The Basics
- Title: The Husband’s Secret
- Author: the lovely Liane Moriarty
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
- Structure: Interlocking stories
- First Line: “It was all because of the Berlin Wall.”
The Good
Okay, I’m going to narrow it down to 5. They’re not necessarily the top 5, but just 5 because I can ramble forever about Moriarty’s books. So, here’s the good (great!) in no particular order.
- The conversation is too realistic. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel with such realistic and eloquently described conversation pieces. It really moves the book along.
- The plot twists were excellent and unexpected. I won’t ruin it for anyone, but some were subtle and some were in your face. It makes for a good balance.
- The characters are ridiculously relatable. I am not middle-aged nor a mother (but if you are, you’ll love it), but I still found pieces of myself in each character. It was comforting and humorous.
- It made you think. There were several lines (and paragraphs) that I should write down somewhere for later, to remind myself.
- Liane Moriarty knows humor. I definitely laughed out loud multiple times. The humor is downright cynical at times, which is just how I like it.
The Bad
The only negative that crossed my mind is that it is a long read (i.e. 394 pages). Though I didn’t feel anything was repetitive, I did think that some conversation pieces could have been cut for the sake of brevity. To each their own. I didn’t mind it too much because it showed what the characters are made of.
The Sweet Spots
In this section, I cover some of my deeper, personal thoughts. Books are meant to make you think. I always think the best books are the ones that help you discover pieces of yourself.
- Did this book remind you of anything that has happened to you?: I can’t think of any particular, stand-out memories that I find really connects to the stories. Rather, I felt a rather strong connection to Tess (the introverted character with social anxiety). I also felt drawn to the questions the characters repeatedly asked themselves as they thought through tricky situations.
- Did this book give you any new ideas of yourself?: It made me think about what I would do, which made me realize something: people go through terrible, unbearable things every day. It’s easy to look from the outside and judge them based on their reactions, however rational or irrational. But until we actually experience something similar, we have no idea. Pity doesn’t suffice. People need compassion. Forgiveness doesn’t come easy.
- What lesson did you learn?: To continue from the previous point of forgiveness, I think I learned that the easy part is putting on the “show” for people. It’s easy to say, “Look at me! Everything is perfect on the outside! Therefore, no need to worry”. The book really drove home the fact that we can bear some truly awful things while still struggling with our inner monologue. It made me ask the question, “Do we forgive the people who’ve wronged us for the sake of living our lives?”
Conclusion
I think this book is awesome. The language is not so exquisite that you need a PhD to keep up. The story moves quickly (yes, you will be up till 3 am, but we sacrifice for great things). If you like this one, I suggest Big, Little Lies as well.