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The Change Room
Happily married, great career, mother of two. What more could a woman possibly want? Enter The Change Room, by award-winning writer Karen Connelly, and find out.
Eliza Keenan is the mother of two young sons, the owner of a flower studio that caters to the city's elite, and the loving wife of a deliciously rumpled math professor named Andrew. She's on the move from dawn until her boys are in bed, and after they're asleep she cleans her house. Her one complaint about her life is that the only time she has for herself is her twice-weekly swim in the local community centre pool, where sunlight shines in through a tall window and lights up the water in a way that reminds her of the year she spent as a footloose youth on an island in Greece. Then one morning into this life that is full of satisfactions of all kinds except sexual (because who has the time or the energy once the kids are asleep?) comes a tall, dark and lovely stranger, a young woman Eliza encounters at the pool and nicknames 'the Amazon.' The sight of this woman, naked in the change room, completely undoes Eliza, and soon the two of them are entangled in an affair that breaks all the rules, and threatens to capsize not only Eliza and her happy family, but her lover's world, too. And yet the sex is so all-encompassing, so intimate, so true...how can it be bad? Be ready to be shaken up, woken up, scandalized and deeply stirred."
Eliza Keenan is the mother of two young sons, the owner of a flower studio that caters to the city's elite, and the loving wife of a deliciously rumpled math professor named Andrew. She's on the move from dawn until her boys are in bed, and after they're asleep she cleans her house. Her one complaint about her life is that the only time she has for herself is her twice-weekly swim in the local community centre pool, where sunlight shines in through a tall window and lights up the water in a way that reminds her of the year she spent as a footloose youth on an island in Greece. Then one morning into this life that is full of satisfactions of all kinds except sexual (because who has the time or the energy once the kids are asleep?) comes a tall, dark and lovely stranger, a young woman Eliza encounters at the pool and nicknames 'the Amazon.' The sight of this woman, naked in the change room, completely undoes Eliza, and soon the two of them are entangled in an affair that breaks all the rules, and threatens to capsize not only Eliza and her happy family, but her lover's world, too. And yet the sex is so all-encompassing, so intimate, so true...how can it be bad? Be ready to be shaken up, woken up, scandalized and deeply stirred."
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2017
32 people are currently reading
723 people want to read
About the author
Karen Connelly
22 books81 followersKaren Connelly was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1969, to a large working class family. She's the author of eleven best-selling books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. She has read from her work and lectured in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She has won the Pat Lowther Award for her poetry, the Governor General’s Award for her non-fiction, and Britain’s Orange Broadband Prize for New Fiction for her first novel The Lizard Cage. Karen has served on the board member of PEN Canada and has been active in the Free Burma movement. A proficient to fluent speaker of several languages, she divides her time between her home in rural Greece and her home in Toronto, Canada. She is married with a young child.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
April 11, 2017
2.5 stars. I didn’t dislike The Change Room because it deals with a married woman having an affair with another woman. That’s actually what interested me about The Change Room. But I couldn’t get into The Change Room because it felt like one hot draggy mess, with some occasional positive relief. Here are my messy thoughts:
-The central character Eliza was the most unappealing aspect of the book. I think I’m done with books dealing with urban upper middle class women who feel trapped in their busy lives of work, children and marriage. Eliza’s complaints felt too familiar, and too whiny. They are legitimate in their own way, but my sympathy for such complaints feels close to exhausted. A novel dealing with this theme better be pretty original, otherwise I can feel myself tuning out.
-Oddly, the saving grace in the book – the reason for the half star rounding up to 3 stars – is Eliza’s lover Shar. Now, Shar is one interesting character, and I wish the book had focused more on her. With Shar, Connelly has created a female character who defies stereotypes and who’s personality is really appealing.
-The other characters felt uni-dimensional.
- The story ends with a dinner party scene that promised to make up for some of the book’s earlier frustration, and then – whoosh – the scene got deflated with a ridiculous coincidence and revelation.
-The Toronto setting right in my neighbourhood was a bonus, but the author trotted out a Quebecois woman who was too close to being a stereotype for my enjoyment.
-There is a ton of explicit sex. Again, this in itself wasn’t a reason I disliked The Change Room. But it didn’t make me like the book any better because I felt manipulated – as though I was meant to be shocked.
I don’t know. I wish I liked it better. I think I should have stopped reading. I hate dissing a Canadian book. But there you go. This one didn’t really work for me. It may work better for others. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
-The central character Eliza was the most unappealing aspect of the book. I think I’m done with books dealing with urban upper middle class women who feel trapped in their busy lives of work, children and marriage. Eliza’s complaints felt too familiar, and too whiny. They are legitimate in their own way, but my sympathy for such complaints feels close to exhausted. A novel dealing with this theme better be pretty original, otherwise I can feel myself tuning out.
-Oddly, the saving grace in the book – the reason for the half star rounding up to 3 stars – is Eliza’s lover Shar. Now, Shar is one interesting character, and I wish the book had focused more on her. With Shar, Connelly has created a female character who defies stereotypes and who’s personality is really appealing.
-The other characters felt uni-dimensional.
- The story ends with a dinner party scene that promised to make up for some of the book’s earlier frustration, and then – whoosh – the scene got deflated with a ridiculous coincidence and revelation.
-The Toronto setting right in my neighbourhood was a bonus, but the author trotted out a Quebecois woman who was too close to being a stereotype for my enjoyment.
-There is a ton of explicit sex. Again, this in itself wasn’t a reason I disliked The Change Room. But it didn’t make me like the book any better because I felt manipulated – as though I was meant to be shocked.
I don’t know. I wish I liked it better. I think I should have stopped reading. I hate dissing a Canadian book. But there you go. This one didn’t really work for me. It may work better for others. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
March 5, 2018
This is a book that was mentioned in passing on an episode of the Reading Envy podcast, but something that was said made me request it from interlibrary loan. It has never been published in the United States for some reason, but enough libraries bought it anyway.
What I liked:
-This is a very sex positive book, from bisexuality to nonmonogamy to sex work
-I liked the exploration of bisexuality within a marriage, since that is an area with natural tension
-The agonizing conversations between Eliza and Andrew, I felt they were pretty realistic especially later in the novel
-The lack of puritanical judgments passed on the characters while they go through everything. Is this what it's like in Canada, or is this an ideal landscape?
-The ending - it all happened so fast that I had to reread it, and I think my conclusion is that we don't know what will happen next. It's up to the reader to decide, which I liked considering the events heading up to that point.
Facts about the book that are neither pro/con:
-There is a lot of sex in this book, more than I usually encounter. And it is not all vanilla!
-Canada! Yay, Canada.
What I struggled with:
-Eliza, the protagonist, is gorgeous, successful, has two children and a career, available for affairs with another swimmer at the pool, but she also longs for babies every time she ovulates? Instant shudder material for me. I have never been that kind of woman and wonder do they really exist? It seemed to be at odds with her otherwise, at least for me.
-The brother Martin, just no reason for his whole storyline.
-Reading about people peeing. I don't care, I just don't want to read about it. Especially if that's the only place they are having important thoughts. It happens a lot in this book for some reason.
This is a new author to me, and I'm interested in reading more.
What I liked:
-This is a very sex positive book, from bisexuality to nonmonogamy to sex work
-I liked the exploration of bisexuality within a marriage, since that is an area with natural tension
-The agonizing conversations between Eliza and Andrew, I felt they were pretty realistic especially later in the novel
-The lack of puritanical judgments passed on the characters while they go through everything. Is this what it's like in Canada, or is this an ideal landscape?
