For Better and Worse - Margot Hunt

I'm not sure why people still think they can plan and complete the perfect murder. Listen, I realize the murder clearance rate in our country hovers just under 60%. Wait, that's pretty bad (that's actually really bad, but is a story for another book). But usually, the people who are committing and getting away with murder are somehow involved in the criminal enterprise. But this whole, let's commit the perfect murder thing goes all the way back to Leopold and Loeb and look where it got them.

You know who doesn't get away with murder? White collar suburban intellectuals who think they can PLAN the perfect murder. Because if you don't have the background to either not care about getting caught, or live in an environment where people who could help you get caught don't care about communicating their knowledge to authorities, you're likely going to get caught.

So this is one reason why I had very little doubt that Natalie Clark, a criminal defense attorney, was going to get caught. She thought she was smarter than everyone else, and as I saw her plan out the various aspects of "the perfect murder" she casually looked over all the loose ends she was leaving and believed no one would weaver them together.

The broader aspects of what could drive a suburban mother committed to defending those accused of misdeeds to take another person's life are lost in the shuffle of the plot here and the book would have been better served to delve into these aspects a bit. Otherwise it reads like a thriller which is quick on page turning, but left me feeling like I'd consumed a lot of empty book calories.

I initially didn't like the way this one ended because (so what this lady is just like a serial killer now?) but then I got over myself and allowed myself to just enjoy the ridiculousness of this final note.

3/5 Stars. 

The Senator's Wife - Sue Miller

Listen, Sue Miller is a master craftsman when it comes to character development and setting the stage for how her characters got to be the way they are. The Senator's Wife is no exception. But there was something that didn't click throughout the story for me that culminated in an ending that made me abruptly squeamish and awkward. I didn't want to keep reading, but there were only 10 pages left.

The Senator's Wife is about a newly married 30-something Meri, who moves into a duplex next to Delia, the wife of former Senator Tom Naughton. Senator Naughton was apparently a big deal in the 60s and 70s. A bootstrap kind of politician who was liberal in the mold of John Kennedy - in more ways than one. Turns out the esteemed gentleman from Connecticut has a problem with keeping his hands off women.

Delia attempts to navigate an unconventional relationship with Tom, whom she still loves and Meri attempts to navigate an pregnancy which leaves her body feeling alien and unknown to her. Are these women supposed to be friends? Will they be able to develop a good relationship? It's all very hard to do across a generational divide. Meri is looking to be mothered, and Delia has already done all that. So she's nice, but very cold too. I just didn't really get this part. Their stories alone were interesting and eventually intertwined to give us the story's climax, but otherwise these two women together just did not work for me. Ultimately earning this tale a 3-star rating.

3 Stars.

While I Was Gone - Sue Miller

It looks like I may be on a bit of a self-deception themed reading binge, (see my review of I'm Not Stiller, here) but not on purpose. For this week, While I Was Gone (WIWG) was my running/gym audiobook. Sue Miller came highly recommended by my sister who's read just about everything Miller has ever written.

WIWG begins with Joey Becker, a veterinarian who lives in New England with her husband. Their three grown daughters are gone from home, the youngest being in college. Turns out Ms. Becker had a bit of an adventurous past when, at 22 years old, she left her new husband and lived in a group house in Boston with five other 20-somethings. One of the roommates in the flat gets murdered and that puts an end to Joey's stint as her alter-ego.

She goes home, but not to the husband, and finally figures out who she wants to be in her life. Fast forward to her cozy monogamous life with her preacher husband, when one of the old flatmates shows up in town and needs his dog taken care of. The arrival of this person from her past completely unseats Joey from her life. She starts to spin an elaborate fantasy around the old flatmate. Her old feelings of restlessness are awoken.

I won't say more about the plot because I don't want to give the rest away. But the themes here, about how much we are taken back to the people we used to be when we hang out with the people who surrounded us in previous times is very fascinating. We may try to move on, but the reminders of who we were can sometimes influence who we are. I started to think more about people who move away after high school and people who stay in their same home town, hanging out with the same people.

I'm not going to debate if one or the other of these things is better. But it certainly would have the capacity to seriously guide how you live life into adulthood. When you move away, you get to greater freedom to completely reinvent yourself and try to be the person you want to be. You have no one there that remembers the things you did or the person you were. Can we ever truly escape from our past?

When confronted with our past selves, do we choose to continue to be the new person we have become?

Miller's writing is really well done and the dialogue, although pretty plentiful in the story, sounds the way actual people speak. I'll be reading more of her work in the future.

4/5 Stars.