The Good Wife Strikes Back

by Elizabeth Buchan

Elizabeth Buchan’s New York Times bestseller Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman was hailed as “a thoughtful, intelligent, funny, coming-of-middle-age story” by The Boston Globe . Now she’s back with another wise and entertaining novel about a woman who veers off the beaten path—and finds much more than she bargained for. After nineteen years of being the perfect wife to an ambitious politician, Fanny Savage is restless. Tired of merely keeping quiet and looking good at public engagements, she remembers the career she abandoned and the life she left behind as a successful partner in her father’s Italian wine business. She has devoted two decades to being the Good Wife. Was it worth it after all? Could it be time for a trip back to Italy—to the pleasures of sun, wine, and food? Could it be time for . . . a change?

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, British Literature, Family, Adult Fiction, Contemporary Romance

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Elizabeth Buchan began her career as a blurb writer at Penguin Books after graduating from the University of Kent with a double degree in English and History. She moved on to become a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time. Her novels include the prizewinning Consider the Lily – reviewed in the Independent as ‘a gorgeously well written tale: funny, sad and sophisticated’. A subsequent novel, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman became an international bestseller and was made into a CBS Primetime Drama. Later novels included The Second Wife, Separate Beds and Daughters. Her latest, I Can’t Begin to Tell You, a story of resistance in wartime Denmark, was published by Penguin in August 2014.

Elizabeth Buchan’s short stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes, and also been a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for 2014 Costa Novel Award. She is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and of The National Academy of Writing, and sits on the author committee for The Reading Agency.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read in one day and one sitting but couldn't finish it !
Really don't know why I chose this Elizabeth Buchan over Rose Tremain... (the two novels were sitting on my desk) but having read 200 pages I really can't stand the thought of wasting any more time. OK, the story line has been done (but not done to death)...and will be done again, with much greater feeling. But each of the major crises in her life : first, being abandoned as a child by her Mother wh goes off to live in the States; second, the birth of her daughter, Chloe ; third, the discovery that her husband had shagged his Secretary in the marital bed; then, fourth, the sudden unexpected death of her Father , were all so bland and lacking in sensitive feeling, and reported in the passive tense.. ..I decided to call it a dyad donate the book to a charity shop... and guess what ? There were others on the shelf !

[Alyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't ready any reviews before reading this book. Based on the title, I was expecting a funny story about a traditional wife who turns everything upside down...this is not that book. I'm still not sure what her "strike" was supposed to be. Most of the book was flashbacks about how much of a jerk her husband is/was. 2/3 of the way through, she goes to Italy on her own...where nothing happens. In the end, she goes back to her jerk of a husband and continues to be a good wife. I was very disappointed in this book; it could have been so much better.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I give the author credit for trying to be a little deep, but somehow she didn't succeed. The plot felt clicheed and predictable to me, simply a longer version of its blurb, with characters who didn't grab me and not much else to offer.

Brief summary (if you read this paragraph, you've basically read the book): Fanny, forty-something and facing the empty nest as her beloved college-aged daughter departs for Australia, is beginning to reevaluate her life of self-sacrifice on the altar of her husband's political career. She has worked hard to be the perfect politician's wife, from painful regular appointments to dye her eyelashes so her mascara won't run in the pictures, to giving up her own career, to dealing with her husband's public and standing in for him periodically, to forgiving her husband's one-time dalliance, to taking in her husband's alcoholic sister to live with them. As the book proceeds, Fanny is growing increasingly irritated with the demands of her Stepford wife role, not to mention with her husband himself and with her intrusive and high-maintenance live-in alcoholic sister-in-law. About halfway through the book, her beloved father's death sends her into a tailspin. She departs for her father's native Italy, where she encounters her pre-husband beau who is still attractive and amorous, and she is faced with the decision of whether or not to return to the husband who has taken her for granted all these years.

The book was slow and annoying to begin with. Brief spates of dialogue would be interrupted by paragraphs of explanation of who the people were and what their relationship was. The following is not a direct quote, but this is what it read like:

"Can you please pass the butter, Sacha?" I asked.
Sacha was my nephew, 23 years old. He was visiting from...and had lived with us since...He was in university...
"Sure," said Sacha. He turned to Chloe and asked...
Chloe was...

Although I understood why the author was doing this (it was really too obvious, which I think is what got to me), I've read books which were much more successful at both involving me in the story and clarifying the roles of the characters without getting on my nerves. It was a bad start, and I only got less interested as I read on.

