How To Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I will once again say that I could probably benefit from switching up the genre I read every now and then because the domestic thriller / suspense plot lines have really been done to death. I can barely keep the unreliable narrators who may or may not have underlying psychological issues straight. That said, the Marta character was more well done than most. The "is she or isn't she crazy" debate felt more realistic - and she didn't have a dependency on wine to keep her mind nice and fuzzy, so that's a plus! (Can't a woman have a glass ..or bottle .. of wine in a psychological thriller without automatically teetering on the brink of insanity?!)

I predicted Marta's dilemma (or you know, horrendous kidnapping, drugging and eventual marriage to the monster that did that to her) immediately, but thanks to the wide open ending, it didn't kill the story for me. I liked the way this novel was written as it was a smooth and easy read. Sure, there were parts that were repetitive (we get it - the girl in the hallucination / flashback wore ill fitting pajamas and enjoyed her own fingernails as a snack regularly) but it kept the mood consistent, so I'll let it go. I enjoyed Marta's downward spiral, but the final descent felt a tad rushed. Which is crazy (no pun intended) because the overall pace of the book is pretty slow and sometimes mundane. But I'll just assume Marta started creeping towards her full on breakdown before page 1, and we just didn't get to see it.

Here's the part that trips me up - and no it's not the completely up for debate ending. It's the fact that the How To Be A Good Wife training manual is never really discussed with any real purpose in this book. Yes, it's supposed to be a device that helps paint the bigger picture of what the female role in a man's world is and how the world views women's mental issues, and yes you're led to believe that the book will live on and ultimately explain her (spoiler alert!!! .......suicide at the end) but come on, it's the title of the book. I wanted more.

I'd also like to mention the fact that Marta received it from her not at all normal or mentally healthy mother-in-law ... which how was this woman not dissected more in this novel? I'll admit I was disappointed that she was not a player, if not THE main player in the (supposed) traumatic event Marta experienced as a teen. She was, in my opinion, the most interesting and under utilized character in this book. And Hector and his mother had a borderline Oedipus thing going on.. how am I the only one who noticed this and was kind of outraged it wasn't explored more? He literally got turned on by seeing his wife in his mother's old wedding dress. I might just be a pervert, but I would probably read a spinoff novel all about Hector and his mom's relationship. It might give this middle of the road suspense novel the extra depth it needed to be really impactful.



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