Goodreads Description
This was a book that had languished on my shelves for several years. I've been reading lots of contemporary relationship-based novels lately, so decided to squeeze this one in. For some reason, I wasn't expecting anything original...especially with the premise of a husband running away with a babysitter.
I appreciated how my expectations were exceeded a little. Eve, the wife left behind, is realistically forced to get on with life in order to pay bills and keep the family intact. While Eve is obviously distraught, the novel doesn't get bogged down in this event, even though it's the "crux" of the story. We get to hear about her career, and the impact she makes as a nutritionist. Her clients are fully fleshed out, and not relegated to one dimensional side characters. Eve has an existence and defined purpose outside of wife and motherhood. How nice to see this highlighted in a positive way, even with her emotional struggles.
There were a couple problems.While I am a huge exercise advocate, and try my best with healthy foods, I found the "health preaching" a little overdone. There were random tips and bits of what Eve was eating (while not with clients) that felt out of place in the context of what was happening in the current scene. I got a bit tired of hearing from her husband's perspective, even though he needed page time in order to make the novel sensical. I wanted to sympathize with him more, but felt he was mostly a huge baby, when what he needed was more of a swift kick in the nether region. However, anyone in a relationship is familiar with ebbs and flows, and perhaps this highlights my vengeful personality:-P
I did appreciate Hanauer's stance on medication, which is one I share. Prescription drug abuse and needless medicines aside, I do think medication is necessary in many instances. Meditation, prayer, lifestyle changes, and "trying" go a long way, but if God created Doctors, Nurses, and Researchers and gave them the ability to give us a pill a day with minimal side effects, but also the ability to recover joy....why not?
As in any book featuring children, I try to relate to the parent's current dilemma. In this, Eve talks about her eight year old son's changing skin smell when she hugs him. Perhaps this sounds odd, but I love smelling my little girls in the nape of their necks- sweet and fresh smelling, like only youth can have before puberty. "He came over and embraced her, and she breathed in his smell, sweet and familiar, though also tinged, she'd noticed lately, with something new: a touch of pungency, a lessening of the sweetness." (Pg. 165). I can't bear to think about this happening, even though I know it's inevitable.
Did it change my life? No, but I think this is a decent portrait of a troubled marriage...especially years into a union where priorities shift, people change, and things need adjusting in general- because life is STRESSFUL. There are some beautiful phrases thrown in as a bonus to any poetry lovers as well.
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