The Trouble with Marriage – Debbie Holt
I found this book disappointing – it didn’t help that the last two books I’d read were the brilliant Addition and Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Why was it disappointing? I felt it lacked humour and – probably critically – it didn’t really speak to me about real life. I struggled to believe the central relationship, and there were a lot of characters I didn’t quite “get” – some who felt a little 2D. It didn’t help that most of the plot twists felt overly telegraphed. (The exception – the pregnancy – gave me a real smile).
I actually found it quite depressing, it made me feel quite insecure about my own family relationships. It probably wasn’t intended to provide a serious commentary on what it means to be a man or a woman, but I didn’t think it was terribly positive on either point, particularly regarding men. I’m a bit sensitive about that, being a man myself.
Its handling of domestic abuse was perhaps the most real part of the story – with sympathy for the guy as well as unconditional condemnation, but it was still simplistically resolved – he kills himself. What does this say? That sad though it is, the only remedy is execution?
The book’s reflection on the way divorce affects children was also fairly realistic – the page where the teacher asks the children what they could have if they had one wish was probably the best in the book. Several of them say they want their dads to come home, and cry; whereupon the heroine starts crying too and says she wants her husband back.
I also didn’t like the “country life” idyll of the setting, nor the main character’s attitude to her work. I’ll never have much sympathy for a character who says “I just can’t do maths” – at least not if she’s working as a learning support assistant. And I didn’t like the book’s attitude to mental illness – it’s merely used as a plot device for explaining a character’s unpleasant behaviour, with no indication that anyone can actually live with mental illness and strive to be a complete human being.
Yes, it had a happy ending, but I found that unsatisfying too – they don’t really work out their troubles, just each realizes the other doesn’t wants the marriage to end. In a sense, it falls into its own trap – the characters just live happily ever after again, although there is some hints of growth on Tilly’s part (more independence) and perhaps on Robin’s (he accepts she was right and he was wrong on a business matter). And it always winds me up when a large part of the plot of a book resolves around a simple misunderstanding and the two MCs being too stupid and stubborn to talk to one another. I suppose at least this makes the valid point that it’s good to talk. But come on – there can’t be two characters in the world more stubborn than me and my wife, and we can still talk to each other. It’s what happens when you do talk that’s the problem!
Ultimately I’m being unfair on this book, trying as I am to judge it on how it reflects the human condition. That reflects what I wanted it to be; it’s only trying to be one-level-up-from-M&B level fluff, and in that regard I can’t really comment on it.
The other thing that really affected me in this was it made me wonder to what extent Home shows a lot of the same faults. Actually, that’s not bad, if I’m depressed that my book might not be head-and-shoulders better than a fairly well-selling published novel! But I won't go into the details here.
Why was it disappointing? I felt it lacked humour and – probably critically – it didn’t really speak to me about real life. I struggled to believe the central relationship, and there were a lot of characters I didn’t quite “get” – some who felt a little 2D. It didn’t help that most of the plot twists felt overly telegraphed. (The exception – the pregnancy – gave me a real smile).
I actually found it quite depressing, it made me feel quite insecure about my own family relationships. It probably wasn’t intended to provide a serious commentary on what it means to be a man or a woman, but I didn’t think it was terribly positive on either point, particularly regarding men. I’m a bit sensitive about that, being a man myself.
Its handling of domestic abuse was perhaps the most real part of the story – with sympathy for the guy as well as unconditional condemnation, but it was still simplistically resolved – he kills himself. What does this say? That sad though it is, the only remedy is execution?
The book’s reflection on the way divorce affects children was also fairly realistic – the page where the teacher asks the children what they could have if they had one wish was probably the best in the book. Several of them say they want their dads to come home, and cry; whereupon the heroine starts crying too and says she wants her husband back.
I also didn’t like the “country life” idyll of the setting, nor the main character’s attitude to her work. I’ll never have much sympathy for a character who says “I just can’t do maths” – at least not if she’s working as a learning support assistant. And I didn’t like the book’s attitude to mental illness – it’s merely used as a plot device for explaining a character’s unpleasant behaviour, with no indication that anyone can actually live with mental illness and strive to be a complete human being.
Yes, it had a happy ending, but I found that unsatisfying too – they don’t really work out their troubles, just each realizes the other doesn’t wants the marriage to end. In a sense, it falls into its own trap – the characters just live happily ever after again, although there is some hints of growth on Tilly’s part (more independence) and perhaps on Robin’s (he accepts she was right and he was wrong on a business matter). And it always winds me up when a large part of the plot of a book resolves around a simple misunderstanding and the two MCs being too stupid and stubborn to talk to one another. I suppose at least this makes the valid point that it’s good to talk. But come on – there can’t be two characters in the world more stubborn than me and my wife, and we can still talk to each other. It’s what happens when you do talk that’s the problem!
Ultimately I’m being unfair on this book, trying as I am to judge it on how it reflects the human condition. That reflects what I wanted it to be; it’s only trying to be one-level-up-from-M&B level fluff, and in that regard I can’t really comment on it.
The other thing that really affected me in this was it made me wonder to what extent Home shows a lot of the same faults. Actually, that’s not bad, if I’m depressed that my book might not be head-and-shoulders better than a fairly well-selling published novel! But I won't go into the details here.
Labels: Reading
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