The Monotonous Wife

Well, I've given up on The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  I was listening to it in my car, and it sounded like I was listening to someone reading me their grocery list.  I listened to 3 discs, and made myself begin the 4th, until I just couldn't take it anymore.

It occurred to me that it may be the voice of the reader that was bothering me, so I tried looking in the book at passages that were irritating in the car.  Reading the book did not improve my opinion.  I looked back at the beginning of Part Two, where I ejected the disc, and found that from pages 118 through 121, there were 65 sentences, 50 of which started with the word "she".  That had to be deliberate, because an editor would never have let that get through accidentally, but what did it accomplish?

When I told her I wasn't liking Reliable, my friend, Kim, who had read the book, filled me in on a juicy twist that hadn't happened yet.  But, when I thought about it, that twist made the story of how the husband and wife met impossible, or at least incredibly unlikely.  My decision to move on was confirmed.

Next up on CD:  What is the What by Dave Eggers.  I have started this, and like it better than Reliable already.

Still reading:  Netherland by Joseph O'Neill