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Sweet Ruin
Thirty-five-year-old Elayna Leopold lives with her young family in suburban New Jersey. Working from home so that she can raise her six-year-old daughter, Hazel, while her husband, Paul, puts in long hours as a corporate lawyer, Elayna is typical of women who spend their twenties chasing dreams in the city only to spend their thirties chasing children in the suburbs. Yet no one knows better than she that life can change in an instant. Two years ago her infant son died, sending her into a deep depression from which she is just emerging.
Awakening now to the idea that she can want more than simply to get through the day, Elayna finds herself suddenly -- thrillingly -- craving life's passions again. When she meets Kevin, a young artist with whom she begins to spend more and more time during Paul's absences, Elayna discovers a version of herself she thought was gone forever. As she uncovers yearnings that could destroy everything she cherishes, a threat to Hazel emerges from an unlikely source, making Elayna's choices and decisions that much more critical.
Awakening now to the idea that she can want more than simply to get through the day, Elayna finds herself suddenly -- thrillingly -- craving life's passions again. When she meets Kevin, a young artist with whom she begins to spend more and more time during Paul's absences, Elayna discovers a version of herself she thought was gone forever. As she uncovers yearnings that could destroy everything she cherishes, a threat to Hazel emerges from an unlikely source, making Elayna's choices and decisions that much more critical.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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664 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
June 22, 2012
The absolute only reason I am giving this book 2 stars is because it is well written and makes me think. I abhor books about infidelity and this one is one long explanation to why she is going to do what she is going to do. I detest this woman.
Not only does she betray her husband, she also places her daughter in the care of her grandfather. This alone wouldn't be a big deal. But, the author took great pains to introduce a sense of skepticism surrounding the grandfather. Then, after everything is said and done, she doesn't tell her husband about what happend. Because he wanted to go to Six Flags. Seriously? HOney sit down and let me tell you something and then we can go to six flags. Then, at the end of the book she basically forgives her father and says that they will have a relationship in the future. I hate this woman.
So, here we have a woman coming out of a 2 year depression after loosing her infant son (I actually get that part) who talks herself into and justifies an affair, lets her kid hang with her grandpa who was inappropriate with her as a child, and doesn't tell her husband everything he needs to know to protect his family. There is not one thing about her that is likeable.
And AND! she spends the first half of the book talking about how she loves her husband. They get into one disagreement and now her marriage is a mess? That is more the author not setting it up correctly for me. The woman is a mental case.
I hate this book. But, by my rules, I finished it so it is not complete shit. Even though it is complete shit.
Not only does she betray her husband, she also places her daughter in the care of her grandfather. This alone wouldn't be a big deal. But, the author took great pains to introduce a sense of skepticism surrounding the grandfather. Then, after everything is said and done, she doesn't tell her husband about what happend. Because he wanted to go to Six Flags. Seriously? HOney sit down and let me tell you something and then we can go to six flags. Then, at the end of the book she basically forgives her father and says that they will have a relationship in the future. I hate this woman.
So, here we have a woman coming out of a 2 year depression after loosing her infant son (I actually get that part) who talks herself into and justifies an affair, lets her kid hang with her grandpa who was inappropriate with her as a child, and doesn't tell her husband everything he needs to know to protect his family. There is not one thing about her that is likeable.
And AND! she spends the first half of the book talking about how she loves her husband. They get into one disagreement and now her marriage is a mess? That is more the author not setting it up correctly for me. The woman is a mental case.
I hate this book. But, by my rules, I finished it so it is not complete shit. Even though it is complete shit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2011
Cathi Hanauer’s book takes an age-old theme, adultery, and turns it into a gripping page-turner of a novel. Sweet Ruin introduces us to 35 year old Elayna, a work-at-home editor who is just crawling out of a two-year depression after the death of her infant son, Oliver. Her husband, Paul, is a benign, but absent figure, someone who is clearly burying his own grief in his work as a lawyer. Their six-year-old daughter, Hazel, is intelligent and demanding.
“…that brilliant April, after rain had soaked us all March, it felt to me as if the earth and the plants, the insects and trees just couldn’t stay in their pants,” Elayna observes. And from the ruin of her life, Elayna begins to emerge and just as she does she meets, Kevin, a much younger boy-man who lives across the street.
