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ablotial's review
3.0
This book was... meh. I was intrigued by the blurb on the back, telling how the character had noticed that love and houses seem to correspond: when a couple begins searching for a new home because they feel like they need a change, this is usually a sign of the marriage falling apart. Of course, not if they are looking for a home because they have had a new child and need more space, or a child moved out and they need less, or they got a job transfer or something. But they just want a change of house/scenery. She also said "Marry in a bad market, divorce in a good one" -> ie, buy a cheap house for yourselves when you get married, and you can sell it for a lot more when you divorce.
I found the concept interesting. Sadly, I didn't feel like it got that much attention throughout this novel. Sure, she threw in a few things here and there about houses. But most of the references felt like they were very contrived - just put in there because she suddenly realized she hadn't said much about houses and didn't want to change the title.
Instead, the story was mostly the story of the main character, who is 7 months pregnant at the beginning of the novel, and her husband, who runs out on her shortly after the book begins. It's the story of how she reacts, why he did what he did, etc. Her talking to her friends, her friends talking to him... Parts of it were pretty good, and there were a lot of meaningful, quotable lines in the book. But overall... wasn't too exciting. And the ending pissed me off. And it didn't have much to do with houses except the main character liked them and liked to decorate and knew a lot about stuff like chimney cleaning and floor oiling. But nothing about how it corresponds to relationships, except I guess you have to put a lot of effort into both.
I found the concept interesting. Sadly, I didn't feel like it got that much attention throughout this novel. Sure, she threw in a few things here and there about houses. But most of the references felt like they were very contrived - just put in there because she suddenly realized she hadn't said much about houses and didn't want to change the title.
Instead, the story was mostly the story of the main character, who is 7 months pregnant at the beginning of the novel, and her husband, who runs out on her shortly after the book begins. It's the story of how she reacts, why he did what he did, etc. Her talking to her friends, her friends talking to him... Parts of it were pretty good, and there were a lot of meaningful, quotable lines in the book. But overall... wasn't too exciting. And the ending pissed me off. And it didn't have much to do with houses except the main character liked them and liked to decorate and knew a lot about stuff like chimney cleaning and floor oiling. But nothing about how it corresponds to relationships, except I guess you have to put a lot of effort into both.
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