Wellness
Wellness ~ Nathan Hill
Jack and Elizabeth meet in 1993. They are neighbors who have been creepily spying upon each others through their windows, kind of like the cast of Friends spying on Ugly Naked Guy. They fall in love quickly and completely after finally meeting in a bar when Jack rescues Elizabeth from a creeper trying to pick her up.
20 years later, they’re trying to figure out how to maintain their marriage, planning the layout of their new luxury condo. Will they have open shelving or cabinets? One en-suite bedroom, or two? Can they find the meaning that they are missing by making such decisions? They are unhappy. Elizabeth misses the time of her life when she was trying to figure out who she is. She now knows, and finds it unsatisfying. She wants more.
Will they make it? Will they not? Will their son need 40 years of therapy to deal with them? Who knows. I’m sorry to say that while I stuck with the book to its end, I didn’t really care.
16 Comments
Lisa’s Yarns
This one didn’t work for me either. If 100+ pages had been cut, it might have. I did not need to delve into their ancestral past. I did like how it looked at marriage and the stress of having children on marriage (especially in the early years of parenting). But gosh I was fatigued by it by the end and gave it 2 stars.
J
I might give it 3 out of 5, but maybe not…
Birchie
Yeah, “did not care” is pretty much my review. Like Lisa said, I liked the premise but not enough for 600 pages and I ended up skimming most of the book. It was too much work for a funny story about an orgy.
J
I couldn’t skim it since I was listening to it. I guess I could have sped it up…or just DNF.
NGS
Well, this sounds like you were in the marriage yourself! Not fun.
J
Ack! Not a marriage I would want to be in, for sure.
Margaret
It sounds like the book could have been excellent and thought-provoking, but missed the mark.
J
It definitely did.
Nicole MacPherson
I thought this book could have been cut easily by a third, possibly even half. It was just too damn long. I did enjoy parts of it but jeeeeeez I did not need a dozen pages of a description of a field, or whatever (have blocked things out of my head)
J
I’ve blocked that too, because I’m not sure what you’re referring to. LOL.
Maya
Ha… The verdict is unanimous! An easy avoid for me…
J
Good thinking!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Well, while I would love to read some mature marriage themed book I think this one is not it.
J
Yeah, I would say it’s definitely skippable.
Ernie
I guess I’m glad I haven’t heard of this book. It sounds like such an interesting premise. too bad it failed.
J
Yeah, I wish it had been better.