It would be easy to find fault with Elayna - after all, she loves her husband and her daughter and has, what appears to be a perfect life. But Hanauer asks us to imagine Elayna as a woman who has lost more than a child; she’s lost, in a life filled with bossy caregivers and schedules dictated by a busy child and workaholic husband, some essential part of herself. It’s almost impossible not to relate to her.
And as Elayna’s relationship with Kevin skirts closer and closer to something from which there will be no turning back, it’s hard not to be swept along. Partly it has to do with Hanauer’s beautiful prose and partly it has to do with how carefully she builds Elayna’s world. Either way, it was impossible to put this book down because even though the it tells an age-old story, it felt new and heartbreaking to me.
Gorgeous.
“…that brilliant April, after rain had soaked us all March, it felt to me as if the earth and the plants, the insects and trees just couldn’t stay in their pants,” Elayna observes. And from the ruin of her life, Elayna begins to emerge and just as she does she meets, Kevin, a much younger boy-man who lives across the street.
It would be easy to find fault with Elayna - after all, she loves her husband and her daughter and has, what appears to be a perfect life. But Hanauer asks us to imagine Elayna as a woman who has lost more than a child; she’s lost, in a life filled with bossy caregivers and schedules dictated by a busy child and workaholic husband, some essential part of herself. It’s almost impossible not to relate to her.
And as Elayna’s relationship with Kevin skirts closer and closer to something from which there will be no turning back, it’s hard not to be swept along. Partly it has to do with Hanauer’s beautiful prose and partly it has to do with how carefully she builds Elayna’s world. Either way, it was impossible to put this book down because even though the it tells an age-old story, it felt new and heartbreaking to me.
Gorgeous.
December 7, 2011
A tender, poetic, and sensual first-person story of a more-or-less happily married woman developing an obsession with the boy next door. Hanauer's compassion for her characters and for the state of being human makes it impossible not to empathize with everyone involved in the protagonist's entire circle of relationships. Beautifully written; I read it in one sitting.
March 6, 2014
In New York Times best-selling author Cathi Hanauer's latest novel she takes readers into the mind of a thrity-something, wife and stay at home Mom, just coming back from a devastating tragedy. It has been two years since the death of Elayna Leopold-Slade's infant son Oliver, and only now is the fog of deep depression starting to lift. As winter turns to spring Elayna feels herself start to come alive again and is enjoying this newfound sense of freedom. As she begins to take focus on her work as a poetry editor, her 6 year old daughter Hazel is finding more independence and her loving but sometimes distant husband is working long hours, Elayna begins to use her time to refocus on herself. However, she soon finds this new Zen for life taking her down a road she never imagined, when she meets her young, handsome and very intriguing neighbor, Kevin. As she and Kevin form a friendship, she finds herself feeling things she thought died along with Oliver and finds him hard to resist.
'SWEET RUIN' is well written, thought-provoking and gives us great insight into the mind of a wife and mother trying to reconnect with pieces of herself that were pushed aside to take care of her family. As a wife and mother myself, I could completely relate to much of Elayna's thoughts about motherhood and marriage and how one can loose themselves in the chaos of it all. Hanauer has provided a very honest look at life and does not sugar coat the effects Elayna's actions have on her or her family. This book should be on everyone's must read list for this summer!
'SWEET RUIN' is well written, thought-provoking and gives us great insight into the mind of a wife and mother trying to reconnect with pieces of herself that were pushed aside to take care of her family. As a wife and mother myself, I could completely relate to much of Elayna's thoughts about motherhood and marriage and how one can loose themselves in the chaos of it all. Hanauer has provided a very honest look at life and does not sugar coat the effects Elayna's actions have on her or her family. This book should be on everyone's must read list for this summer!
January 16, 2014
Yet another one I really wanted to like, but had a hard time getting into until the last 50 or so pages. Married couple with a young child loses their other child (which is really told as almost an after thought)and they grow apart. Man works a lot, woman spends lots of time daydreaming, drinking wine, and hanging out in her front yard. Meets cute young boy in the apartments across the way who is single, buff, and is a potter. Good grief, can you say "Ghost?" Do I even have to explain the rest? One of the oldest stories out there. Add in a sexual pervert for a father, a few friends of the woman that have no character development whatsoever, a whiny child, and one really good sex scene and you got yourself the whole book. Proceed with caution.