-The ending - it all happened so fast that I had to reread it, and I think my conclusion is that we don't know what will happen next. It's up to the reader to decide, which I liked considering the events heading up to that point.
Facts about the book that are neither pro/con:
-There is a lot of sex in this book, more than I usually encounter. And it is not all vanilla!
-Canada! Yay, Canada.
What I struggled with:
-Eliza, the protagonist, is gorgeous, successful, has two children and a career, available for affairs with another swimmer at the pool, but she also longs for babies every time she ovulates? Instant shudder material for me. I have never been that kind of woman and wonder do they really exist? It seemed to be at odds with her otherwise, at least for me.
-The brother Martin, just no reason for his whole storyline.
-Reading about people peeing. I don't care, I just don't want to read about it. Especially if that's the only place they are having important thoughts. It happens a lot in this book for some reason.
This is a new author to me, and I'm interested in reading more.
March 15, 2017
This novel is completely outside of what I normally read.
A sort of a twist on the “coming of age” story, Eliza, a middle-aged, married woman, finds herself in an adulterous affair with a woman (Shar) she meets at the pool. What starts in the change room soon takes over Eliza’s life as she battles between what she feels is right and what she feels in her heart.
I initially chose this book because a Canadian author wrote it. I am making a serious effort this year to #readthenorth. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I I read this novel easily over the course of a few sittings; I found myself completely engaged in Eliza’s world.
However, this one left me feeling conflicted. I don’t know if I loved this novel or if I hated.
I felt an instant connection to the Eliza character. Something about her was so realistic and she truly was well developed. One thing I liked about her was her banter; she was funny and smart. A few things she said had me smirking with delight. She seemed to be modelled after an “every woman” type of character. She works hard, loves her family but, for whatever reason, finds herself with discontent. For whatever reason, Eliza kept reminding me of the protagonist from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.
I struggled in the middle of the novel because, as much as I enjoyed the character development of Eliza, I didn’t find myself interested in Shar. Not even a little. I’m not sure if I was supposed to be shocked by her sexual experience and feel as if she was an edgy, breath of fresh air into Eliza’s life. But I didn’t. In fact, she kind of bored me.
By the end, I was even more conflicted as I loved the general storyline but hated the abrupt ending.
Regardless of my mixed feels regarding the actual content of the book, I must applaud Connelly for her writing style. As mentioned, she kept me engaged and wondering how this would play out. I also must applaud her on tackling such subject matter; this novel does portray sexually explicit material but I never found it to be “in your face” or too much. Instead, it was very authentic.
I also felt like the story screamed a prominent and glaring message about the fluidity of sexuality. Eliza does not identify as straight or gay or bisexual. She identifies as Eliza. I felt like this message was very important, especially in today's society.
Overall, I enjoyed this one as a break from my regular reading and would not hesitate to read another novel by this author.
A sort of a twist on the “coming of age” story, Eliza, a middle-aged, married woman, finds herself in an adulterous affair with a woman (Shar) she meets at the pool. What starts in the change room soon takes over Eliza’s life as she battles between what she feels is right and what she feels in her heart.
I initially chose this book because a Canadian author wrote it. I am making a serious effort this year to #readthenorth. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I I read this novel easily over the course of a few sittings; I found myself completely engaged in Eliza’s world.
However, this one left me feeling conflicted. I don’t know if I loved this novel or if I hated.
I felt an instant connection to the Eliza character. Something about her was so realistic and she truly was well developed. One thing I liked about her was her banter; she was funny and smart. A few things she said had me smirking with delight. She seemed to be modelled after an “every woman” type of character. She works hard, loves her family but, for whatever reason, finds herself with discontent. For whatever reason, Eliza kept reminding me of the protagonist from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.
I struggled in the middle of the novel because, as much as I enjoyed the character development of Eliza, I didn’t find myself interested in Shar. Not even a little. I’m not sure if I was supposed to be shocked by her sexual experience and feel as if she was an edgy, breath of fresh air into Eliza’s life. But I didn’t. In fact, she kind of bored me.
By the end, I was even more conflicted as I loved the general storyline but hated the abrupt ending.
Regardless of my mixed feels regarding the actual content of the book, I must applaud Connelly for her writing style. As mentioned, she kept me engaged and wondering how this would play out. I also must applaud her on tackling such subject matter; this novel does portray sexually explicit material but I never found it to be “in your face” or too much. Instead, it was very authentic.
I also felt like the story screamed a prominent and glaring message about the fluidity of sexuality. Eliza does not identify as straight or gay or bisexual. She identifies as Eliza. I felt like this message was very important, especially in today's society.
Overall, I enjoyed this one as a break from my regular reading and would not hesitate to read another novel by this author.
April 14, 2017
This type of contemporary story isn’t something I would normally pick up but I am trying to make an effort to read more novels by Canadian authors and when I saw this on NetGalley I was intrigued. There were aspects that I liked (the writing) and disliked (the characters/story) which lead to three stars.
I was conflicted about Eliza. I didn’t actively dislike her but it was hard to get behind the white, upper-middle-class whining. She complained about balancing work, kids and marriage in her white suburban life and it was really hard to give a damn. This isn’t to say that I don’t think her issues are legitimate to her but it was a bit boring to read over and over again. I also don’t have kids so I really could not relate to how much of the novel was focused on them, most of which was her complaining.
I also thought she was incredibly selfish and a bit ridiculous. For example there is a paragraph where Eliza is describing in detail how much she cleans (*yawn*) around the house and how her mother told her the way to ruin a good marriage is to keep score of who did what. So Eliza “did many tasks herself, resentfully, or in a state of resigned oblivion, often late at night after the kids had gone to bed.”
Yes...because resentfully doing anything in your marriage is super healthy, right? And then the next sentence is about how Andrew suggested hiring a cleaner, which he did himself, but in Eliza’s words after “a couple of duds and one klutz” she went back to resentfully cleaning everything herself.
Oh lord. First, just the fact that you can afford a cleaning should be enough. This is not a cheap service in Canada and I only know a few well-off family friends that have cleaners. Eliza sounds so uptight, even people that clean professionally are not up to her standard and she would rather “suffer resentfully” then work with someone. Then she wonders why her marriage is failing?
Stories like this are always a bit uncomfortable for me, personally. I have a pretty strict moral code when it comes to cheating so it hard for me to understand Eliza’s POV, even if we are told how bad of a husband Andrew is or how stressful her life is, I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t end things before cheating/having an affair.
I was also surprised at how much detailed sex there was in this. Now, if you look at the books I read on Goodreads you see I have read a lot of erotica, bdsm, LGBT stuff so it wasn't that I am a prude, it just did not work for me. It was really distracting from the actual storytelling and it felt like the author added it for “shock value” which I did not like.
The Quebecois woman was also bit stereotyped in my opinion, and also the line about Eliza’s brother (I think?) who works in the oil rigs in Alberta and makes a ton of money, most of which "goes up his nose". While that is true for some rig workers it’s a terrible stereotype and so cliché. It also makes other Canadians look down upon Alberta.
I would be interested in reading other novels by Karen Connelly, the writing itself was very well done and I wish I had like this more but unfortunately it just did not work for me.
