Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Wellness

I really enjoyed this. I was a bit intimidated by the length but I was hooked early, and I’m very glad I picked it up. Wellness follows Jack and Elizabeth, a straight couple who meet and fall in love as college students in Chicago in the early 90s, each having just escaped their trauma-filled pasts and crappy parents. We get their origin story and then it jumps twenty years in the future as they’re raising a young son and experiencing some marital trouble. Throughout the novel we go back and forth in time to reveal more and more relevant information about their respective careers and upbringings: Jack is an artist and adjunct professor hiding a particularly traumatic event from his childhood and Elizabeth is a research scientist interested in the power of belief and placebo effects who operates in a ethical gray area and tries to distance herself as much as she can from her wealthy and perfectionist family tree.

The novel takes some interesting risks with style and storytelling that I really liked. It also isn’t always totally clear what it’s about, or at least it definitely doesn’t go where you as the reader think it will. It’s surprising and emotional and an intriguing read. I particularly liked the descriptions of Elizabeth’s career and of Jack’s childhood. I do think
Jack is a more sympathetic character, but I don’t know if that’s just because I personally relate more to his way of thinking and relating to his wife (and the world). I liked that we got both perspectives and that many other characters helped fill out the world. Somehow, after 19 hours on audio, I still felt like the ending was a bit rushed and unsatisfying (I wanted more!) and I’m not totally sure what to take away from this tale, but I know I’ll be thinking about it for a while longer and I’m really glad I read it. Recommend!!

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mercerhanau's review

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emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tessleslie's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I know it’s barely February but this might be my favorite book of 2024??? Def in my all-time top.

This book was the perfect combination of funny, emotional, and existential for me. It’s about college sweethearts from the ‘90s navigating their marriage 15 years later — dealing with raising a kid, parents obsessed with internet conspiracies and wellness fads, and questioning the concept of “completing each other” (and the resulting pressure they put on each other.) ultimately, it was also about coming to terms with defining what is the “truth” and how we create our own perceived reality. It was just really, really beautiful and poignant.

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katiej's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A deep look into the human condition and what it means to live in a society that is so hung up on what we see online. Wellness highlights how much we crave to be like everyone else and are obsessed with what everyone thinks about us but by doing this we are neglecting who we truly are and the real connections around us. Real life is hard and complicated, love and relationships are hard and complicated, parenting is hard and complicated but everyone is weathering the same storms but we are all in completely separate vessels.

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