February 13, 2025
While I feel that having an affair is never okay, I can understand how Elayna fell into temptation. She and her husband, Paul, are in mourning after the death of their infant son. Paul buries himself in his work while Elayna does what she needs to do to care for their other child who was three at the time of his death. After two years of this, Elayna begins to be ready for more in life but her husband is never home. She meets the good-looking, kind and interesting 20 something across the street and they fall in lust. Elayna realizes how wrong her choices were when her daughter's safety is threatened and she is caught. In the end, she and Paul work things out but I feel they are the few couples that survive an affair.
August 4, 2014
I found an old "to read" list of mine a little while back and saw this book listed on it. I remembered then how much I wanted to read it back in 2006, so I checked it out of the library and started reading it, only to realize I'd already read it. Yet, I couldn't remember what happened next, what happened at all, or how it ended, so I kept reading, and soon realized that I'd only ever made it through the first chapter. I don't know if the book just didn't touch me last time, or if I just wasn't reading as much back then, but this time maybe everything just came together, because not only did I make it past the first chapter, but I loved the book, and was always wanting to find the time to read and finish it. While I thought maybe it was a little slow to start, once it did start rolling, it really captured me.
I think the book for me touched on a topic (infidelity) that I've read multiple books on, but it's the only one that did it realistically. In the others, the women always fell way too fast, did everything wrong, and their husbands took them back, forgave them, and the next day life was back to normal. While not wanting to spoil the book, I will say it was more believable than that.
Although I am happily married for seven years, I will say sometimes there are days I will question how realistic 'forever' really is. For me, this book was about taking that chance, meeting that guy that made you feel alive after years of marriage, toying with stepping over the line, possibly crossing the line, dealing with ramifications of your choices. It was a good book to read. Because every book that I read that reminds me that making the choice to stay in your happy marriage is the right one, is one more book that keeps me from possibly making the wrong choice one day. Although I couldn't imagine ever cheating on my husband, as the old saying goes, and as is mentioned in the book, "We are all human". Who knows what will happen years from now, what possibilities will come about, but risking everything for a one night stand or a long term fling, just isn't worth the life that you have built together. I think the book was well written and was able to get that point across.
I thought the characters were well written and well delivered - although I will say there were too many "C" names - Cindi, Celeste, Clementine - and I was forever getting them confused. Pansy I thought was way over the top and needed a good, "I am the parent" speech from Hazel's parents, but so be it. I felt the pain of Elayna and Paul as they struggled to move past the death of their son, and struggled to piece their marriage back together. I was just as enveloped in their marriage as they were. I really enjoyed Cathi Hanauer's writing style as well and only wish she had written more books for me to read.
I think the book for me touched on a topic (infidelity) that I've read multiple books on, but it's the only one that did it realistically. In the others, the women always fell way too fast, did everything wrong, and their husbands took them back, forgave them, and the next day life was back to normal. While not wanting to spoil the book, I will say it was more believable than that.
Although I am happily married for seven years, I will say sometimes there are days I will question how realistic 'forever' really is. For me, this book was about taking that chance, meeting that guy that made you feel alive after years of marriage, toying with stepping over the line, possibly crossing the line, dealing with ramifications of your choices. It was a good book to read. Because every book that I read that reminds me that making the choice to stay in your happy marriage is the right one, is one more book that keeps me from possibly making the wrong choice one day. Although I couldn't imagine ever cheating on my husband, as the old saying goes, and as is mentioned in the book, "We are all human". Who knows what will happen years from now, what possibilities will come about, but risking everything for a one night stand or a long term fling, just isn't worth the life that you have built together. I think the book was well written and was able to get that point across.
I thought the characters were well written and well delivered - although I will say there were too many "C" names - Cindi, Celeste, Clementine - and I was forever getting them confused. Pansy I thought was way over the top and needed a good, "I am the parent" speech from Hazel's parents, but so be it. I felt the pain of Elayna and Paul as they struggled to move past the death of their son, and struggled to piece their marriage back together. I was just as enveloped in their marriage as they were. I really enjoyed Cathi Hanauer's writing style as well and only wish she had written more books for me to read.
