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A Reliable Wife
By Robert Goolrick
(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Paperback, 9781565129771, January 2010, 305pp.)

The Short of It:

There is a grittiness to this story that gets into the folds of your clothes and reminds you at every turn that these people are not what they appear to be.

The Rest of It:

Ralph Truitt is a simple man, looking for an honest woman. He places an ad in the paper for a reliable wife and what he gets in return, is Catherine Land.

Ralph and Catherine, seemingly proper, are anything but. Deep down, each possess desires and wants that the other is at first, unaware of. They assume their roles without too much fuss but what Goolrick does next is strip them bare. In just a few pages, you quickly realize that these characters are more like animals than human beings. They become creatures… conniving, desperate creatures hunting for the one thing they believe can make them whole again.

This book is wrought with sexual frustration and desire. Catherine’s every move flames Ralph’s desire for her and let me tell you, frigid, she is not! Except, she has some secrets and then things get really bad for Ralph. During this dark moment in time though, Catherine and Ralph seem to evolve into something else and throughout all of it, the book is literally glued to your hands.

I could not put this book down. Catherine and Ralph fascinated me to no end. Did I tire of the endless sexual tension? Not really. I think in the hands of another writer, I would have been turned off by its relentlessness, but in Goolrick’s hands I found myself completely taken with the characters and curious about what makes them tick.

It’s not a bodice ripper, but it sort of is. It’s not a psychological thriller, but it could be. It’s multifaceted and complex and like its characters, this story could be many things. I loved this aspect of it. And the fact that I could relate to these characters, was even more surprising. Considering I’ve never quite met a character like Catherine…although she did remind me a little of Cathy from East of Eden. Notice the similarity in names? Coincidence? Maybe.

I feel quite silly for not having read this book sooner. If you have it, pull it out and read it and if you don’t, get a copy soon because I’d love to discuss it with you.

Source: Purchased

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Annabel
By Kathleen Winter
(Grove Press, Black Cat, Paperback, 9780802170828, January 2011, 480pp.)

The Short of It:

Annabel is incredibly moving. It will touch you, and steal your heart.

The Rest of It:

The story is simple. In a small seaside town, a baby is born a hermaphrodite. Jacinta and Treadway must decide how to raise the child. Should they raise a boy, or a girl? As Jacinta holds her baby, she knows deep down, that the baby is a girl; a beautiful daughter whom she feels a deep connection to. But Treadway has always wanted a son, and so the child is named Wayne and raised as a boy. Although this goes against everything Jacinta believes the world to be, she does not voice her feelings and goes along with it.

Jacinta’s close friend, Thomasina, also the women who helped bring Wayne into the world, knows that the child will have a complicated life down the line. These decisions are never easy ones to make, and although Wayne’s parents love him dearly, Thomasina also looks out for him, and supports him in ways his own parents can’t. Wayne’s parents do not clue him in to what’s going on with his body. It’s after it becomes medically necessary, that he finds out and it’s not even his parents who explain it to him. It’s their dear friend, Thomasina.

Wayne’s struggle to find himself is so painful at times, that I just wanted to reach into the book and give him a hug. Each character is so vividly drawn and deeply complex and wonderful in their own way. The parents are good parents. Treadway is distant as a father, but he loves his son and he has a deep sense of duty to his family. The decisions he makes, are (in his mind) for the good of the family. I cried for Jacinta. She knew from the moment she held that baby that Wayne should have been Annabel, named after Thomasina’s daughter who died with her father in a hunting accident.

What I truly appreciate, is that Winter does not shy away from the tough topics. Wayne’s upbringing affects the family as a whole, but each member of that family quietly falls apart before they become whole again. Nature vs. Nurture is a huge theme here and you see the devastating effects of both. But what makes this a very hopeful story, are the good friends Wayne meets along the way and the fact that his parents love him. The love they provide is what holds him up.

I loved this book. I adored it. My moods continued to shift as I read it and it wasn’t until the end that I began to breathe easy again. Annabel is everything that a good book should be and it’s a book that everyone should read and discuss.

Source: Borrowed