What do readers think of Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon? Write your own review.

This looked so interesting. How would taking part in a survey on marriage impact your marriage? The characters were sort of likeable. This is a family in transition where things are not always what was expected. Much like most marriages it has had it’s ups and downs. Alice has been so busy as a working mother she has lost touch with her husband. He has become a minor part of her life. Her concerns over her children kind of cast a shadow over everything in her life. Is her son gay? Is her daughter anorexic? Because she is focused on everything else she does not seem to notice her husband is kind of lost himself. When his job situation changes she begins to realize just how far they have drifted. In steps the survey. Randomly picked to take part in a survey on marriage she becomes Wife 22. Her answers give us insight into what brought her and her husband together in the first place and how years of marriage and children can change our views. When the person assigned to Wife 22 starts to step outside of the study the story began to become unbelievable. Overall I felt finishing this book was more a labor than a joy. .

I was looking forward to reading this book, but I found the characters shallow and unsympathetic and the premise unlikely. That a busy modern mother would take the time and emotional investment to engage in a prolonged online question-and-answer survey about her marriage and yet seem perfunctory in her actual everyday marriage did not endear her to me.
The ending was yet more contrived and incredible. Perhaps this a modern romance novel, but to me it lacked depth and meaning.

I needed a novel for a bit of an escape from the stress in my life when Wife 22 arrived. It was just what I needed. Melanie Gideon brings us into Alice Buckle's household where we get to see the lives of a long married couple and their two teenage kids. Alice is a bit bored with her life and decides to engage in a marriage survey that she receives via email. That's when we learn even more about this family and what goes on in a 40-something woman's mind when let to wander. I really enjoyed the story although it might have been a little predictable in parts. Fun and thoughtful read!

This book was defintely a quick read. Enjoyable and witty at times, far-fetched at others. Kept me interested but unfortunately, not dying for more. Great beach read!

I thought the author tried to take today's life happening and write a book. It was a easy read but didn't have much substance for me. She tried to hard to make a believable story. It just didn't work for me. When I read a book I want to enjoy reading, and look forward to finishing the story.

Alice Buckle is upon her tipping year, the year her mother died at the age of 45. As Alice is looking online one day she gets invited into a marital research study online. She decides to do it and is assigned her online pen name Wife 22. Through answering the study questions she is reminded of her early dating/parenting/marital times with her husband William. All is not well in the marriage and the online researcher becomes her new best friend, a kind of therapy. I found this book to be very entertaining, and enjoyed being reminded of some of my own early experiences with my husband. I highly recommend this book to any woman who has been married for any length of time.

I loved Wife 22. The main character, Alice Buckle, is a gem. Her character is revealed through her Facebook posts, her Twitter comments, her Google searches, and foremost through her email answers to an on-line survey on marriage in the 21st century. What an ingenious use of our reliance on social media. Alice is endearingly funny in her relationships, whether it is agonizing over her 12 year old son's sexuality or her teen aged daughter's possible bulimia. She is also wistful in looking back at the early stages of her relationship with her husband and wondering whether they have lost each other. There are some hilarious scenes, including shopping for feminine hygiene products with her daughter and staging a 3rd grade production of Charlotte's Web. The dialogue throughout is clever and funny. In fact, the whole book is incredibly funny but also very thought-provoking. Melanie Gideon has created a wonderful book. I'm already looking forward to her next one.

Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. It's heartwarming, funny, poignant and honest. The book follows Alice, as she tries to navigate that period of life after newlywed and before retirement. The real strength of the book is the characters. You feel like you know, or are, these people. You are invested in what happens to them. I also enjoyed the format of the book, as it jumped from Alice's responses to the Research Questions, to Facebook to narrative. It was a nice touch. Overall I give this book a big thumbs up.