Single Wife: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A LONG WAY TO GO TO GET TO THE GOOD STUFF....
Review: Eventually, I found this book quite enjoyable and even poignant. The key word here is "eventually." It just takes so long to get to the point and while I think the author's writing style and evocation of detail is strong, there were times when I felt like throwing the book against a wall. The problem? The plot is so unlikely and unreal. The missing husband is having his book challenged by critics and the media so relentlessly that the Pulitizer committee revokes his prize and yet there are no phone calls to his home from journalists? No one mentions the controversy to his wife? She is so much in denial that she refuses to read about her missing husband's problems in the newspaper, the internet or watch it on television?? No one in her building or any of her friends ever makes even the slightest reference to it!!! Come on! That's too much disbelief to suspend. Even if this character lies to herself and those around her, surely someone would say something to her. Ask anyone who has ever been in the middle of a media firestorm what's it's like...you cannot escape the attention. I dare say there would have been journalists camped outside her apartment. And just how to other journalists get in touch with this guy? His wife doesn't seem to have his cell phone number....that part of the book is just ridiculous in the extreme.

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Book --- Readers Will Be Hoping for a Sequel
Review: For most people, marriage is a partnership that evolves over time. For Grace Brookman, the main character in THE SINGLE WIFE by Nina Solomon, the union is more like a game of smoke and mirrors. But the object of the illusion is not only her elusive husband but herself as well.

In her new novel Solomon addresses a question that partners of both sexes will recognize: How does a person hold on to her or his identity after finding a mate and joining two lives?

Grace is a woman who defines herself through her roles as daughter, wife and friend. But when Laz, her journalist husband, disappears for more than a month, it sets her on her own course of self-discovery. And after five months of lying to friends and family about the whereabouts of her Pulitzer Prize-winning husband, Grace begins to question not only his presence in her life but the shape of her life on its own. Early on in their marriage she shelved her ambitions as a book restorer and artist, accepted Laz's decision to not have children, and busied herself with errands and volunteer work.

Yet Laz made none of those compromises. A man who freezes a key to his own apartment (which he keeps on the other side of town), disappears for weeks at a time and maintains a full and separate social schedule, Laz has always had a life of his own. But as weeks stretch into months, and a birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas pass without a word from Laz, Grace realizes how little she knows of that life.

A character with whom readers feel at ease and at home, Grace volunteers her time, pacifies a difficult mother-in-law, and dresses to please her self-consumed husband. When she finally sheds her pink cashmere princess coat for a faux fur hand-me-down, the reflection in the mirror is one that Grace recognizes and can call her own. What leads her to that point is an entertaining tale that volleys heavy issues at readers with a lighthearted swing.

It is a simple story of a woman who covers up her husband's disappearance in an attempt to allow him his freedom and subconsciously protect a fragile marriage. As she protects that bubble more, buffering it from the realities of her own life with fibs, Grace begins to realize how little her closest friends and family know her husband and require his presence in their lives.

With several twists and turns, Solomon leads readers on an entertaining and compelling goose chase to find out where Laz has gone and whether he will ever return. She weaves elements of mystery, love story and comedy into this hodgepodge of a novel, the author's first, that prompts readers to stop and think: Would a few tossed socks, a rumpled bed sheet, and some well-planned excuses substitute for a spouse over a five-month span? And if so, how eager would you be for his or her return?

SINGLE WIFE is a fun book that will leave readers hoping for a sequel.

--- Reviewed by Heather Grimshaw

Rating:
Summary: You've gotta be kidding...Harlequin romance-type writing
Review: I borrowed this book from the library, actually, based on all these positive reviews, just to check it out for myself. I am now just over half way through it and am aghast that anyone would think this book is "witty" or "engaging".

The writing style is annoyingly simplistic at best; the lead character, Grace, is unlikeable. She's vapid, brainless and shallow. She thinks that "working" with charity committees and social clubs 25 hours per week is like a full time job and has the nerve to gripe about it. (Her mother in law signs her up for them since Grace seems incapable of filling her own days.) She's rich by marrieage and spoiled (with a maid to do what she doesn't seem to have time or the inclination to do). If you can relate to that, then perhaps this book will be appealing to you. It's not as if it's written tongue-in-cheek, either.

A nice note: Her family seems amusing and interesting in a quirky, eccentric way. I liked them but they were only two-dimensional at best.

This book is full of nice, simple, easy to read and understand short sentences--like a Readers Digest or Harlequin Romance; the plot devices are transparant but worst of all, for me, the lead character is just not at all pleasant to spend time with.

But hey, maybe it would've been good for a cheap paperback beach read. I was misled, however, to believe it was a NOVEL. Gimme a break.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: I just want this author to know that this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I could not put it down until I had finished. Even wives who have husbands that have not left can identify with this book. Many of us have lived in this world of make believe.

Please keep writing, Nina. This is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Finding Grace
Review: I loved this novel. I read it over a weekend and continue to think about Grace, and all the other characters in this sweet,funny,thoughtful and engaging first novel. Nina Solomon did a fine job of weaving the secondary plotlines with the main plot of the missing husband. The satisfiying ending to this unique story left this reader eager to read her next book.

Rating:
Summary: It's not the story I was expecting...
Review: Single Wife isn't the humorous, upbeat book I expected it to be; although, I enjoyed this book about 75% of the time, the other 25% I wanted to slap Grace. I couldn't wait for Grace to wake up and live her life for herself. She gives up her job, which she enjoyed, for her husband and then spends their marriage making up excuses for his mysterious absences. She doesn't confine in her family or friends during, which I assume, is the most difficult time in her life. I honestly thought she was going to have a breakdown. I was a bit disappointed at the end of the book. I wish the book was a bit longer and went into how Grace's life turned out.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book....but not at all what I expected!
Review: The book was reviewed and advertised as being both funny and witty. Although the book was neither (most of the book simply makes you feel sorry for the main character)it was still an excellent read. If you are looking for something upbeat then find something else...but if you are looking for something that is entertaining, even if a bit unbelievable...the definately give Single Wife a try!

Rating:
Summary: Very good book....but not at all what I expected!
Review: The book was reviewed and advertised as being both funny and witty. Although the book was neither (most of the book simply makes you feel sorry for the main character)it was still an excellent read. If you are looking for something upbeat then find something else...but if you are looking for something that is entertaining, even if a bit unbelievable...the definately give Single Wife a try!

Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: This book is for any woman who has ever had anyone in their life that has "disappeared" without a trace only to resurface later without an explanation.

Rating:
Summary: A teriffic debut
Review: This is another shallow chick novel trying to pass itself off as literature. While reading this I kept thinking all the things I could be doing to better my time. The writing is MFA'd & generic & the character, grace, is an elitist snob. This is clearly written for that kind of a NYC Cosmopolitan person. What gets me is that the publisher - Algonquin of Chapel Hill prides itself on publishing literary fiction. This is a RED DRESS INK novel at best. If chick lit is what you want- fine, but don't call it real lit.