The idea of tracing a woman's trajectory from blissful, blind love to questioning her self-sacrifice to mid-life crisis has been done before, but it still has potential. Unfortunately, although this book tried, it didn't make it. Buchan wanted to make Fanny's life and psyche complicated and, I guess, a little less clicheed -- a mother who abandoned her as a child with whom she still has a relationship, the ambivalence re. the alcoholic live-in sister-in-law whom Fanny would like to kick out of the house but can't, quite -- but somehow, despite these various subplots and complications, I found Fanny and her struggles kind of boring and nothing else in the book compensated.

It did make me wonder why some books manage to be deep or otherwise engaging and some books just don't. I have read books with plots that were similarly typical, but I didn't get as bored. Maybe I liked the characters more, maybe the twists in the circumstances were more interesting or better developed, maybe the writing was better. I don't know what it was, exactly, but whatever it was, this book didn't have it.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Buchan is a writer for ladies of a certain age. Her heroines are usually in their 40s, married with children. They are highly relatable. In The Good Wife Strikes Back, Fanny Savage is a 40-something wife of a politician, and daughter of a late-teens daughter. She considers herself a "good wife", always standing by her husband, as an unpaid co-worker in his political life, and taking care of their daughter.

This book is the story of Fanny's rediscovering herself, and it is very satisfying.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buchan wrote a nicely crafted novel of a woman who has tried to be "a good wife" and a supportive wife to her politician husband. Although, she has a job in the family wine business it seems as though her husband does not consider that side of his wife and uses her as adornment or an accessory to his career. He fully expects her to maintain a complete slate of political activities including taking his place at events when he can't be there. Fanny finds herself becoming overwhelmed by all these demands and starts wishing she were elsewhere. What would she have become if life had taken her down a different path. Is there time to take that path now? Added into the mix are an alcoholic sister-in-law that her husband has added to Fanny's load, her daughter, and her nephew, who has also come to live with them. After her father's death, Fanny decides to go to Italy as she and her father had planned. It seems easier to breathe in Italy. Should she stay? Is a new life possible? Can you leave your old life behind and become a new person?

[Fiona Stocker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough happens in it. Fanny and Will and Meg are well drawn characters but as I found I was waiting for something to happen and then realised that nothing much was going to, apart from a lot of soul searching. I try and avoid soul searching, my own and other people's. So by the time she was in Italy three quarters of the way through, I was speed reading. And she didn't even sleep with Raoul so I felt cheated out of the sex scene. Anybody could see that Meg was going to come to a sticky end too.
I recommend The New Mrs Clifton over this one - much better, more interesting characters, more satisfying plot line.
I like that she's writing about the lives of ostensibly quite ordinary women and scrutinising them. We need more coverage.

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, I know this might have been better received by others, but I found this book, boring, unfocused, but I muddled through to the end, and still I found no redeeming qualities, it was just bad.

[Erin Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an American reading this book, it took me awhile to get into it because I didn't understand all of the lingo about the British government. It was a fine book, it held my attention, but I don't think I will read it again. I was ultimately very dissatisfied with the ending, and it did not go in the direction I thought it was going to.

[Harry Tomos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it, the twist, the relationships, Meg...! a book you can disappear into to.

[Annie Carrott Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading some tough books, I needed a lighter read. Because I loved one of Buchan’s other books, I wanted to give this one a try. The interesting glimmers revolving around alcohol addiction and grief did not make up for the overall blah feeling. The character of Fanny annoyed me as did her husband - and for that matter many of the other characters.
Onward & upward!

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and its complicated themes of family loyalties. I believe the longer you’ve been married, the better you’ll understand the meaning of the title.

[Sue Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life lived

As a reader who has lived long, Fanny's life story brought back memories and how living changes your perspective of any given moment. The youthful bride, young mother, empty nester and all the changes in between. This is a well written observation about how marriages/life evolve as we grow from childhood through adulthood.

[Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the literary equivalent of a 3 am Mighty Bucket for one from KFC.

You are not stupid, you know that it has the nutritional value of a deep fried t*rd, however some small part of your brain is demanding that you walk right in there, past the drunk and the teenagers, swagger up to the poor soul who is working the graveyard shift behind the counter and give them your order.

"Are you sure?" Says the angel that has inexplicably materialised on your shoulder. You immediately swat it away with excuses such as "I have been working long hours in the office lately", "How often do I do this really?" And the classic "But it's just so damn good!"

So you fork over your hard earned cash and hastily snatch your bucket off the counter and swan off into the rest of your night.

It is only in the morning, when you stagger to the bathroom, that the smell of your breath makes you instantly regret eating......”A WHOLE BUCKET? Are you KIDDING me?”

And the calories, guilt, regret and anguish creep over you, like your overnight guest leaving just a few moments before you awoke.