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February 9, 2018
NetGalley provided a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Change Room by Karen Connelly is a surprising story that draws the reader into Eliza Keenan world. She is a mother, successful business woman and wife. From the outside looking into her world one thinks that she has it all. Her respite is swimming at the local community pool. Everything changes when she notices ‘the Amazon’. This woman changes her world.
Eliza is conflictive between her affair with Shar and her ‘life’. This novel moves quickly. This read is Eliza’s personal journey and the impact that it has on her personal life. The characters are developed.
The Change Room by Karen Connelly is a surprising story that draws the reader into Eliza Keenan world. She is a mother, successful business woman and wife. From the outside looking into her world one thinks that she has it all. Her respite is swimming at the local community pool. Everything changes when she notices ‘the Amazon’. This woman changes her world.
Eliza is conflictive between her affair with Shar and her ‘life’. This novel moves quickly. This read is Eliza’s personal journey and the impact that it has on her personal life. The characters are developed.
May 10, 2017
Let's start with things to know about The Change Room:
1) Sex: there is a lot of it; and not just alluded to but described in beautiful detail
2) LGBT: we have wonderful lesbian characters
3) Sex trade: is a focal point, but seen in a practical, loving way
4) Adultery: is the main theme and focus
5) Ending: it just stops. Right at the moment where things were the most interesting!!
6) The main character is obsessed with having babies. To the point of utter annoyance to me (as someone whose mid-30s with no children and zero plans for any this was super frustrating).
7) There are rape and molestation flashbacks
The Change Room read quickly for me. Karen Connelly definitely knows how to write a compelling, forward moving story. At no point was I bored. This is not a traditional romance novel even though it has many descriptive sex scenes. It's really more of a literature piece.
Set in Canada, and with many references to my home town (Calgary) I loved the descriptions and settings used. (Side note: I've lived in Alberta my whole life and never ever heard the 'Alberta curse' phrase she uses).
It's obvious that Connelly either did a lot of research on Greece and political matters as all the political and socio-economic things happening in the world in this book happened in real life. I found this refreshing. While not necessarily relevant to our main story it lent credibility to the overall text and I'm sure an English literature professor could find a hundred ways it relates to the story.
The focus of Change Room is a married woman whom has two children, a content husband, and an 'average' life that many readers can likely relate to. But she's not really happy. Something is missing... in walks a gorgeous lady to the swimming pool one day and so begins an affair that changes everything in her life.
Overall this book is intriguing, handles the subject matter really well and intelligently sheds light into a number of situations and scenarios society doesn't like to talk about (see list above) . It's very realistic and handles all its sensitive subject matter quite well.
The reason for my 3-star review, given all these factors, is that just as the book feels like it's at a pinnacle moment that I'm dying to know how plays out, it ends!!!
Yes it's an ending where you know what's about to be said and can decide how it plays out for yourself. However I just wanted way more! Normally wanting more would leave me with a high review and excitement. But in this case I felt so invested in the characters and their situations that I can't believe it ended!
Maybe that's unfair... maybe there are tons of philosophical reasons why this ending is perfect. For me it was a huge let down and makes me frustrated as a whole with The Change Room and the investment of time I put into it. It's possible in a few days I'll feel differently but for right now it just felt like Connelly didn't want to decide how it ended and that feels cheap to me.
I would recommend this book for anyone that wants a different perspective on the sex trade, affairs, lesbianism and suburban family life.
For this review and more visit my new book review blog at: Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review. Don't believe me? Check out the other books I've had eARCs for that I gave good or bad reviews to. I always give my opinion whether good or bad.
1) Sex: there is a lot of it; and not just alluded to but described in beautiful detail
2) LGBT: we have wonderful lesbian characters
3) Sex trade: is a focal point, but seen in a practical, loving way
4) Adultery: is the main theme and focus
5) Ending: it just stops. Right at the moment where things were the most interesting!!
6) The main character is obsessed with having babies. To the point of utter annoyance to me (as someone whose mid-30s with no children and zero plans for any this was super frustrating).
7) There are rape and molestation flashbacks
The Change Room read quickly for me. Karen Connelly definitely knows how to write a compelling, forward moving story. At no point was I bored. This is not a traditional romance novel even though it has many descriptive sex scenes. It's really more of a literature piece.
Set in Canada, and with many references to my home town (Calgary) I loved the descriptions and settings used. (Side note: I've lived in Alberta my whole life and never ever heard the 'Alberta curse' phrase she uses).
It's obvious that Connelly either did a lot of research on Greece and political matters as all the political and socio-economic things happening in the world in this book happened in real life. I found this refreshing. While not necessarily relevant to our main story it lent credibility to the overall text and I'm sure an English literature professor could find a hundred ways it relates to the story.
The focus of Change Room is a married woman whom has two children, a content husband, and an 'average' life that many readers can likely relate to. But she's not really happy. Something is missing... in walks a gorgeous lady to the swimming pool one day and so begins an affair that changes everything in her life.
Overall this book is intriguing, handles the subject matter really well and intelligently sheds light into a number of situations and scenarios society doesn't like to talk about (see list above) . It's very realistic and handles all its sensitive subject matter quite well.
The reason for my 3-star review, given all these factors, is that just as the book feels like it's at a pinnacle moment that I'm dying to know how plays out, it ends!!!
Yes it's an ending where you know what's about to be said and can decide how it plays out for yourself. However I just wanted way more! Normally wanting more would leave me with a high review and excitement. But in this case I felt so invested in the characters and their situations that I can't believe it ended!
Maybe that's unfair... maybe there are tons of philosophical reasons why this ending is perfect. For me it was a huge let down and makes me frustrated as a whole with The Change Room and the investment of time I put into it. It's possible in a few days I'll feel differently but for right now it just felt like Connelly didn't want to decide how it ended and that feels cheap to me.
I would recommend this book for anyone that wants a different perspective on the sex trade, affairs, lesbianism and suburban family life.
For this review and more visit my new book review blog at: Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review. Don't believe me? Check out the other books I've had eARCs for that I gave good or bad reviews to. I always give my opinion whether good or bad.
November 16, 2017
"Well, the blurb on the front cover that calls Karen Connelly’s The Change Room a “juicy peach of a novel” certainly hits the nail on the head. Just imagine a woman biting into a fresh, ripe peach, with the juice dribbling down her chin, and you’ll have some idea of what to expect from this book and how it’s going to make you feel. That, and it’s going to get you to think about relationships..."
See my full review on my blog.
See my full review on my blog.
June 2, 2021
Two and a half stars hesitantly rounded up to three.
I dearly wanted to enjoy The Change Room as it feels there are not many quality books about queer adult women. Unfortunately, it was a disjointed, shallow mess that never quite made clear what the author was trying to say. The concept was ripe for exploration: the complex sexualities of women in their thirties and forties, the subtle blindness of heteronormativity, the crushing burden of a wife's emotional labour, all things only very, very briefly touched on. Instead we were left with some distant musing on adulterous guilt and sexual compulsion that feels haphazard and shallow.
The main character is supposedly Eliza, a married 40-something mother to two sons and a small business owner. The other two major characters are Andrew, Eliza's 52 year old mathematician husband, and Shar, a worldly psychology student and casual sex worker in her thirties. Though the vast majority of the story is told from Eliza's point of view there are infrequent chapters from the perspectives of Shar and Andrew, and even Andrew's brother in an inexplicably placed latter chapter. The plot largely revolves around Eliza's passive dissatisfaction with the chaotic mundanity of her life and the affair she embarks on with Shar, a beautiful woman she meets in the change room showers at the local swimming pool.