April 22, 2009
The story picks up right as Elayna is emerging from a 2-year depression caused by the death of her infant son at just 4 days old. Her depression was a healthy one, she was able to work through it and still provide her daughter with quality time - although her relationship with her husband (as he grieves, too) is understandably strained. Elayna is ready to feel alive again, ready to pick up life and live again, and her husband is not quite there yet. When Elayna meets Kevin, the young 20-something boy across the street, she starts feeling things she hasn't experienced since her own 20-something days: anticipation, excitement, flirtation, sexual tension, infatuation, lust.
Elayna was a wonderfully real character. There are times during reading this book that I was almost scared by how much I could relate to her. Her husband is not the bad guy, he is dealing with his grief by burying himself in work, but he is not the absent father character. Elayna is not the flaky depressed woman rushing into things without thinking of the consequences, either. She really struggles with the life she has versus the excitement of a relationship with Kevin. And of course she knows how disastrous such a relationship could be to her marriage and family.
My only complaints about the book are about the more secondary characters: Elayna's father, sister, best friend and day care provider are a little bit two dimensional and at times I felt that some of the sub-plots were lifted from Hallmark after-school specials.
Overall, great book!
Elayna was a wonderfully real character. There are times during reading this book that I was almost scared by how much I could relate to her. Her husband is not the bad guy, he is dealing with his grief by burying himself in work, but he is not the absent father character. Elayna is not the flaky depressed woman rushing into things without thinking of the consequences, either. She really struggles with the life she has versus the excitement of a relationship with Kevin. And of course she knows how disastrous such a relationship could be to her marriage and family.
My only complaints about the book are about the more secondary characters: Elayna's father, sister, best friend and day care provider are a little bit two dimensional and at times I felt that some of the sub-plots were lifted from Hallmark after-school specials.
Overall, great book!
November 19, 2012
With her workaholic lawyer husband gone most of the waking hours, 35 year-old Elayna is practically a single mother, living in the Jersey burbs. She is also a stay-at-home poetry magazine editor. When a cute potter, Kevin, moves into the apartments across the street, Elayna knows better but starts to fall for him just a bit. Her daughter Hazel is age 6, and Elayna is very wrapped up in giving her a good childhood. She is coming out of a depression that lasted some two years following the death of an infant son, so I could forgive her brightening up when Kevin pays her some attention. Will this be a friendship or a flirtation? Also complicating things is Elayna's relationship with her father, a terminally hip Manhattan fashion photographer, who starts introducing Hazel to the world of fashion shows. There are colorful scenes set in Manhattan I could really relate to, as Elayna is very much a woman of her senses, and the City stirs her blood, whenever she is able to go there for coffee with a friend or meals with her father, etc. She is an indulgent kind of person, and I felt the author really did a good job of making us believe in her despite the trouble that her indulgent, sensual nature gets her into. Many parenting dilemmas pop up.... A quick, light read, a book I grabbed between the arrival of other more current books I reserved, but I was pleasantly suprised by its contents.
July 26, 2010
This is the first audio book I've ever listened to. At work we are allowed to have an IPod, as long as it's kept quiet. I've been missing out on reading books, so I got this ingenious idea to listen to them instead. So I went to the library and searched through our very limited books on CD and found this.
I really enjoyed Sweet Ruin. Elayna having gone through one of the most difficult things I can imagine, is struggling to come out of her depression and resurface into the world, only to find that she is seeking passion, to be loved, to feel loved. There are parts I can relate to in the story, such as making decisions for her daughter and reasoning out scenarios of what is good or right or okay for her 6 year old. And what is right for herself as well. She is just trying to begin to live again while her husband is shut up in an office working long hours, and barely has time for her. Cathi's writing style is beautiful. I know in the past I've mentioned that I prefer character development over very potent descriptions - but for Sweet Ruin; the descriptions, the language - which is poetic, is what make this story so good. The character development is very strong as well. You can feel the emotion, and the love, and the hurt and betrayal of each character. This book is simply written beautifully!
