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A review by kelly_shea
Husband Material by Alexis Hall
1.0
A few minor spoilers below, but honestly it's hard to spoil much because not much happened. TW for eating disorders and this book's harmful portrayal of them.
This book was hard to get through for me - I kept putting it down and ended up skimming through almost the last half of it. Not even because of the lack of plot, but rather because Luc was such an awful, unsympathetic, and mean-spirited person throughout.
To start, there is a lot of social commentary woven throughout this story, some with merit but most... not so much. Specifically, Luc consistently complains about the privilege of white men from wealthy families... when he himself is a white man from a wealthy family. Not a bad thing if he were simply being self-aware and reflective of his own advantages and position in society, but it came across as though he's NOT a part of the extremely privileged class that he's criticizing. Oliver makes this point just once during an argument, but is immediately brushed off and there is no self-reflection whatsoever on Luc's part. One scene that I found very, very odd was when Luc went to pick out an engagement ring. He was immediately standoffish and claimed that the clerk was looking down on him and judging him as a "below-average person." Meanwhile, Luc had literally entered the store and repeatedly just said "Um," and didn't state a price range or even what he was looking for properly. Poor man was just doing his job and Luc was such an asshole. Also, not sure that the clerk at a jewelery shop is the right target for Luc's hang-ups and prejudice regarding class/wealth issues.
There was also a character, Ana, who Luc constantly referred to as "Ana with one n." I honestly have no idea what that was about, as it's not an uncommon spelling? But it was one of many instances where Luc was a jerk to everyone around him for absolutely no reason.
His treatment was probably the worst towards Oliver. You would think that after two years together Luc would be less insecure and commitment-phobic, but he hadn't developed as a character at all. Almost all of their problems were of Luc's own making and unwillingness to communicate properly. He also spent a lot of time arguing with Oliver about the "right" way to be gay, and invalidating Oliver's experiences and relationship with and to the LGBT community and symbols.
The worst offense to me was probably the scene about Oliver's eating disorder. The author's portrayal of eating disorders was extremely harmful and triggering. Beyond being another instance of Luc making everything about himself - he somehow twists Oliver's ED into a pity party about his own body insecurites - it's just a totally misinformed portrayal. Luc/the author* seems to think that there's a direct correlation between someone having an eating disorder and fitting into beauty standards. He literally says that Oliver's eating disorder and "ideal beauty standard" body can only exist together ("if you got rid of one, you got rid of the other"). Rather than treating it as the serious illness that it is, Luc treats Oliver's ED almost as a "sacrifice" that he's made for having the "ideal" body. Also, aside from the fact that people with eating disorders do not have one single standard body type - those who overexercise and restrict their diets like Oliver, whether they are thin or heavy, should not be described as the "fittest person I'd ever seen in real life," as Luc puts it. EDs do not make someone fit or healthy, regardless of body type. It is not and should not be described as a means to achieve the "ideal" body.
*I don't usually like equating characters' views with the author's, but this was an instance where Luc's harmful viewpoint was not challenged at all, and thus it felt the author was treating it as truth or fact. Even if it was not intentional malice on Hall's part, a serious topic such as this warrants extra care. Better not to touch on it at all if it's going to be handled so improperly. Since it was portrayed so poorly I'm glad that the author barely touched on it, but the fact is that EDs also tend to be all-consuming - with the rest of the misguided social commentary embedded in this book, it almost felt like another issue just thrown in there to be checked off the list.
This book was hard to get through for me - I kept putting it down and ended up skimming through almost the last half of it. Not even because of the lack of plot, but rather because Luc was such an awful, unsympathetic, and mean-spirited person throughout.
To start, there is a lot of social commentary woven throughout this story, some with merit but most... not so much. Specifically, Luc consistently complains about the privilege of white men from wealthy families... when he himself is a white man from a wealthy family. Not a bad thing if he were simply being self-aware and reflective of his own advantages and position in society, but it came across as though he's NOT a part of the extremely privileged class that he's criticizing. Oliver makes this point just once during an argument, but is immediately brushed off and there is no self-reflection whatsoever on Luc's part. One scene that I found very, very odd was when Luc went to pick out an engagement ring. He was immediately standoffish and claimed that the clerk was looking down on him and judging him as a "below-average person." Meanwhile, Luc had literally entered the store and repeatedly just said "Um," and didn't state a price range or even what he was looking for properly. Poor man was just doing his job and Luc was such an asshole. Also, not sure that the clerk at a jewelery shop is the right target for Luc's hang-ups and prejudice regarding class/wealth issues.
There was also a character, Ana, who Luc constantly referred to as "Ana with one n." I honestly have no idea what that was about, as it's not an uncommon spelling? But it was one of many instances where Luc was a jerk to everyone around him for absolutely no reason.
His treatment was probably the worst towards Oliver. You would think that after two years together Luc would be less insecure and commitment-phobic, but he hadn't developed as a character at all. Almost all of their problems were of Luc's own making and unwillingness to communicate properly. He also spent a lot of time arguing with Oliver about the "right" way to be gay, and invalidating Oliver's experiences and relationship with and to the LGBT community and symbols.
The worst offense to me was probably the scene about Oliver's eating disorder. The author's portrayal of eating disorders was extremely harmful and triggering. Beyond being another instance of Luc making everything about himself - he somehow twists Oliver's ED into a pity party about his own body insecurites - it's just a totally misinformed portrayal. Luc/the author* seems to think that there's a direct correlation between someone having an eating disorder and fitting into beauty standards. He literally says that Oliver's eating disorder and "ideal beauty standard" body can only exist together ("if you got rid of one, you got rid of the other"). Rather than treating it as the serious illness that it is, Luc treats Oliver's ED almost as a "sacrifice" that he's made for having the "ideal" body. Also, aside from the fact that people with eating disorders do not have one single standard body type - those who overexercise and restrict their diets like Oliver, whether they are thin or heavy, should not be described as the "fittest person I'd ever seen in real life," as Luc puts it. EDs do not make someone fit or healthy, regardless of body type. It is not and should not be described as a means to achieve the "ideal" body.
*I don't usually like equating characters' views with the author's, but this was an instance where Luc's harmful viewpoint was not challenged at all, and thus it felt the author was treating it as truth or fact. Even if it was not intentional malice on Hall's part, a serious topic such as this warrants extra care. Better not to touch on it at all if it's going to be handled so improperly. Since it was portrayed so poorly I'm glad that the author barely touched on it, but the fact is that EDs also tend to be all-consuming - with the rest of the misguided social commentary embedded in this book, it almost felt like another issue just thrown in there to be checked off the list.