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rembrandt1881's review against another edition
3.0
The blurb and the nomination for novel of the year got me to read this. First things first, I'm not the target audience for this novel and to an extent it colors my perception of this book.
For me it starts off really slowly, I was terribly just bored for the first three or four chapters as I awaited the story to really take off. Once it finally got started I was into it at times. The mystery was there and there was a good amount of tension in what the story could be for a while. However for me there were moments of rambling and meandering. I chalk that up to this style of book not being for me in particular even though there were some mystery elements that I like.
About this main character, for me I like stories with more 'normal' people in wild situations although most of the time they are seemingly more competent and figure things out easier. Now, I will say I think there are reasons for this that the story will reveal but I didn't like it.
The story did have me guessing which way it would go and I think my penchant towards certain protagonists turns me off from the novel overall. The ending is what it is and at the end of the day I felt slightly let down in the direction that it actually took.
For me it starts off really slowly, I was terribly just bored for the first three or four chapters as I awaited the story to really take off. Once it finally got started I was into it at times. The mystery was there and there was a good amount of tension in what the story could be for a while. However for me there were moments of rambling and meandering. I chalk that up to this style of book not being for me in particular even though there were some mystery elements that I like.
About this main character, for me I like stories with more 'normal' people in wild situations although most of the time they are seemingly more competent and figure things out easier. Now, I will say I think there are reasons for this that the story will reveal but I didn't like it.
The story did have me guessing which way it would go and I think my penchant towards certain protagonists turns me off from the novel overall. The ending is what it is and at the end of the day I felt slightly let down in the direction that it actually took.
vlc91199's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Lots of twists!
gillianw's review against another edition
2.0
I had high hopes this would be the type of book where women band together after finding out their husband/lover/ex is a conniving, sociopathic con man. And until the end that’s what I was rooting for. Instead I got the crazy ex-girlfriend/ex-wife kind of story men tell each other all the time to cover up past bad behaviour. It was gross and disappointing.
drjamila's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jacyrenee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
ambrose_7's review against another edition
4.0
The Wives is a book that is understandably thriving for the same reason Gone Girl is. You get an action-packed thriller with feminist overtones (undertones being too light a word.) It delivers twists and turns a-plenty and is centered around strong characters and themes.
I put this on my TBR after a glowing review I heard of it on YouTube, it lived up to expectations. It's a genre of book I can only read once in a while. But I feel I get a lot emotionally and socially when I read books with worldviews very different than what I experience. I know this book is packaged as a thriller, but I found the social commentary to be what I was paying attention to. Fisher says in a Q&A listed in the back of the book that this was purposely made to be an allegory for the force-feeding of women into patriarchy. I got that vibe while reading, this is an angry book. A book that's a combination of stories of women's suffering and how much it takes to push someone over the edge. It also got me thinking yet again of craziness, the fragility of the human mind, and how easy it is to become a new person.
Was the ending necessary? I don't know, I don't hate it. I just didn't get why it was relevant. Nailed the shock factor for me, after the last couple of paragraphs I had a good laugh. I just wasn't expecting it.
(ATY #47)
I put this on my TBR after a glowing review I heard of it on YouTube, it lived up to expectations. It's a genre of book I can only read once in a while. But I feel I get a lot emotionally and socially when I read books with worldviews very different than what I experience. I know this book is packaged as a thriller, but I found the social commentary to be what I was paying attention to. Fisher says in a Q&A listed in the back of the book that this was purposely made to be an allegory for the force-feeding of women into patriarchy. I got that vibe while reading, this is an angry book. A book that's a combination of stories of women's suffering and how much it takes to push someone over the edge. It also got me thinking yet again of craziness, the fragility of the human mind, and how easy it is to become a new person.
Was the ending necessary? I don't know, I don't hate it. I just didn't get why it was relevant. Nailed the shock factor for me, after the last couple of paragraphs I had a good laugh. I just wasn't expecting it.
(ATY #47)
brooklyneden's review against another edition
Poorly written, didn’t pull me in. Bad reviews cemented it
yolieca's review against another edition
0.5
Readable, sure
But I hated this
I hate mental illness as plot twist and I thought this was pretty irresponsible
But I hated this
I hate mental illness as plot twist and I thought this was pretty irresponsible