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A review by ronnieb
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
2.5
Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dementia
This was a 2.5 that I am rounding up to a 3. I do not have much to say that is not a spoiler so brief non-spoiler thoughts: I think this book is fine and is quick enough of a read but there are not many special or shocking moments.
I had a big issue with this book and it surrounded the character of Rachel. We find out that Rachel was the victim of a sexual assault in her past. The way the book seems to handle her moving past this is she finally sees a hot guy and he “fixes” her. The is slightly more nuisance going on admittedly but it just left such a bad taste in my mouth at the way the whole storyline plays out.
I also thought the final reveals of the book were just so underwhelming and this was just very baseline. There is nothing wrong with that and I have read many books that end similarly but I think those were just more fun than this. A fix I thought would have been more fun was to have our 3 main leads come together and set up Stephen in some sort of way. While that would be a bit “soapy” and OTT I think it would have led to a much more fun ending than the abrupt one we got.
I also thought the POV of Tully was useless for the main narrative of this novel. It felt very much like its own B story that never really plays into the main narrative outside of our main characters sharing their trauma or flaws and coming together because of it.
This was a 2.5 that I am rounding up to a 3. I do not have much to say that is not a spoiler so brief non-spoiler thoughts: I think this book is fine and is quick enough of a read but there are not many special or shocking moments.
I had a big issue with this book and it surrounded the character of Rachel. We find out that Rachel was the victim of a sexual assault in her past. The way the book seems to handle her moving past this is she finally sees a hot guy and he “fixes” her. The is slightly more nuisance going on admittedly but it just left such a bad taste in my mouth at the way the whole storyline plays out.
I also thought the final reveals of the book were just so underwhelming and this was just very baseline. There is nothing wrong with that and I have read many books that end similarly but I think those were just more fun than this. A fix I thought would have been more fun was to have our 3 main leads come together and set up Stephen in some sort of way. While that would be a bit “soapy” and OTT I think it would have led to a much more fun ending than the abrupt one we got.
I also thought the POV of Tully was useless for the main narrative of this novel. It felt very much like its own B story that never really plays into the main narrative outside of our main characters sharing their trauma or flaws and coming together because of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Death of parent and Dementia
Minor: Rape