I really enjoyed Sweet Ruin. Elayna having gone through one of the most difficult things I can imagine, is struggling to come out of her depression and resurface into the world, only to find that she is seeking passion, to be loved, to feel loved. There are parts I can relate to in the story, such as making decisions for her daughter and reasoning out scenarios of what is good or right or okay for her 6 year old. And what is right for herself as well. She is just trying to begin to live again while her husband is shut up in an office working long hours, and barely has time for her. Cathi's writing style is beautiful. I know in the past I've mentioned that I prefer character development over very potent descriptions - but for Sweet Ruin; the descriptions, the language - which is poetic, is what make this story so good. The character development is very strong as well. You can feel the emotion, and the love, and the hurt and betrayal of each character. This book is simply written beautifully!
January 1, 2010
I have not read any books by this author before but may look for more by her. The story is essentially of Elayna's emergence from a 2 year depression after the death of her new born sun. She grieves and her husband grieves -- but never do the two meet in the grief process. The husband buries himself in his work and Elayna wants to talk about things and feel the grief.
As she is emerging from her depression, she meets an attractive young man who lives across the street. He is kind and pleasant and connects with and spends time with her daughter (which her husband is not doing.)The author does an amazing job of describing Elayna's needs, wants and desires and the conflict with her loyalty and duty (to husband and daughter.) She knows how much is at stake, but is ready to emerge into the world of the living, feeling, alive. She takes the plunge, unable to stop herself and lives with the consequences.
As she is emerging from her depression, she meets an attractive young man who lives across the street. He is kind and pleasant and connects with and spends time with her daughter (which her husband is not doing.)The author does an amazing job of describing Elayna's needs, wants and desires and the conflict with her loyalty and duty (to husband and daughter.) She knows how much is at stake, but is ready to emerge into the world of the living, feeling, alive. She takes the plunge, unable to stop herself and lives with the consequences.
October 15, 2018
I liked the writer's voice during this story. She wrote as if telling a friend what she went through and I was glued, not stopping until I knew everything that happened. I stayed up late to finish it last night. Very different. We are all flawed. I felt the main character was extremely open about her flaws and issues. From not feeling sure she was handling her daughter properly to how she felt about 'looking pretty,' this woman was real and refreshing to me. Most of the time authors have the characters do stupid things, but here you were really inside her head and knowing WHY she was human enough to fail where she wanted to succeed. I really liked it. I thought it was realistic. I recommend!
March 28, 2010
Maybe I'm not sophisticated enough or too old, but other than the daughter and the husband, the characters did not seem real. The setting that started it all was contrived and the situations were hard to believe, as were the actions and reactions of the main character. The story didn't seem to flow naturally but was stiff with necessary parts included in awkward ways. The continuity was off and I would get distracted by trying to reconcile occurrences on one page with timelines from the previous page(s). The author did seem to capture the inevitability of discovery, whether it be by another person or just oneself. And the ending was real.
May 27, 2016
I usually try to power through books that are boring in the hope that at some point they'll redeem themselves, but I had to abandon this one. The excruciating details of a stagnant, boring woman's life and the predictable inevitability that she'll try to spice things up with a new neighbor who's far too young for her, plus the clumsily foreshadowed theme of child abuse trying to salvage this trite effort was...well...BORING!!! Life's too short for such drivel to take up its precious time when other much more relevant and satisfying reads are out there!
Hell, reading a Hallmark greeting card is more absorbing than this sorry specimen.
Hell, reading a Hallmark greeting card is more absorbing than this sorry specimen.
April 20, 2017
This is a very suspenseful story in the sense that you really want to know what happens next to Elayna and I liked how the ending wasn't overly simplistic. Things aren't wrapped up neatly with a bow, which seems genuine. The daughter is adorable and so many of her scenes are super cute. I love the interactions between her and her mother, even the troubling ones, because they seem so dead-on. I didn't get a good sense for what the boyfriend was like, what he looked like and so one, but nonetheless I saw where Elayna was coming from.
May 15, 2017
For some reason I loved this book. I loved her character and plot development and felt I really connected with Hanauer's characters. It is a book that I have read more than once, and that is a rare occurrence for me!
February 16, 2017
I hated the main character...couldn't sympathize with her at all. The writing felt too flowery, too heavy (and not in a good way).
