Skip to main content

The Wife Who Got a Life - Tracy Bloom


 


Genre: Womens Fiction 

Release Date: 15th April 2021


Cathy isn't unhappy. She's not particularly happy either - she's just normal. In fact, she didn't really pay much attention to how cheerful (or otherwise) she was until her sisters got her one of those pushy motivational diaries for Christmas. Now it's a new year, and a new page and Cathy is slowly realising she hasn't really got much to write about.

She's a mother to two beautiful children ... who could appreciate her more.

She's a wife to a loving husband ... who could do with realising she isn't his mother. 

But now, it's time to reclaim herself. She may be a mother and wife, but it's time for her to finally find her own life in amongst it all.

Armed with her diary and her brilliant book club, they try to navigate the things women should never talk about; sex, contraception, periods ... and the severe invisibility of women over the age of forty. 

This was a truly captivating commentary on how women get lost in the echo and are constantly expected to lose their own identities for the sake of their partners and families to find theirs and just how hard it can be try and get it back. The characters were vibrant and loveable within just seconds of meeting them, all so unique and glowingly real. 

A hilariously heartwarming adventure of relearning how to love yourself and others with a wicked feminist streak that is so hard to do well in anything remotely resembling a romantic comedy. 

Admittedly I was conflicted about the final resolution to this story ... there was no dramatic reveal, no explosive conclusion and a few unanswered questions ... which left me somehow feeling both dissapointed and excited at the same time. It felt just like the end of another year in the life of Cathy, and after a few minutes of sulking I realised this was actually kind of perfect. 


"It made me think about what makes me happy ... and that's really hard for people like us."

"People like us?"

"You know: female, a mother, a wife."


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐


Thank you to NetGalley & Tracy White for an ARC in return for an honest review. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: This Could Be Us by Clare McGowan

Genre: Fiction | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 1st June 2023 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group | Corsair  Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating. Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his. Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reck...
Post a Comment
Read more

REVIEW: Live, Laugh, Lesbian by Helen Scott

Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir | LGTBQ+  Release Date: 19th October 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Part memoir, part guide, part conversation and all queer joy — Live, Laugh, Lesbian is a brilliantly warm and friendly journey into the queer experience, not only from the author but from plenty of other lesbian, queer, bisexual and pansexual contributors who bring a unique viewpoint and voice and also show a beautiful diverse, intersectional scope of the queer spectrum and welcomes in queer people and allies of any kind to come feel the love. The book is very conversational, talking to the reader in a fun, friendly way — at times I rolled my eyes as the use of “famalam” but as a previous patron of Colours and Chicagos I’m not in a position to judge the Essex-isms. It’s full of anecdotes and observations that were witty and relatable as well as talking is through the more difficult side of queerness like dealing with workplace discrimination, religious trauma and coming out to family...
Post a Comment
Read more

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

  " This town has secrets that are best left alone." Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work. But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration.  But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one . Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the...
Post a Comment
Read more