A review by jeslyncat
Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen

4.0

In "Skipping a Beat", Pekkanen illustrates normal characters in their everyday lives. Following a wife who's been growing apart from her husband despite the millions they have in their bank account that they thought would keep them happy, the novel is set in an emotional state that a great many people experience. After her husband has a near-death experience, he sells his company and donates every penny of their money to charity, and then asks his wife for a second chance to fix their relationship. This request is a tough one for our leading lady coupled with the loss of all their money because, as we learn through a series of flashbacks, that her childhood was financially tumultuous, and the memories of that come flooding back when everything is gone. An interesting aspect of the story is the truth that comes with the story of the couple's marriage--she carries a divorce lawyers card in her wallet, and frequently crunches numbers to ensure that she could make it fiscally without her husband. Pekkanen casts the wife in a negative light quite often, this is upsetting because the wife is acting our of survival in a way that a lot of readers would, and that creates guilt and insult. As the money leaves their accounts you are aghast with the cavalier style of the husband, who come back from his near-death experience quite a few IQ points below where he started, and makes you hate the wife because of her emotional immaturity. A great novel with interesting ideas and developments, the ending is a fitting one.