December 31, 2018
Two words: stu pid.
September 12, 2019
3.5. Really enjoyed it, kept me interested
September 8, 2018
I pulled this book off the shelf not knowing anything about it. I read 104 pages and decided that I’d had enough. In the beginning I related to Elayna - I’m also 35, struggling stay at home mom with two kids, one miscarriage that wrecked me, a hard working husband, just now coming out of postpartum depression and yearning for more. I found no appeal in the draw towards Kevin or any potential affair they might have. I ended up despising Elayna and her choices, even this early on in the book.
There were only moments I felt a connection and mainly in comparing Hazel to my own daughter. If Hanauer got anything right it’s the developmental stage Hazel is in. I laughed and even cried when she described Hazel getting out of the car and making Elayna carry everything and the shitty last minute meals and the feeling of pure exhaustion a mother feels. Her description of what a child does to your life, and everything else that falls after parenting really hit home.
Full stop when the story foreshadows Elayna was sexually abused or objectified as a child by her own father and she decides to continue a relationship with him + allowed her daughter to foster a relationship with him. Where is your unconditional love and protection for Hazel now? You’d rather go shopping? Why didn’t she listen to her sister or bloody hell her intuition? Childhood trauma has some uncommon consequences and infidelity could very well be one of them but this storyline is too sad for me to continue. I don’t feel like being angry in my fictional reading right now.
There were only moments I felt a connection and mainly in comparing Hazel to my own daughter. If Hanauer got anything right it’s the developmental stage Hazel is in. I laughed and even cried when she described Hazel getting out of the car and making Elayna carry everything and the shitty last minute meals and the feeling of pure exhaustion a mother feels. Her description of what a child does to your life, and everything else that falls after parenting really hit home.
Full stop when the story foreshadows Elayna was sexually abused or objectified as a child by her own father and she decides to continue a relationship with him + allowed her daughter to foster a relationship with him. Where is your unconditional love and protection for Hazel now? You’d rather go shopping? Why didn’t she listen to her sister or bloody hell her intuition? Childhood trauma has some uncommon consequences and infidelity could very well be one of them but this storyline is too sad for me to continue. I don’t feel like being angry in my fictional reading right now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2018
I’m making my way through books written by the contributors to A Bitch in the House. I love those essays. Hanauer is the editor of the collection.
This novel gives a close up look at
marriage and parenthood, and I appreciate how well Hanauer describes the everyday lives of her characters. I love that focus and I also was impressed by how believable every plot point was, even in dealing with such sticky or tragic situations as losing a baby, boundaries with grandparents and caregivers, and adultery.
I give three stars, though, because it didn’t all come together to wow me. I enjoyed it, but wasn’t thrilled by it. It was thought provoking and realistic to read this sort of cautionary tale about temptations, but also a little depressing. Also, like the last book I read that was about moms in their thirties, the main character is a milf. Why are all these protagonists so attractive to everyone? Is that realistic? Not trying to be a drag, I want to see women lifted up and positive, but part of the struggles of motherhood, even in one’s thirties, is that you aren’t as attractive to young men, at least most of us aren’t.
Anyway, I mostly liked the book and would read another one by Hanauer. In fact, I will.
This novel gives a close up look at
marriage and parenthood, and I appreciate how well Hanauer describes the everyday lives of her characters. I love that focus and I also was impressed by how believable every plot point was, even in dealing with such sticky or tragic situations as losing a baby, boundaries with grandparents and caregivers, and adultery.
I give three stars, though, because it didn’t all come together to wow me. I enjoyed it, but wasn’t thrilled by it. It was thought provoking and realistic to read this sort of cautionary tale about temptations, but also a little depressing. Also, like the last book I read that was about moms in their thirties, the main character is a milf. Why are all these protagonists so attractive to everyone? Is that realistic? Not trying to be a drag, I want to see women lifted up and positive, but part of the struggles of motherhood, even in one’s thirties, is that you aren’t as attractive to young men, at least most of us aren’t.