The sex scenes are graphic and certainly more erotic than I'm used to reading. It managed to avoid all the sexual euphemisms and anatomically impossible cliches that I absolutely loathe, yet at the same time there was something about the sex scenes that I couldn't quite connect with. Interestingly, despite the book being entirely driven by Eliza's sexual desires, the first sex scene in the book, between Eliza and her husband Andrew, is almost entirely from his perspective. Yet the next, between Eliza and Shar, is almost entirely from Eliza's perspective, much like the majority of the book. I'm not sure if this was intended to make the audience have sympathy for Andrew, who clearly loves his wife despite the benign neglect, or to connect the reader more viscerally to Eliza's perspective and sexual appetite.
Though I never quite found myself able to connect to the relationship between Eliza and Shar, it was Eliza and Andrew's marriage that frustrated me the most. In many ways Andrew came across as a great husband, but the underlying disparity between that was infuriating. Eliza cooks, cleans, looks after the children, attends his work functions, and runs her own floral business. Andrew is frustrated by how she 'nags' him about doing his share of anything. In addition, he has a bad back so he rarely, if ever, wants sex. No thought of his wife's desires or a passing thought for how sex might work without his awkward thrusting. In that way, it's easy to relate to Eliza's sexual dissatisfaction. On the other hand, Eliza maintains that she loves Andrew and wants to remain married to him (all while carrying out an emotional and sexual affair with Shar) but I never understood why. She never seemed to think about him beyond passing guilt for cheating on him, never really thought of him fondly and was certainly never eager to spend time with him. Where was the love she was constantly saying she felt for him? It absolutely didn't come across in the text or subtext.
Likewise, Shar and Eliza's affair left me feeling cold. At first, the sexual relationship between them was understandable, given Eliza's general dissatisfaction with the lack of sexuality and sensuality in her life. But it grew and changed into a full-blown affair I was left wondering why Shar and Eliza were attracted to each other. Why any of the characters did everything wasn't really clear, they simply weren't given enough emotional depth for motivations to become clear.
Another puzzling piece of the story was the character of Andrew's brother. He is a erudite scholar, using academia to travel the world and otherwise live large. He's obnoxious and appears only at the very beginning and the very end of the book. Inexplicably, in a very, very late chapter it is revealed Why this was even necessary for what is otherwise a minor character that barely appears is mystifying. It didn't add to the overall theme of the story, or if it was supposed to, it didn't work so I'm left wondering what the point of including that background even was two or three chapters from the end.
All in all, The Change Room was a shoddy mess that never managed to live up to some of the concepts hinted at. I want to describe it as dispassionate, though that seems perhaps the wrong word for a novel that features so much graphic sex, but that's how I felt while reading, unable to immerse myself in the mindset of any character and instead finding them all grating and disappointingly emotionally empty.
I dearly wanted to enjoy The Change Room as it feels there are not many quality books about queer adult women. Unfortunately, it was a disjointed, shallow mess that never quite made clear what the author was trying to say. The concept was ripe for exploration: the complex sexualities of women in their thirties and forties, the subtle blindness of heteronormativity, the crushing burden of a wife's emotional labour, all things only very, very briefly touched on. Instead we were left with some distant musing on adulterous guilt and sexual compulsion that feels haphazard and shallow.
The main character is supposedly Eliza, a married 40-something mother to two sons and a small business owner. The other two major characters are Andrew, Eliza's 52 year old mathematician husband, and Shar, a worldly psychology student and casual sex worker in her thirties. Though the vast majority of the story is told from Eliza's point of view there are infrequent chapters from the perspectives of Shar and Andrew, and even Andrew's brother in an inexplicably placed latter chapter. The plot largely revolves around Eliza's passive dissatisfaction with the chaotic mundanity of her life and the affair she embarks on with Shar, a beautiful woman she meets in the change room showers at the local swimming pool.
The sex scenes are graphic and certainly more erotic than I'm used to reading. It managed to avoid all the sexual euphemisms and anatomically impossible cliches that I absolutely loathe, yet at the same time there was something about the sex scenes that I couldn't quite connect with. Interestingly, despite the book being entirely driven by Eliza's sexual desires, the first sex scene in the book, between Eliza and her husband Andrew, is almost entirely from his perspective. Yet the next, between Eliza and Shar, is almost entirely from Eliza's perspective, much like the majority of the book. I'm not sure if this was intended to make the audience have sympathy for Andrew, who clearly loves his wife despite the benign neglect, or to connect the reader more viscerally to Eliza's perspective and sexual appetite.
Though I never quite found myself able to connect to the relationship between Eliza and Shar, it was Eliza and Andrew's marriage that frustrated me the most. In many ways Andrew came across as a great husband, but the underlying disparity between that was infuriating. Eliza cooks, cleans, looks after the children, attends his work functions, and runs her own floral business. Andrew is frustrated by how she 'nags' him about doing his share of anything. In addition, he has a bad back so he rarely, if ever, wants sex. No thought of his wife's desires or a passing thought for how sex might work without his awkward thrusting. In that way, it's easy to relate to Eliza's sexual dissatisfaction. On the other hand, Eliza maintains that she loves Andrew and wants to remain married to him (all while carrying out an emotional and sexual affair with Shar) but I never understood why. She never seemed to think about him beyond passing guilt for cheating on him, never really thought of him fondly and was certainly never eager to spend time with him. Where was the love she was constantly saying she felt for him? It absolutely didn't come across in the text or subtext.
Likewise, Shar and Eliza's affair left me feeling cold. At first, the sexual relationship between them was understandable, given Eliza's general dissatisfaction with the lack of sexuality and sensuality in her life. But it grew and changed into a full-blown affair I was left wondering why Shar and Eliza were attracted to each other. Why any of the characters did everything wasn't really clear, they simply weren't given enough emotional depth for motivations to become clear.
Another puzzling piece of the story was the character of Andrew's brother. He is a erudite scholar, using academia to travel the world and otherwise live large. He's obnoxious and appears only at the very beginning and the very end of the book. Inexplicably, in a very, very late chapter it is revealed Why this was even necessary for what is otherwise a minor character that barely appears is mystifying. It didn't add to the overall theme of the story, or if it was supposed to, it didn't work so I'm left wondering what the point of including that background even was two or three chapters from the end.
All in all, The Change Room was a shoddy mess that never managed to live up to some of the concepts hinted at. I want to describe it as dispassionate, though that seems perhaps the wrong word for a novel that features so much graphic sex, but that's how I felt while reading, unable to immerse myself in the mindset of any character and instead finding them all grating and disappointingly emotionally empty.
April 16, 2017
This book was so far outside my usual fare that I was disconcerted at first. If you are prudish, this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you like a damn fine read, are not put off by explicit sex (tastefully done) involving two women, then you may greatly enjoy this book. I did!
I just read a number of whiny reviews which made me wonder if their authors read the same book I did. Karen Connelly is an award-winning superb writer who has won the leading Canadian award for non-fiction and awards for her poetry. The latter explains the somewhat lyrical and poetic language that the author employs to describe the frustration and boredom of a well-to-do urban woman who runs her own business(florist), takes care of her children and lives a "normal"life with her well-adjusted husband Andrew.
