A Reliable Wife

This post first published April 28, 2012.

Author: Robert Goolrick
Published: April 2009
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
320 pages (eBook)
 
The April book of my bookclub :) It was one I suggested, although I didn’t really know what it was about. I had seen it a lot at bookstores and the premise sounded interesting — a man, Ralph Truitt, puts an ad in the newspaper seeking for a reliable wife.  The year is 1906. The story opens with him receiving his wife-to-be, Catherine, at the train station in a small, snowy Wisconsin town. Neither of them know what to expect from one another. Little do they know that both of them want to use one another for their own plans. The resulting story is one about secrets, about coming to terms with our pasts, and finding ways to redeem ourselves for the future.

This is most certainly a character driven story. If you are someone who enjoys action-stories or stories with a lot of twisty plots, you might not be happy with reading it about character emotions, motives, their fears, their wants, and so on. I am definitely a person who loves drama and action type plots, so this kind of story did feel a bit slow to me. However, it is nice experiencing a different type of story every now and then, and A Reliable Wife does a good job really delving into the psyches of the characters, in my opinion.

With that said, I was a little surprised that all the characters’ psyches seemed to revolve around sex! Sex and sexual passion was used very frequently to describe the characters in all sorts of ways. For example, near the end, one of the main character’s self pity was described using sex as a metaphor. I’m not in any way some sort of prude, but I think the sex stuff could have been toned down by a lot. It seemed to be the thing on everybody’s mind, regardless if it actually made sense or not. With all that said, however, I hesitate to call this book a romance, even with all the sex and, yes, love involved. It’s simply not the focus of the story, in my opinion.

As for the characters, what I liked about all of them was how they were all shades of gray. No one character was completely all good or completely all bad. All of them have their fair share of issues, and it was really hard deciding which character I felt more sorry for. If you’re planning to read this book, be prepared to exercise your sympathy and empathy skills! I, personally, found it quite easily to pity Ralph. Even though he grew up in a privileged household, his issues with his parents, his first wife and son were all very traumatizing on the man and he has been so full of regret for years.

To wrap this up, if you are prepared for a story that revolves around people and their thoughts and emotions, then I think you will find A Reliable Wife a pleasant read. I admit, I was not wow’d by the book, but I did find it enjoyable and would recommend it to people who like character-driven stories.

My Rating: 3/5