Marriage | Book Chatter

The Winters in Bloom
By Lisa Tucker
(Atria Books, Hardcover, 9781416575405, September 2011, 288pp.)

The Short of It:

I opened the book and fell right in.

The Rest of It:

Kyra and David are happily married, have a nice home and have stable careers. They live with their son Michael and things could not be more perfect. But in the back of their minds, because of decisions they made in the past, they expect tragedy at every turn and it hits when Michael suddenly vanishes from their backyard.

This is really an amazing book. I know it’s gotten some mixed reviews but if you enjoy dysfunction, let me tell you…this family is about as dysfunctional as you can get. The characters are beautifully flawed and vulnerable. These people have secrets. Secrets that have eaten away at them for years and years. They are burdened with guilt, filled with resentment and yearning for normalcy. Tucker does an amazing job of creating an angst ridden novel without making it depressing. In fact, it’s quite hopeful and I found myself cheering for this family and wanting things to end well for them.

This was my first Lisa Tucker novel. In the past, I avoided her books because they seemed a tad light for me, but this one had plenty of meat on its bones and left me thinking about it long after I finished reading it. All I had to do was open the book, read the first page and immediately I was sucked in. I read this with another blogger and she felt the same way!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains IndieBound affiliate links.

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