But something is missing. And then one day after swimming at the neighborhood pool Eliza encounters an"Amazon" named Shar in the change room at the pool. Their encounter is electrifying. And as they become better acquainted they become embroiled in a torrid affair. Shar is a somewhat mysterious character whose back story is slowly revealed to us as the novel unfolds. The descriptions of the sexual encounters between Eliza and Shar practically burn holes in the pages. I learned a few things about the female anatomy that I had not fully appreciated before.
A thoroughly enjoyable novel! Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy.
I just read a number of whiny reviews which made me wonder if their authors read the same book I did. Karen Connelly is an award-winning superb writer who has won the leading Canadian award for non-fiction and awards for her poetry. The latter explains the somewhat lyrical and poetic language that the author employs to describe the frustration and boredom of a well-to-do urban woman who runs her own business(florist), takes care of her children and lives a "normal"life with her well-adjusted husband Andrew.
But something is missing. And then one day after swimming at the neighborhood pool Eliza encounters an"Amazon" named Shar in the change room at the pool. Their encounter is electrifying. And as they become better acquainted they become embroiled in a torrid affair. Shar is a somewhat mysterious character whose back story is slowly revealed to us as the novel unfolds. The descriptions of the sexual encounters between Eliza and Shar practically burn holes in the pages. I learned a few things about the female anatomy that I had not fully appreciated before.
A thoroughly enjoyable novel! Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy.
March 9, 2017
I took an unexpected turn with this book review - it was not my usual "foray" in terms of novels, but sometimes different is good. THE CHANGE ROOM by Karen Connelly totes a homegrown setting (for those Toronto based individuals) and an eye-opening look at love and ecstasy.
RELEASE DATE: April 2017
PUBLISHER: Random House Canada
DISCLAIMER: Novel sent via NetGallery in exchange for a honest review.
SYNOPSIS: Eliza Keenan is the mother of two young sons, the owner of a flower studio that caters to the city's elite, and the loving wife of a deliciously rumpled math professor named Andrew. She's on the move from dawn until her boys are in bed, and after they're asleep she cleans her house. Her one complaint about her life is that the only time she has for herself is her twice-weekly swim in the local community centre pool, where sunlight shines in through a tall window and lights up the water in a way that reminds her of the year she spent as a footloose youth on an island in Greece. Then one morning into this life that is full of satisfactions of all kinds except sexual (because who has the time or the energy once the kids are asleep?) comes a tall, dark and lovely stranger, a young woman Eliza encounters at the pool and nicknames 'the Amazon.' The sight of this woman, naked in the change room, completely undoes Eliza, and soon the two of them are entangled in an affair that breaks all the rules, and threatens to capsize not only Eliza and her happy family, but her lover's world, too. And yet the sex is so all-encompassing, so intimate, so true...how can it be bad? Be ready to be shaken up, woken up, scandalized and deeply stirred.
REVIEW: This novel took me a bit by surprise...almost like jumping into the deep end of a cold pool. It'll take the breath out of you, but it's worth the jump.
Eliza has a normal everyday 'motherly' life - it revolves around her two young boys, her handsome husband, and her flourishing flower shop. Like all women, she comes with a past - one that includes lovers of both sexes. For now, she's put up with the monotony of married life out of long term love for her husband and family, and works off her aggressive at the indoor swimming pool. One day, a woman she then nicknames the 'Amazon' knocks Eliza straight off her feet. Absorbed by lustful feelings she hasn't felt in years, Eliza begins a tumultuous relationship with Shar (the 'Amazon') and soon finds herself in love with two different lives - the one she lives with Shar and the one she has at home. Where does one draw the line between love and ecstasy?
This novel was different for me because I don't normally read items that are explicit - and be forewarned, this novel is explicit. Once you get past the hump of "okay, I did just read THAT" you can find yourself diving into this story of a love triangle because essentially - it's all about love vs. lust. I feel like all humans at one point have experienced this.
At the centre of this novel are three characters - Eliza, Shar, and Eliza's husband Andrew. Each gets their own point of view at one point, but the majority are from Eliza and Shar's. It's interesting to see two different sides of the same coin as both females approach sex, intimacy, and love very differently. But one thing I loved the most about this novel - it's unabashedly feminist. Hell yes women should have orgasms and hell yes they should have pleasure - this novel screams it from the rooftops. It was interesting to read a novel where a woman wasn't a delicate flower but instead in charge of her own sexuality and pleasure. Kudos.
Fun fact - the town of Toronto plays just as much of a roll in the novel as the characters. Fun for those of us who dwell in the city.
My one complaint - the novel just ends. I felt like we were building up to something. Something big. Something catastrophic. Something that would wrap this novel all together in a neat little bow. It didn't happen and I'm a little frustrated. I even remember going back to double check to see if I didn't miss pages. It's a peeve when novels end cresting on a hill - I feel like you haven't been satisfied in some way (am I pulling too many double entendres?)
So all in all, this novel was an experience.
RELEASE DATE: April 2017
PUBLISHER: Random House Canada
DISCLAIMER: Novel sent via NetGallery in exchange for a honest review.
SYNOPSIS: Eliza Keenan is the mother of two young sons, the owner of a flower studio that caters to the city's elite, and the loving wife of a deliciously rumpled math professor named Andrew. She's on the move from dawn until her boys are in bed, and after they're asleep she cleans her house. Her one complaint about her life is that the only time she has for herself is her twice-weekly swim in the local community centre pool, where sunlight shines in through a tall window and lights up the water in a way that reminds her of the year she spent as a footloose youth on an island in Greece. Then one morning into this life that is full of satisfactions of all kinds except sexual (because who has the time or the energy once the kids are asleep?) comes a tall, dark and lovely stranger, a young woman Eliza encounters at the pool and nicknames 'the Amazon.' The sight of this woman, naked in the change room, completely undoes Eliza, and soon the two of them are entangled in an affair that breaks all the rules, and threatens to capsize not only Eliza and her happy family, but her lover's world, too. And yet the sex is so all-encompassing, so intimate, so true...how can it be bad? Be ready to be shaken up, woken up, scandalized and deeply stirred.
REVIEW: This novel took me a bit by surprise...almost like jumping into the deep end of a cold pool. It'll take the breath out of you, but it's worth the jump.
Eliza has a normal everyday 'motherly' life - it revolves around her two young boys, her handsome husband, and her flourishing flower shop. Like all women, she comes with a past - one that includes lovers of both sexes. For now, she's put up with the monotony of married life out of long term love for her husband and family, and works off her aggressive at the indoor swimming pool. One day, a woman she then nicknames the 'Amazon' knocks Eliza straight off her feet. Absorbed by lustful feelings she hasn't felt in years, Eliza begins a tumultuous relationship with Shar (the 'Amazon') and soon finds herself in love with two different lives - the one she lives with Shar and the one she has at home. Where does one draw the line between love and ecstasy?
This novel was different for me because I don't normally read items that are explicit - and be forewarned, this novel is explicit. Once you get past the hump of "okay, I did just read THAT" you can find yourself diving into this story of a love triangle because essentially - it's all about love vs. lust. I feel like all humans at one point have experienced this.
At the centre of this novel are three characters - Eliza, Shar, and Eliza's husband Andrew. Each gets their own point of view at one point, but the majority are from Eliza and Shar's. It's interesting to see two different sides of the same coin as both females approach sex, intimacy, and love very differently. But one thing I loved the most about this novel - it's unabashedly feminist. Hell yes women should have orgasms and hell yes they should have pleasure - this novel screams it from the rooftops. It was interesting to read a novel where a woman wasn't a delicate flower but instead in charge of her own sexuality and pleasure. Kudos.