Anyway, I mostly liked the book and would read another one by Hanauer. In fact, I will.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2023
This is really a 2.5 rounded up rating. (Goodreads, please add half stars to your rating system!) This book felt familiar, then after a while I realized that I had read it before. I couldn't find it in "my books", so I read it either before Goodreads was a thing, or before I was aware of Goodreads. Anyway, Sweet Ruin was so-so...certainly not the best book I've read, but it was worth finishing, even if it wasn't "can't put down-able". Not sure if I would recommend.
March 2, 2023
I will give this book a generous 2.5 stars. It felt like it was going into too great of detail where it should not…. Honestly, I could have skipped this and read another book that I would have liked a lot better. Oh well.
March 9, 2019
Melodramatic but not really that much substance.
Main character not very sympathetic.
Main character not very sympathetic.
October 2, 2020
This book surprised me ... i really enjoyed it.
July 17, 2022
3 Really expected more to happen
January 13, 2023
I found this hard to get into almost gave up but finished it
October 24, 2024
Really 3.5
July 16, 2018
Downright awful.
June 27, 2007
Not a Desperate, but a Pathetic Housewife
I wanted to like this book. I think Cathi Hanauer is a very talented writer with a keen eye for detail and a conversational tone that allows you to know her characters and feel like you're chatting with them over a cup of coffee (or pitcher of margaritas). BUT . . . I had a hard time sinking my teeth into this story. The main character, Elayna Leopold, is an educated New Jersey housewife and mother of a precocious six-year-old. She is on the threshold of middle age, and struggles with her attraction to the boy-next-door-type character, who turns her head and seduces her with a potter's wheel. (I had a hard time NOT envisioning Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in "Ghost," during this scene).
There's a lot to this book--primarily a story premise that made me buy it. (That and because I loved her first novel, "My Sister's Bones.") At once, there's sympathy for Elayna because we learn her baby boy has died and she's just coming into the acceptance stage of her grief. The problem is, we never get to truly feel her pain, and hence forgive her for her pathetic actions in pursuing the young hunk across the street----not to mention her stereotypical feelings of abandonment due to her lawyer husband's preoccupation with a death row case. Her character is shaped somewhat by the appearances of her sister----who suggests they were maltreated by their philandering, photographer father----and her best friend and former college roommate, Celeste, the I-Am-Independent-New York-Woman-just-let-me-prove-I-don't-need-to-be-married-but-sleep-with-a-married-man kind of character. But there's not enough of these characters, in my opinion, and instead we spend far too much time in Elayna's head as she struggles with her moral decisions and everyday routines.
Read it for Hanauer's descriptive and, at times, lyrical prose, and occasional pearls of wisdom regarding mundane, suburban life. But unless you like the desperate housewives plot line, don't expect to be riveted by the story.
I wanted to like this book. I think Cathi Hanauer is a very talented writer with a keen eye for detail and a conversational tone that allows you to know her characters and feel like you're chatting with them over a cup of coffee (or pitcher of margaritas). BUT . . . I had a hard time sinking my teeth into this story. The main character, Elayna Leopold, is an educated New Jersey housewife and mother of a precocious six-year-old. She is on the threshold of middle age, and struggles with her attraction to the boy-next-door-type character, who turns her head and seduces her with a potter's wheel. (I had a hard time NOT envisioning Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in "Ghost," during this scene).
There's a lot to this book--primarily a story premise that made me buy it. (That and because I loved her first novel, "My Sister's Bones.") At once, there's sympathy for Elayna because we learn her baby boy has died and she's just coming into the acceptance stage of her grief. The problem is, we never get to truly feel her pain, and hence forgive her for her pathetic actions in pursuing the young hunk across the street----not to mention her stereotypical feelings of abandonment due to her lawyer husband's preoccupation with a death row case. Her character is shaped somewhat by the appearances of her sister----who suggests they were maltreated by their philandering, photographer father----and her best friend and former college roommate, Celeste, the I-Am-Independent-New York-Woman-just-let-me-prove-I-don't-need-to-be-married-but-sleep-with-a-married-man kind of character. But there's not enough of these characters, in my opinion, and instead we spend far too much time in Elayna's head as she struggles with her moral decisions and everyday routines.
Read it for Hanauer's descriptive and, at times, lyrical prose, and occasional pearls of wisdom regarding mundane, suburban life. But unless you like the desperate housewives plot line, don't expect to be riveted by the story.
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