So if that’s what you’re looking for in your chick lit, go ahead and enjoy this book.
But it goes without saying that it's earned a place on my Shelf of Shame.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a limit to tolerance...in the case of this book it she tolerated an obnoxious sister-in-law without regard to her own feelings or needs.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like this book...I kept hoping that it would turn out better than it was but it wasn't in the cards or the pages:)

[Saski · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that one person’s happiness is frequently bought at the expense of another’s.
My husband Will, a politician to his little toe, did not entirely get the point. He maintained that sacrifices in the cause of the common good were sufficient in themselves to make anyone happy. And since Will had sacrificed a significant slice of his family life to pursue his ambitions as, first, a promising MP, then a member of the Treasury Select Committee, then minister, and – latterly .. as one who was tipped to be a possible chancellor of the Exchequer, it followed that he should have been supremely happy.
I think he was.
But was I?
Not a question, perhaps, that a good wife should ask.
If you ask some people what it means to be ‘good’, they reply that it is to tell the truth. But if you are asked by the huntsman which way the fox went, and you tell him, does that mean you are good? (1)

So starts this story and I was hooked from the get-go.

Quotes that caught my eye

A departing backbencher’s wife, Amy Greene, had once lectured me on economy. In order to survive ... it is necessary to be economical with expectation. I had not discussed with her – or, for that matter, with Will – the little economies of spirit that creep into the everyday. They were whisked out of sight and never mentioned. (10)

“Exactly. Anyway, an MP should listen to the dotty as well as the sane,” he pointe3d out.
“Well, that sheds a new light on Parliament,” I said. (16)

Will had been a little slow to see the pint, a reminder that he dealt with theory so much that the practical was often beyond him. (16)
.............
... when a fresh, shining Will appeared. However late we had been, he always managed to look new-minted and ready ... to tackle the theory at any rate. (17)

He stroked my hair and I had a minor revelation as to why arguments were so necessary, for making up was extremely sweet. (77)

“It’s gone in a flash,” she said. “Life. And I wouldn’t mind if it hadn’t been so bloody rotten.” (81)

I put down the phone and noticed the layer of dust that roosted on one of the ugly radiator cases. I was too tired to fetch a duster. I blew on it instead. The dust lifted and settled back. ‘Go away,’ I ordered it. ‘Pack your suitcase and go somewhere else.’ (119)

What was I going to do?
Take refuge in motherhood. Thake refuge in the slap and polish of running a house That was what I would do. Give Chloë her breakfast. The heating? I’d adjust it. The morning post required sorting. Ordinary life flowed over the rocks and hidden pools and coasted over the dangerous shallows. In danger of drowning, I clung to it. (152)

As I say, to be good is not necessarily to tell the truth. (173)

“It’s like this. If this delicious pie was brandy I’d be the happiest woman alive. The terrible truth is, alcohol is so much more reliable than a husband or a son. Or love.” (177)

Power wraps a person up, as tight as liquor in a bonded store. (189)

I am told that sea-changes in the earth’s composition take place underground in secret. We don’t know about them, but they happen, and it is not until later that the scientists can work out exactly what has happened. Meg had been correct: people get bored and they crave change just for the sake of change. There is no rhyme or reason for it, and it is bad luck on anyone caught by the short-fall. (298)

[Helen J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I
The title of this should simply be “The Good Wife” - maybe this is an American adaptation of the original title; however…

I have loved every Elizabeth Buchan book I have ever read to date and this was no different… Am giving 4 stars though as it took me a couple of chapters to get into it (which as never been the case for me with her other books). The writing was as compelling, intelligent and so beautifully observed as the others.
I wanted to scream for Fanny though - leave this awful life as the perfect wife of the politician and be yourself. She had a job which she loved and gave up for him and put up with the execrable sister-in-law who just seemed never to get the hint to GO! I would have dispatched her from the start - she didn’t need to live with them; she could have lived close by without crowding their lives at every opportunity and Will never stood up to her out of guilt.
The daughter escaped to Australia which I would have done too in her shoes but the narrative was full of frustrations and what-ifs. However Fanny was a ‘good wife’ and upheld her side of the bargain until she couldn’t. Just for a while. I would love to know what happens afterwards but maybe it is best left to supposition
Corker of a read and once in, could not put it down.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fine enough to get through, but I didn't feel connected enough to the characters to really care about them. Buchan took a wider lens (with long, sometimes too long, flashback chapters and scenes) on Fanny and Will's relationship and Fanny's life in general, but failed to make me feel like I knew her or was rooting for her. I feel like so much was left out in terms of the characters emotions that I had to re-read whole passages to understand what the characters were supposed to be feeling. Interesting premise and at times this book was enjoyable, (there were a few side characters that had potential and the last third of the book is slightly more engaging than the first 2/3) but wouldn't recommend overall.

