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There are currently 26 member reviews
for Good Husbands
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Barbara L. (Novato, CA)
Good Husbands
The premise of this novel had me intrigued from the start. Three women receive
identical letters from a stranger accusing their respective husbands of committing sexual assault over 20 years ago.
The story evolves as each woman has to decide for herself what to do about this information. This could be a great book club selection engendering interesting discussion of "What would I do?" Or maybe more importantly "What is the right thing to do?"
I enjoyed getting to know each character as the plot developed . My only criticism is that I would have liked more depth in the development of these three wives' "before" story" to understand what led them to the choices that they made.
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susan
who's to blame -
This is a case of he said she said. 3 women, having nothing in common and don't know each other, receive a letter accusing their husbands of a sexual assault that took place over 2 decades ago. Do they ignore the letter - assume it is a prank - or or attempt to find the truth behind this heinous accusation? The novel has a very interesting premise but it's a long story with a disappointing ending. the book could have been 100 pages shorter
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Joan V. (Miller Place, NY)
Who Do You Believe?
The book has a great start that immediately hooks the reader. Three women (Jessica, Priyanka and Stephanie) receive letters from a woman named Holly saying their husbands had raped her mother, Nickie over 20 years ago. One of them was her father, but her mother never knew which one. Holly sends them identical letters giving them each other's names and addresses. She also left them the address of a storage facility. She said the reason she was contacting them was because she was terminally ill and wanted these men to be brought to justice.
None of the women knew each other or had ever heard of the accuser. All of them considered their husbands as men who could never commit such a heinous act and considered their marriages secure.
Jessica became the leader of the group; she became obsessed with making the husbands confess to what they had done and to extract some kind of retribution. Stephanie is the most reluctant to meet the other women or to pursue the revelations in the letter. Priyanka agreed to let Jess take the lead. Throughout the book we learn more about the women's lives and also Nickie's life after the rape.
Although the book deals with a very serious subject, I don't think it would have any trigger issues for a reader. This was a fast paced book and I think it could make for a good discussion in a book club. the only reason I did not rate it higher is because the ending was weak and I did not find it very satisfying..;
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Evelyn G. (Union, NJ)
Average, Average
I read the book, Good Husbands, waiting for something to really happen and pep it up a notch. It continued on a bland fashion and the ending was so predictable. The storyline just wasn't worth wading through, although, in honesty, the writing itself was good and entertaining. It was just that for me...the magic thread that channels through a good story never appeared. I think this story could be done again, with a few changes in characters and scenery and some element of surprise or mystery mixed in to keep the reader hungry enough to want to plow through to the last page. The book has it's virtues, however, for me it was an effort to read. Again, I do applaud the writing style and think this author has a stunning future waiting for her to unveil. I would regard Good Husbands as a "practice" book.
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Betty T. (Warner Robins, GA)
Meh,,,
While the premise of the book promised a compelling read, the story itself did not meet up to my expectation.
The interaction among the three wives who received the letter was well written, but I just did not care for any of the women. I think the characters themselves needed more depth. The reaction from the husbands when they learned about the letter was also not very realistic.
It is a slow build and provides just enough suspense to keep the reader interested. It does provide various views on the women being forced to see their husbands in a different light. Can they believe that the men they love would commit such a heinous crime? Who can they believe? But the ending just did not work for me.
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Dorothy L. (Boca Raton, FL)
Ironies Abound in Good Husbands
I have mixed feelings about this novel. I found the first 70 or 80 pages at the beginning difficult to read. Jumping around with 3 characters every chapter seemed disjointed to me. Initially, it was difficult to keep the women and their husbands straight without any background information. Usually when novels do this, they have several chapters for each character so you get to know them before you go on to the next. The premise was interesting but not that original. Once I got to the last two thirds of the book, the novel kept my interest more and I wanted to see how it would all turn out. I felt the ending was rushed. I read it twice before I understood what the author was trying to tell us. All I will say is that the key on the bracelet mentioned at the beginning is the KEY to the conclusion. The ending was OK but not great and as I said before rushed. Also the book overall was too long. It could have been much better with the changes I indicated above.
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Jean B. (Naples, FL)
Poor premise
This is a book that makes you ask yourself what would I do if I were a wife who heard the news of a terrible transgression by my husband long before I knew him. I am impressed by the author's writing skills but I'm not impressed by her premise. She creates adult males who are loving and attentive husbands and fathers. Wouldn't a wife, hearing the story of an event that happened when the husband was very young and under the influence of alcohol, be horrified by what he had done but would not consider disrupting their lives and the lives of their children by disclosing something (as terrible as it was) that happened long ago? Nothing will undo what was done and nothing will be gained by disclosing at this late date. I wish the author had used her excellent writing skills to produce a book with a more valid plot.
