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A review by wynonnar
The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
4.0
3.8 stars rounded up because I did enjoy a lot of this book.
Spoilers ahead
Marriage is hard and we're all trying to find the right way to make it last forever. What if there were laws within your marriage you must follow to keep it together and actual criminal punishment if you didn't? That's what this book explores, it was thought provoking and made me curious to learn these possible punishments for marriage crimes. I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that there has to be a suspension of belief. Where I think this book lost some of its believability is the lack of supporting characters that notice these long absences and seemingly insane things happening in Jake and Alice's life. Alice is a lawyer and no one comments on her missing work for days on end, due to food poisoning?! As an attorney, impossible. Jake a therapist, not having and repercussions for abandoning clients. I think that lack of real life pressure took away from the believability.
I did enjoy the turmoil the characters felt. The turmoil in wanting to do what's best for their marriage while also struggling with how insane this pact is. I enjoyed that they waivered. What made me give it under 4 stars though was the ending. The ending was flat, they just left into the desert to never know what happened to them. I did enjoy that they did not become the leaders because it would have been ridiculous but I felt kind of left hanging as to not only what happens to the pact but what happens to Alice and Jake, do they die in the desert? Do they find civilization? Do they end up divorced because of this insane trauma they experienced, proving the pact right?
Spoilers ahead
Marriage is hard and we're all trying to find the right way to make it last forever. What if there were laws within your marriage you must follow to keep it together and actual criminal punishment if you didn't? That's what this book explores, it was thought provoking and made me curious to learn these possible punishments for marriage crimes. I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that there has to be a suspension of belief. Where I think this book lost some of its believability is the lack of supporting characters that notice these long absences and seemingly insane things happening in Jake and Alice's life. Alice is a lawyer and no one comments on her missing work for days on end, due to food poisoning?! As an attorney, impossible. Jake a therapist, not having and repercussions for abandoning clients. I think that lack of real life pressure took away from the believability.
I did enjoy the turmoil the characters felt. The turmoil in wanting to do what's best for their marriage while also struggling with how insane this pact is. I enjoyed that they waivered. What made me give it under 4 stars though was the ending. The ending was flat, they just left into the desert to never know what happened to them. I did enjoy that they did not become the leaders because it would have been ridiculous but I felt kind of left hanging as to not only what happens to the pact but what happens to Alice and Jake, do they die in the desert? Do they find civilization? Do they end up divorced because of this insane trauma they experienced, proving the pact right?