The Wolfes seemed like the ultimate blended family. What do you think made it work?

So-called "blended families" are a fairly recent phenomenon. In the case of the Wolfes theirs seemed like the ultimate blended family. What do you think made it work?

To the extent that it did work, it was because the people involved liked or and/or loved each other. But the Wolfes became a sort of closed system, and when the outside, Maya, came in, she was viewed (at least by Cat and by Caroline's children) as the intruder who didn't fit in. Previously, the two families had been able to fit together; Maya was the catalyst for breaking the surface calm and the supposedly harmonious relationships in the family.

I do not think they did work. The children followed the lead of their mothers, who for whatever reason wanted to keep Adrain involved but the strain if adding a 3rd "mother" finally broke them open as Julia said above. The emails were a symptom that something was very wrong- and not just with Cat. She became the scapegoat.

Yes in the end it didn't really work now did it. It seemed almost idyllic in the beginning of the book but we slowly learned that this so-called perfect world may have in truth been a perfect storm for troubles.

It did seem like they worked well but there was a level of dishonesty among them all that ultimately kept them from having what might have been a workable blended family even with Maya. They all seemed to like her but lacked what they wanted (a dad around all the time), everyone living together, etc that even without Maya were not things that were likely to happen. Had they been honest, maybe these things could have been addressed so that realistic expectations existed amongst this group of people that really did love each other.

I don't think it really worked. I think they just put on a fake smile and wanted to give it the impression it was working.
I think all of Adrian's wives, for whatever reason, just lacked a strong female voice. Each previous wife was left for another woman, and the ex wives felt sorry for Maya and assumed she would be left too. Despite this, they then became "friends" with the other woman that took their husband and broke up their family. I think Adrian's selection of passive women not wanting to assert themselves was what made this "work." They just sat quietly and let his destructive behaviors dictate their and their childrens' lives.

I do not think that it did work! Adrian thought all was well, but he rarely took the time to find out or to look deeply enough to make sure his children were adjusting to each marriage. Everyone in that family was suffering because of his selfish desire to find new loves.

I really enjoyed reading this well-written and original book. To me, the family did not work and it took a tragedy time for this selfish and egotistical man to open his eyes to the havoc he raised in his relations with everyone in the family. He was too superficial to realize that you can't really do that to people. The plot was so well done that the reader is sucked in to the feeling of "poor Adrian" until it becomes apparent that he is empty.

The operative word here is "seemed" The Wolfes managed to give the appearance of a happy blended family but by the end of the novel we see that Adrian was convincing himself that all was well because that fit his selfish motives. The first two wives tried to keep their children happy by keeping Adrian happy and involved with his children, but clearly his involvement was superficial.

Since I have direct experience with blended families, I was suspicious from the start. It never seemed realistic that the first two families would get along so well. I was put off by Adrian's passivity right away.

It may have worked but only till the second wife and if it worked it´s because the 2 families supported one another, both wives (first and second) had the same feelings being victims of their husband walking out on them because of his silly love episodes. Being that both wives continued to depend on Adrian, they accepted his third wife as part of the family.

I agree with the above comments about it not working..it was all a sham where people weren't free to express their resentment and pain. The first 2 wives wanted their kids to have their father in their lives so they all put on a happy face but underneath there was so much turmoil and resentment.

It seemed to have worked with the two families but Maya added another detention. This doesn't mean that the original didn't work. One thing that probably hindered it was the age of Maya compared to Adrian and the wives. Why was Caroline seeing a younger man and what affect did this have?