and perhaps the reader is supposed to feel sympathetic for him because he constantly references a previous extended episode of depression. As a depressed person, I can honestly comment that starting the workday by illegally smoking a joint out of my office window sounds great, and scheduling various illicit rendezvous with my half-my-age girlfriend, a bartender, and sex workers sounds awful and exhausting. Mr. Better-than-Average is apparently having a post-depressive-episode mid-life crisis, gets his 20 year old girlfriend pregnant (oh, she's the daughter of his childhood best friend), abruptly leaves his long-time partner and attempts to recoup financial interests held with her, and plans on marrying the girlfriend, to the general distaste of everyone except said girlfriend because she is a maladjusted child (more on that later). Instead, Jodi goes into her own depressive spiral and eventually consults her One True Friend, Allison, who helps her put a hit on her own not-husband. Todd is murdered, Jodi has a psychological break probably caused by the deadly combination of the flu, dehydration, and extreme guilt, and the girlfriend fucks off to her own destiny.
Natasha.
The 20 year-old girlfriend.
She's supposed to be painted as some temptress, some vixen, some inherent evil siren, enticing Jodi's Husband and Making Him Stray. She's obsessed with sex with her boyfriend and the scandalous-ness of being in an extramarital relationship with one of her dad's friends.
Because again, she's 20.
She gets pregnant. There's a bit of speculation as to whether this is purposeful or unintentional (cool, woman as the villain "trapping" some man with a child, not a boring dated problematic trope at all), but with no resolution. Natasha is incredibly demanding, especially of Todd the Known Cheater's time.
Because again, she's 20. And now pregnant.
Todd makes no bones about demonizing her for being demanding and controlling, despite his own demanding, controlling, horndog behavior. Natasha is generally shitty at life (because 20), jealous of Jodi (who Todd still sleeps with on at least one occasion), pregnant, and has no support from her family (because extramarital relationship with dad's friend).
The most interesting character in the book, the only character I developed any more than a passing interest, is Allison. She's a club owner or maybe an exotic dancer or a sex worker or a waitress? Jodi never really expounds on what Allison's job exactly *is*, and that is probably because Jodi can't be assed to care about other people, especially people who love her and take care of her. Allison has a string of lovers, cares deeply about the goings-on of the club/restaurant/whatever she's involved in, and tries to fix problems for people. So, when Jodi is hurting and about to be left high and dry by Todd the Scumbag, she makes a few phone calls and sorts out a plan.
She's Mary-Ann from Goodbye Earl. She's the Louise to Jodi's Thelma.
She accepts a Louis Vuitton briefcase (we wouldn't think less of you if it were just a fucking bag, Jodi) stuffed to the gills with cash, enlists the help of her ex-lover, Remy, and has Todd murdered in traffic in the Chicago lunch rush by two mopes.
Allison disappears into the wind.
Natasha is 20 and unmarried and pregnant and her dad is in prison because Allison and Remy somehow framed him for Todd's murder and her boyfriend just died but also he was cheating on his longtime partner so how sorry can you really feel for her?
Jodi is hospitalized for cutting all her hair off and letting herself get dehydrated and almost die and she reveals that she has always been closer to her little brother than her older brother because he sexually abused them when they were children. This is apparently an explanation for why she's so unfeeling and "silent". Todd's lawyer eventually re-buddy-buddies up with her so she can continue her brand-name croquette-eating lifestyle.
More than a "thriller", this book is exactly what you would expect. A scorned lover gets revenge, a cheater is punished, a young woman making bad decisions has to suffer the repercussions of her actions. Is the lifestyle porn (ala 50 Shades of Grey) the thrilling part? Is it that Jodi puts a hit on Todd? Is it that Todd starts dressing like an idiot hipster when he moves in with Natasha? Is it that Natasha is emotionally immature? The Silent Wife is worthwhile if you don't want to follow a strong plot or feel incredibly compelled by the characters, their actions, their inner workings. It's solid if you're doing yard work, but I wouldn't actively spend money on it.
I'm sure I wanted to make a point about lifestyle porn and late stage capitalism, but for now, I don't care if Jodi's driving an Audi, I just want someone to tell me what happened to Allison.
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