Fun fact - the town of Toronto plays just as much of a roll in the novel as the characters. Fun for those of us who dwell in the city.
My one complaint - the novel just ends. I felt like we were building up to something. Something big. Something catastrophic. Something that would wrap this novel all together in a neat little bow. It didn't happen and I'm a little frustrated. I even remember going back to double check to see if I didn't miss pages. It's a peeve when novels end cresting on a hill - I feel like you haven't been satisfied in some way (am I pulling too many double entendres?)
So all in all, this novel was an experience.
April 11, 2017
I'm torn with rating this book. I thought the story was ok (2 stars) - it dragged a little and the ending left me frustrated. However, the writing was really strong (4 stars). I think 3 stars is still a little high - so I'm going with a 2.5 star review.
Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.
Eliza is a middle-aged woman; wife, mother, small-business owner who seems to have everything except for a thriving sex life with her husband.
Andrew is her mathematician husband; wonderful father, loyal son and brother, considerate husband who isn't as interested in sex as he used to be. His new priority is their young sons and simply getting on with life. A bad back doesn't help matters either.
Shar, a woman in her mid-thirties. Happily single, ready to mingle and attracted to Eliza. They meet in the change room after a morning swim, and things start to unravel.
Told through alternating perspectives, however, predominately by Eliza, this is a story of sex and love (if explicit sex isn't your thing, this book will make you uncomfortable); it's a story about trying to keep your secrets and lies from hurting everyone, while your jealousies and guilt start to slowly drive you a little mad.
The writing is pretty incredible; Karen Connelly is able to create such distinct characters: Eliza is almost frantic in her desire for sex, obsessive in her personality. Andrew isn't an obtuse husband, but he certainly is content with his lot in life and isn't ready or willing to change the status quo. Shar is self-centred, selfish, highly opinionated and not concerned with collateral damage.
"The Change Room" is certainly more sexually graphic than I thought it would be when I started reading. My issue with the book is that it almost tried to tie too many social stories together; The Arab Spring, Greece and its campaign to leave the EU, Syrian refugees, the sex trade (sex workers, rape, consent, queer sex worker, etc.), sexual experimentation, social norms, history lessons in the difference between Persians and Arabs... so many things thrown in more as filler. I really think that it's a story about a woman who is coming to terms with her desire for one person and her love for her family unit. Eliza will likely come across as selfish and isn't always a likeable character, but I think that is perhaps the point.
If you enjoyed the book Fates and Furies then I think you'll enjoy this one too: complex emotions, messy relationships and unsympathetic characters.
Still worth the read.
Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.
Eliza is a middle-aged woman; wife, mother, small-business owner who seems to have everything except for a thriving sex life with her husband.
Andrew is her mathematician husband; wonderful father, loyal son and brother, considerate husband who isn't as interested in sex as he used to be. His new priority is their young sons and simply getting on with life. A bad back doesn't help matters either.
Shar, a woman in her mid-thirties. Happily single, ready to mingle and attracted to Eliza. They meet in the change room after a morning swim, and things start to unravel.
Told through alternating perspectives, however, predominately by Eliza, this is a story of sex and love (if explicit sex isn't your thing, this book will make you uncomfortable); it's a story about trying to keep your secrets and lies from hurting everyone, while your jealousies and guilt start to slowly drive you a little mad.
The writing is pretty incredible; Karen Connelly is able to create such distinct characters: Eliza is almost frantic in her desire for sex, obsessive in her personality. Andrew isn't an obtuse husband, but he certainly is content with his lot in life and isn't ready or willing to change the status quo. Shar is self-centred, selfish, highly opinionated and not concerned with collateral damage.
"The Change Room" is certainly more sexually graphic than I thought it would be when I started reading. My issue with the book is that it almost tried to tie too many social stories together; The Arab Spring, Greece and its campaign to leave the EU, Syrian refugees, the sex trade (sex workers, rape, consent, queer sex worker, etc.), sexual experimentation, social norms, history lessons in the difference between Persians and Arabs... so many things thrown in more as filler. I really think that it's a story about a woman who is coming to terms with her desire for one person and her love for her family unit. Eliza will likely come across as selfish and isn't always a likeable character, but I think that is perhaps the point.
If you enjoyed the book Fates and Furies then I think you'll enjoy this one too: complex emotions, messy relationships and unsympathetic characters.
Still worth the read.
April 24, 2017
Eliza is a happily married woman with two young sons, a content-with-life husband and a successful business. The only thing bothering her is the fact she and her husband rarely find the time for sex any more. One day at the local pool she encounters a younger woman whom she nicknames “the Amazon”: young, tall, dark and extremely attractive. Eliza finds herself drawn to Shar and they begin a torrid affair that turns Eliza’s world upside down and leaves her feeling guilty and entangled in a web of lies as she tries to continue family and work life while continuing to meet with Shar. Should she confess to Andrew, as Shar has suggested, or keep her affair hidden and try to carry on her double existence?
I picked this up because it’s written by a Canadian author whom I have not read before, so I thought I’d give her a try. So, I can check off a CanLit book for 2017.
If you’re at all squeamish about sex scenes, then don’t go near this book! There is explicit sex… lots of it. I don’t think all of it was necessarily vital to the plot, but if the author was trying to get across the point that women can desire sex as much as men, well then, she certainly made her point.
The story itself was OK; I might have considered giving it a 3-star rating, except for the fact that I really disliked the ending. Talk about being left hanging! It was a totally frustrating, unsatisfying ending. There were also a few other loose threads that never got tied up (Andrew’s vasectomy; Sophie’s sexual orientation and how her mother eventually handled it; Martin’s relationship with his mother). I realize not everything gets tied up neatly with a bow when you read a novel, but it just seemed that there was a lot of interesting stuff going on that never got resolved. But that ending: when I got to the last sentence, I was thinking “What? That’s it? You’ve got to be kidding!” So 2 stars it is.
I picked this up because it’s written by a Canadian author whom I have not read before, so I thought I’d give her a try. So, I can check off a CanLit book for 2017.
If you’re at all squeamish about sex scenes, then don’t go near this book! There is explicit sex… lots of it. I don’t think all of it was necessarily vital to the plot, but if the author was trying to get across the point that women can desire sex as much as men, well then, she certainly made her point.
The story itself was OK; I might have considered giving it a 3-star rating, except for the fact that I really disliked the ending. Talk about being left hanging! It was a totally frustrating, unsatisfying ending. There were also a few other loose threads that never got tied up (Andrew’s vasectomy; Sophie’s sexual orientation and how her mother eventually handled it; Martin’s relationship with his mother). I realize not everything gets tied up neatly with a bow when you read a novel, but it just seemed that there was a lot of interesting stuff going on that never got resolved. But that ending: when I got to the last sentence, I was thinking “What? That’s it? You’ve got to be kidding!” So 2 stars it is.
March 3, 2021
I am now giving my reviews an additional star simply because the person wrote a book, and that's hard to do. So in this case, my review is two stars, plus one. I hoped this would be a sexy, rollicking read but it was bogged down by a kitchen sink of digressions, with characters and sub-plots that did little to enrich the scenes or move the plot forward. The ending, with its highly improbable yet still predictable twist, was unsatisfying. The sex between the two women was very well written – I wish there had been more of it ;)
March 14, 2017
Eliza has a fairly typical marriage with Andrew. He is the absent minded mathematician and she is the never ceasing mother of two, housekeeper and successful business owner. So often her week was taking up with thinking about everyone else that she was left with two sacred mornings a week in which she went to the local community centre and swam in the small pool, a way of reminding herself of life and a time long past.
