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jaclynday's review
3.0
If you go into this expecting it to be suspenseful, with the type of twists and turns reminiscent of Gone Girl, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The publicists for this book seem to have marketed it as such and that’s too bad. The book can stand alone without needing to link it to best-selling books in a genre it doesn’t even really belong in. Instead, The Daylight Marriage is about regret and introspection: the small and large decisions that shape who we are. It’s not a fast read. We are mostly seeing the world through Lovell’s eyes, and he’s not a fast-paced guy. He’s doing a lot of deep thinking much of the time–about his wife and their marriage and how they met and how it ended up. It’s short and well-edited. It’s easier to write a Gone Girl-type book, I think. A book filled with drama and wild twists. It’s harder to get this kind of book to work. The quiet drama of life is much more difficult to write, I’d imagine. Pitlor has done a good job.
terrimpin's review against another edition
1.0
This book was so awful. I felt absolutely nothing while reading this. I guess I was supposed to actually care about either character, but I felt nothing even with the "twist" ending. In fact, the characters were so bland and nondescript that I still can't form a decent image of what any of them were supposed to really look like. Apparently, Lovell was supposed to have some anger issues, or at least that's what the other characters tended to imply, but all I got from him was mild irritation. Hannah was just a cliché spoiled, disillusioned housewife. It had all the makings of a discount Gone Girl story until the ending, which was so lacking in suspense and emotion that I literally did not care.
The only character that was really memorable for me (and not in a good way) was Lovell and Hannah's truly obnoxious fifteen-year-old daughter, Janine, who was the physical embodiment of cringe. She sulked around spouting "snappy" retorts to her father, calling him "bitch" to which he barely even had a reaction. She did pretty much whatever she wanted with no repercussions. One of the worst moments was when she showed up with her head shaved bald and said something along the lines of "Can't handle that I don't fit your idea of what a girl should look like?". I mean, who speaks that way? Seriously?
Even with the flashbacks, I did not understand why Lovell and Hannah got married. Lovell was a shitty father (barely knew anything about his kids) and a shitty husband (couldn't hold a mature discussion with his wife or take interest in her life) and a boring person. All he wanted to do was talk about his weather studies, and while Hannah's lack of interest in his field was a bit depressing due to her public insults against him, he seemed to have the belief that everyone should care about his work and when other characters didn't they were portrayed as heartless. Sorry but not everyone cares about your niche academic field.
All I wanted was suspense and mystery, and barely got that.
The only character that was really memorable for me (and not in a good way) was Lovell and Hannah's truly obnoxious fifteen-year-old daughter, Janine, who was the physical embodiment of cringe. She sulked around spouting "snappy" retorts to her father, calling him "bitch" to which he barely even had a reaction. She did pretty much whatever she wanted with no repercussions. One of the worst moments was when she showed up with her head shaved bald and said something along the lines of "Can't handle that I don't fit your idea of what a girl should look like?". I mean, who speaks that way? Seriously?
Even with the flashbacks, I did not understand why Lovell and Hannah got married. Lovell was a shitty father (barely knew anything about his kids) and a shitty husband (couldn't hold a mature discussion with his wife or take interest in her life) and a boring person. All he wanted to do was talk about his weather studies, and while Hannah's lack of interest in his field was a bit depressing due to her public insults against him, he seemed to have the belief that everyone should care about his work and when other characters didn't they were portrayed as heartless. Sorry but not everyone cares about your niche academic field.
All I wanted was suspense and mystery, and barely got that.
shelleyrae's review
2.0
Just an okay read for me. I didn't care much for either Hannah or Lovell, and found the details of their middle class marriage woes rather tedious. I was sufficently intrigued by the mystery surrounding Hannah's fate to keep reading though and thought the resolution was quite original.
k_b00kish's review
2.0
Story centering around an unhappy couple who have an untimely fight before the wife mysteriously disappears. Would potentially appeal to readers who liked Gone Girl
jessdonaldson84's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.0
solson1974's review against another edition
2.0
This book wasn't bad--it just wasn't good. The characters didn't capture me and there was no surprise at all in what happened. I would skip it.
fuzzywuzzy's review
4.0
I really love her writing style. She makes it easy to keep turning the pages.
lawyergobblesbooks's review
4.0
Extremely good. If Gone Girl had been well-written and not kinda ridiculous, it would be this book...and I hate to compare it to GG but now every disappeared wife book has to be...
niaforrester's review
5.0
Such a wonderful haunting book about love, loss, hopes, dreams and unmet expectations. Wonderful "quiet" prose. A memorable read, but definitely not for everyone. More character than plot, more introspection than dialogue and a leisurely, sometimes meandering rhythm. But I was fulfilled when it was done.
amymaddess's review against another edition
3.0
- Quick glimpse into every spouse’s nightmare
- Before reading this, I had been wanting other books to be this short, because the ones I had been reading had way too much detail. I was glad when I saw this page count. However, now I see why detail can sometimes be good. Although there is nothing that I can think of that I would specifically add, I still will think twice before I complain about detail next time. I don’t want to go as far as to say that something was missing from this novel, because I feel like that would discredit how honestly I did enjoy it. There are a few parts that I feel like were lacking in detail or character insight, or that I would have liked to see filled out. But, these things that were left out also added to an endearing sense of writing style. I’m torn about whether I would change it.
- The plot seemed to be somewhat lacking in climax. I’m not sure if this added to a sense of mystery, or if it brought the book down. I’m very curious about the author’s goals when writing this story.
- Good display of the ups and downs in marriage
- Almost a ‘Gone Girl’ feeling when we’re wondering whether or not the husband was involved in his wife’s disappearance. I wanted the murder to have more significance, so maybe I was just hoping for a Flynn-like turn.
- Alluded to the marriage being bad, and to exes’ appearances that didn’t amount to anything.
- Felt very fleeting but also felt like that may have been the point
- Great final scene that shows so much potential that it makes me wish the writer went back and re-wrote everything with this seemingly newfound talent
- Before reading this, I had been wanting other books to be this short, because the ones I had been reading had way too much detail. I was glad when I saw this page count. However, now I see why detail can sometimes be good. Although there is nothing that I can think of that I would specifically add, I still will think twice before I complain about detail next time. I don’t want to go as far as to say that something was missing from this novel, because I feel like that would discredit how honestly I did enjoy it. There are a few parts that I feel like were lacking in detail or character insight, or that I would have liked to see filled out. But, these things that were left out also added to an endearing sense of writing style. I’m torn about whether I would change it.
- The plot seemed to be somewhat lacking in climax. I’m not sure if this added to a sense of mystery, or if it brought the book down. I’m very curious about the author’s goals when writing this story.
- Good display of the ups and downs in marriage
- Almost a ‘Gone Girl’ feeling when we’re wondering whether or not the husband was involved in his wife’s disappearance. I wanted the murder to have more significance, so maybe I was just hoping for a Flynn-like turn.
- Alluded to the marriage being bad, and to exes’ appearances that didn’t amount to anything.
- Felt very fleeting but also felt like that may have been the point
- Great final scene that shows so much potential that it makes me wish the writer went back and re-wrote everything with this seemingly newfound talent