[Jaye Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth the time and struggle to get through. The title and blurb make it sound as though Fanny evaluates her life, decides to live for herself, and hints at hijinks that may ensue. Nope. Fanny doesn't even make it to Italy until maybe 2/3 of the into the book. Everything before that is just more and more description of how shitty her life, husband, and marriage are and how she just let it all happen to her.
Think her big trip to Italy, made much of in the blurb, will be exciting and inspiring? Absolutely not. The ex mentioned in the blurb has so little impact on the storyline that he doesn't need to exist. Nothing awakens in her. All that happens in Italy is that she realizes that she should go back to her shitty life and make no changes.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

A study on one woman’s marriage with all the good and bad in view. Fanny is a middle aged British wife of an MP who has had to sacrifice much in her years of marriage to Will. She has been the trooper while campaigning, the cheerleader, the ear and the shoulder to constituents, her husband, their daughter, Will’s alcoholic sister and her nephew. She has been the stoic “good wife” but when her father suddenly dies, she takes his ashes and runs for the solitude of the small, sun baked village of her father’s youth. But her British life follows her, as does upending tragedy that makes her refocus again on the life she has.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting book. I would not have chosen it, but received it as a gift. The title is misleading. What I found interesting about the book was the discussion of what it means to be a daughter, wife and mother, and expectations of self and expectations of others. Add to this the woman's sense of family history. Her life was made more complicated by the fact that she was also a spouse of an ambitious English politician, which required her to add an additional external expectation to her life. There were additional complications. Let's just say there are a lot of layers and complications. Buchan did a nice job of describing locations in England and Italy.

[Bread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich habs geliebt. Ich mag simple Geschichten von simplen Frauen. Es war nichts außergewöhnliches aber es war schön geschrieben und hat mich an den notwendigen Stellen des Buches zum Weinen gebracht. Das Buch ist einfach für eine bestimmte Zielscheibe bestimmt, und viele eine ähnliche Realität wie Fanny leben oder eine Frau kennen die es tut, würden sich mit dem Charakter stark verbunden fühlen. Dass Fanny am Ende mit diesem selbsüchtigen Mann bleibt, ist ein enttäuschendes aber realistisches Ende.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Main Character

Not sure the good wife actually “struck back.” I felt she succumbed to her life and accepted her fate. Not disappointing necessarily, but rather ho-hum. The sister-in-law, Meg, although a secondary character, was by far the most interesting and most developed character. The relationship between Meg and Fanny was a much more enjoyable story line than the husband/wife relationship. Glad the author spent time with Meg and Fanny.

[Andy Bustamante · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that the characters didn't change, didn't evolve at all.

We saw their present, how they were in the past, and the events that happend during the book, and the characters in the past aren't that different from the ones we get to know in the present (we read just a little of change in Fanny).

There were a lot of interesting themes through the book, but they were written too superficially for my taste.

[Rachel Merrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

So incredibly boring. The lack of a timeline or explanation of which year she was discussing threw me off considering how frequently she jumped around between Chloe’s infancy and just before university (as well as Fanny’s young adult hood and however old she was throughout the entire story). There was no description of how each character looked or any location they were in, so it was difficult to visualize the story.

Overall not worth the time, nothing ends up happening.

[Reader]

Great insights into what is going on behind the scenes in someone's mind. A mix of tolerance , love, forgiveness and resentment can exist together in one space. Though the "Good Wife" was far too tolerant of her sister-in-law, that woman needed to find her boot straps and quit with the digs. The book showed how we sometimes muddle through life giving more than we mean to, and taking when we need to.

[Cayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of the book implies that this is going to be a humorous book that fills you with laughter and love for the wife. Not so. Not so at all. I found nothing humorous in this book. I felt like there was soo much hum-drumming and boredom.

The potential is there, but I feel like I was sitting around waiting for no reason.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is nothing about this title that matches the story of this book. The ‘good wife’ is flat, boring and a doormat for those around her.....and she never strikes back! There were pages of this book that made attempts of flowery prose but came up short. It took me a month to slog through this one. My first by this author was not a great first impression.

[Gaynor Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was ok, not as good as the last one I read of hers. Calling her heroine Fanny gave me many a laugh (totally unintended!), due to my dirty mind and the fact that fanny means different things in the UK and the USA. Just as well I found something to laugh about as the book was rather po faced. I still look forward to her next book as the two previous ones were great.

[Cheryll · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me ages to get into this book - that should have been a sign... don't bother with it! But I did finish it. It didn't 'take me away'. It was pretty boring. Ask me about it in a weeks time and I probably won't be able to tell you anything about it! Lot's of descriptive prose, characters that I couldn't really relate to and plot - what plot?