It is here at the community centre that Eliza meets Shar, a woman who is to have a profound impact on her steady life. Shar opens up a part of Eliza like an exotic perfumed flower, bringing a part of Eliza to life that she had suppressed for years.
Eliza is easy to identify with. The same treadmill of duty and responsibility will be familiar to many people. The predicament and the choices she made might not always seem correct, but the under current of the flow is instantly knowable. The prose is fragile as a bloom fully open to the elements, but is strong and in your face like the fragrance of lilac on a summer evening. Shar is that elusive thing, the free spirit with nothing tying her down. The relationship between Eliza and Shar is visceral and all consuming.
Strangely there is nothing delicate about this book. It is raw and it is extraordinarily explicit. It takes the reader through a journey that ends with a slap to the face, leaving you wanting more and being left unsatisfied in a very pleasurable way.
It is here at the community centre that Eliza meets Shar, a woman who is to have a profound impact on her steady life. Shar opens up a part of Eliza like an exotic perfumed flower, bringing a part of Eliza to life that she had suppressed for years.
Eliza is easy to identify with. The same treadmill of duty and responsibility will be familiar to many people. The predicament and the choices she made might not always seem correct, but the under current of the flow is instantly knowable. The prose is fragile as a bloom fully open to the elements, but is strong and in your face like the fragrance of lilac on a summer evening. Shar is that elusive thing, the free spirit with nothing tying her down. The relationship between Eliza and Shar is visceral and all consuming.
Strangely there is nothing delicate about this book. It is raw and it is extraordinarily explicit. It takes the reader through a journey that ends with a slap to the face, leaving you wanting more and being left unsatisfied in a very pleasurable way.
March 7, 2020
The Change Room is about sex: marital sex, extramarital sex, lesbian sex, heterosexual sex, sex as a paid service, rape, pedophilia – they’re all here. It’s a thought provoking, unsettling book that raises a number of questions. How much sex is enough? If one partner desires more sex than the other, is that person justified in seeking sex outside the relationship? Does he/she need to let their partner know? Is paid sex a better option than an affair? What is the relationship between sex and love? Does society stand to win or lose if the moral stigma attached to sex could be somehow eliminated? Is there a double standard between men and women when it comes to extramarital sex?
The Change Room is also about freedom and that place where sex and freedom intersect. Does sex with more people mean more freedom or less? Is sex primarily about pleasure? How do marriage and commitment fit in?
The plot is straight forward. A married woman is attracted to a woman she meets at the pool. A sexual relationship ensues which quickly turns into love (despite their reluctance to name it as such). The climax comes when the protagonist finally tells her husband what is going on, essentially letting him know that she wants to have her cake and eat it too.
Eliza, the protagonist of the novel, has an insatiable lust for life. She’s a successful businesswoman with a loving husband, two young boys and a beautiful Victorian house. She’s incredibly hardworking, confident and competent, but, she’s also easily bored. She thrives on challenge and stimulation and finds life tedious and oppressive when they're absent.
Connolly does her best to create a credible character in Eliza, but, hard as I tried I just couldn’t feel any empathy for her. I’m still not sure if this is due to my own prejudices, a failing in character development or that she really, quite simply isn’t likeable. In the end, despite her many tears and moments of guilt, all I’m left with is that picture of Eliza masturbating on the kitchen floor and it strikes me that Eliza doesn’t love anyone near as much as she loves herself.
On first reading, the ambiguous ending seemed better suited to a short story than a novel. In retrospect, however, it seems less ambiguous than I originally thought. Andrew , the protagonist’s husband, discovers that his wife’s lover is a sex worker and seems to believe this information will spell the end of the relationship once his wife is made aware of it. His eagerness to share this news indicates he really isn’t open to anything other than a monogamous relationship. By this point, the reader knows Eliza well enough to realize she won’t be happy with the status quo and so it would seem Andrew and Eliza’s relationship is doomed. At least that’s my impression. It wouldn't be the first time Eliza walked away from a meaningful relationship.
Connolly shines at writing description. I remember this to be true in The Lizard Cage as well. Her descriptions of sex, food, flowers, and people are all very detailed and vivid. Readers who are less sensory than intuitive, will find the descriptions go on for too long, but, there’s still no getting around the fact Connolly writes well. She's an activist at heart, but, as far as I’m concerned when it comes to political/social issues in novels, less is more. The politics of the middle east, immigration, feminism, sex workers, and pedophilia are all topics that come up in this novel more than once. I'm quite sure The Change Room’s greatest claim to fame, however, is the way it brings explicit female sex into mainstream Can lit.
The Change Room is also about freedom and that place where sex and freedom intersect. Does sex with more people mean more freedom or less? Is sex primarily about pleasure? How do marriage and commitment fit in?
The plot is straight forward. A married woman is attracted to a woman she meets at the pool. A sexual relationship ensues which quickly turns into love (despite their reluctance to name it as such). The climax comes when the protagonist finally tells her husband what is going on, essentially letting him know that she wants to have her cake and eat it too.
Eliza, the protagonist of the novel, has an insatiable lust for life. She’s a successful businesswoman with a loving husband, two young boys and a beautiful Victorian house. She’s incredibly hardworking, confident and competent, but, she’s also easily bored. She thrives on challenge and stimulation and finds life tedious and oppressive when they're absent.
Connolly does her best to create a credible character in Eliza, but, hard as I tried I just couldn’t feel any empathy for her. I’m still not sure if this is due to my own prejudices, a failing in character development or that she really, quite simply isn’t likeable. In the end, despite her many tears and moments of guilt, all I’m left with is that picture of Eliza masturbating on the kitchen floor and it strikes me that Eliza doesn’t love anyone near as much as she loves herself.
On first reading, the ambiguous ending seemed better suited to a short story than a novel. In retrospect, however, it seems less ambiguous than I originally thought. Andrew , the protagonist’s husband, discovers that his wife’s lover is a sex worker and seems to believe this information will spell the end of the relationship once his wife is made aware of it. His eagerness to share this news indicates he really isn’t open to anything other than a monogamous relationship. By this point, the reader knows Eliza well enough to realize she won’t be happy with the status quo and so it would seem Andrew and Eliza’s relationship is doomed. At least that’s my impression. It wouldn't be the first time Eliza walked away from a meaningful relationship.
Connolly shines at writing description. I remember this to be true in The Lizard Cage as well. Her descriptions of sex, food, flowers, and people are all very detailed and vivid. Readers who are less sensory than intuitive, will find the descriptions go on for too long, but, there’s still no getting around the fact Connolly writes well. She's an activist at heart, but, as far as I’m concerned when it comes to political/social issues in novels, less is more. The politics of the middle east, immigration, feminism, sex workers, and pedophilia are all topics that come up in this novel more than once. I'm quite sure The Change Room’s greatest claim to fame, however, is the way it brings explicit female sex into mainstream Can lit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2018
I almost closed this book forever before the middle because of 3 things:
1. I wanted to read about an affair between 2 women, so I was totally not interested in such long and detailed sex scenes between Eliza and her husband.
2. The writer portraying a boring full-of-emotional-labour (and just labour) was at times so boring I could cry. the begining almost broke me.
