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A review by stuckinafictionaluniverse
The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
2.0
1 and a half star. I think this is a sign for me to give up on domestic thrillers. It's hard to find a good one, and when I do it has not been worth going through ten lifeless and mediocre ones.
This started out with a promising concept, but Fisher took the easy way out with that cheap twist. On top of that, it was exhausting to be in the narrator's head. Thursday is judgemental of other women who are more successful than her. Meanwhile her own life revolves around her husband, Seth, bitterly sharing him with two other women. Thursday was fully aware of this when entering their relationship, ignored her gut feeling and now she is salty and jealous. Who could've seen that coming?
Now, it is possible to write unlikable women without making them annoying. Take Gillian Flynn for example. The problem here is that Fisher either doesn't try to give her character layers, or she lacks the skill to pull it off. Thursday's story lacks the grit, dark motivations and snake-like traits that are needed in a domestic thriller.
For example, Thursday's motivation for being with Seth is unclear, as is her willingness to share him. Here is the potential for a good backstory, maybe one that focuses on something other than her husband and comparing herself to other women. Either you can make Thursday completely vile and untrustworthy, or you make her a character worthy of sympathy. The route taken is somewhere in between; no one roots for Thursday but it grows exhausting to be in her self-pitying and paranoid mind.
Whiny, overdramatic and cheapened by a twist that's been done a million times before.
This started out with a promising concept, but Fisher took the easy way out with that cheap twist. On top of that, it was exhausting to be in the narrator's head. Thursday is judgemental of other women who are more successful than her. Meanwhile her own life revolves around her husband, Seth, bitterly sharing him with two other women. Thursday was fully aware of this when entering their relationship, ignored her gut feeling and now she is salty and jealous. Who could've seen that coming?
Now, it is possible to write unlikable women without making them annoying. Take Gillian Flynn for example. The problem here is that Fisher either doesn't try to give her character layers, or she lacks the skill to pull it off. Thursday's story lacks the grit, dark motivations and snake-like traits that are needed in a domestic thriller.
For example, Thursday's motivation for being with Seth is unclear, as is her willingness to share him. Here is the potential for a good backstory, maybe one that focuses on something other than her husband and comparing herself to other women. Either you can make Thursday completely vile and untrustworthy, or you make her a character worthy of sympathy. The route taken is somewhere in between; no one roots for Thursday but it grows exhausting to be in her self-pitying and paranoid mind.
Whiny, overdramatic and cheapened by a twist that's been done a million times before.