3. When one of the kids got almost hit by a car I thought this is another book where a married woman who is secretly being non monogamous is being punished.
Reading on the page of the writer her answer to why she wrote "the change roon" and the backlash she experienced for it (and that it was almost not published at all) convinced me to go on.
The last part, after Eliza confesses to her partner was painfully so familiar.
1. I wanted to read about an affair between 2 women, so I was totally not interested in such long and detailed sex scenes between Eliza and her husband.
2. The writer portraying a boring full-of-emotional-labour (and just labour) was at times so boring I could cry. the begining almost broke me.
3. When one of the kids got almost hit by a car I thought this is another book where a married woman who is secretly being non monogamous is being punished.
Reading on the page of the writer her answer to why she wrote "the change roon" and the backlash she experienced for it (and that it was almost not published at all) convinced me to go on.
The last part, after Eliza confesses to her partner was painfully so familiar.
March 15, 2017
Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to preview this book. It turns out to be a tale of Toronto suburbia meets erotica. The three main adult characters are well portrayed. Eliza is happily married to Andrew with two young boys. She has her own career which is going well. Eliza's only "me" time is at the pool for two hours a week, where she meets Shar in the change room. The story is interesting and well written. The ending seemed rather abrupt, however, that was probably the author's intention. Recommended.
May 6, 2021
This was a provocative, well-written, spicy romance.
A middle-aged mom and business owner in a mostly sexless marriage gets the hots for a younger woman she meets at the community pool and they begin a steamy love affair. The sex scenes are very hot and well-written. It was nice to see different kinds of bisexual women represented (that is, they feel different ways about their sexual identities/identify differently)
I wasn't sure about the pacing here, though. It's kind of a slow burn and then a lot happens all at once in a chaotic French farce-esque denouement, followed by an in medias res ending. I'm not really sure what kind of ending would have satisfied all readers, which is probably why she wrote it that way. But it felt like a bit of a cop out.
I enjoyed Eliza and Shar's relationship, but I found Shar outside of her time with Eliza - her relationship with her husband Andrew, and basically her whole domestic persona - extremely cloying. Like, just stop cleaning, woman! Also, her relationship with Andrew, which is idealized, was undesirable to me. What exactly is so appealing about this man who goes behind her back on money stuff and doesn't tell her when he's going off wining and dining with his brother? His jizz is just not that special. Oh and her constant yearning for more babies? I know some women do feel like that but barf. At first I thought this was supposed to be a commentary on monogamous heterosexual relationships. But as it went on it increasingly felt like Connelly was trying to redeem/genuinely build feeling in us for this relationship, so I'm not sure. I did feel some sympathy for Andrew in being cheated on, but otherwise he felt underdeveloped and not particularly likeable. I wasn't totally sold on the specialness of their relationship.
Still, I loved the sex positivity of this story, its portrayal of bisexuality and sex work, and the authentic feeling sexy times. Would definitely recommend.
A middle-aged mom and business owner in a mostly sexless marriage gets the hots for a younger woman she meets at the community pool and they begin a steamy love affair. The sex scenes are very hot and well-written. It was nice to see different kinds of bisexual women represented (that is, they feel different ways about their sexual identities/identify differently)
I wasn't sure about the pacing here, though. It's kind of a slow burn and then a lot happens all at once in a chaotic French farce-esque denouement, followed by an in medias res ending. I'm not really sure what kind of ending would have satisfied all readers, which is probably why she wrote it that way. But it felt like a bit of a cop out.
I enjoyed Eliza and Shar's relationship, but I found Shar outside of her time with Eliza - her relationship with her husband Andrew, and basically her whole domestic persona - extremely cloying. Like, just stop cleaning, woman! Also, her relationship with Andrew, which is idealized, was undesirable to me. What exactly is so appealing about this man who goes behind her back on money stuff and doesn't tell her when he's going off wining and dining with his brother? His jizz is just not that special. Oh and her constant yearning for more babies? I know some women do feel like that but barf. At first I thought this was supposed to be a commentary on monogamous heterosexual relationships. But as it went on it increasingly felt like Connelly was trying to redeem/genuinely build feeling in us for this relationship, so I'm not sure. I did feel some sympathy for Andrew in being cheated on, but otherwise he felt underdeveloped and not particularly likeable. I wasn't totally sold on the specialness of their relationship.
Still, I loved the sex positivity of this story, its portrayal of bisexuality and sex work, and the authentic feeling sexy times. Would definitely recommend.
January 3, 2019
"The Change Room" is an enjoyable sexy book about a married woman, Eliza, having an affair with a sex worker who does not tell her this aspect of her life, mainly because it is changing as she finishes up her degree to become a sex psychologist. The author, Karen Connelly, groks a woman's lust, emotions, and hormones. There are hot sex scenes and good characterization of the characters. Several subplots come together nicely, the in-law issues are interconnected by the very end of the book and the last scene leaves the reader wanting to know what is going to happen.
Shar, the lover, has a French mother and an Iranian father and I enjoyed hearing her stories about Iran. In another subplot one of the Eliza's friends has a daughter who comes out as a lesbian. The mother is upset and angry and Eliza has a good talk with her. Given the lesbian relationship of the two main characters this is a very sex positive novel portraying different belief systems around relationships. The husband is sure they had explicitly agreed on a monogamous agreement, but Eliza didn't remember being a discussion. The sex worker wants to meet the husband once she realizes the relationship is deeper than sex. She's been 'poly' with another wife and husband. We are left to wonder what will unfold, perhaps another book?
One of the concepts she writes is that lying erases you. I see this as the underlying philosophy of this book.
Shar, the lover, has a French mother and an Iranian father and I enjoyed hearing her stories about Iran. In another subplot one of the Eliza's friends has a daughter who comes out as a lesbian. The mother is upset and angry and Eliza has a good talk with her. Given the lesbian relationship of the two main characters this is a very sex positive novel portraying different belief systems around relationships. The husband is sure they had explicitly agreed on a monogamous agreement, but Eliza didn't remember being a discussion. The sex worker wants to meet the husband once she realizes the relationship is deeper than sex. She's been 'poly' with another wife and husband. We are left to wonder what will unfold, perhaps another book?
One of the concepts she writes is that lying erases you. I see this as the underlying philosophy of this book.
September 5, 2018
I liked that while Eliza and Shar DO have insta-love, they also have arguments where neither one is totally wrong or right but they just disagree. The ending is so sudden I legitimately thought my copy was missing a chapter. Other reviewers have said it must be a "you decide what happens next" which... okay. I thought that was the writer's job, but whatever...
July 20, 2018
Strong 3, like 3.5. Interesting ideas and basically a solid book. But the relationships, particularly the conversations, didn't resonate. I was honestly more interested in the book that would come after the last couple of chapters than the book which came before. A good beach read.
October 11, 2018
I do not recommend this book. It's an easy ready with some interesting story elements, but too much focus on eroticism and not enough on being a good book.
The main character is either really good at time management or the book chooses to not be realistic. The story ends at a very unsatisfactory spot, making you wish the writer had taken the time to close the loops with a few more chapters.
The main character is either really good at time management or the book chooses to not be realistic. The story ends at a very unsatisfactory spot, making you wish the writer had taken the time to close the loops with a few more chapters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2017
i enjoyed this book, but i felt like it was all over the place a bit. the affair with the married women is what drew me into this book. i was hooked after reading that, something different to read than i normal man women affair, just something different. i felt like the affair part though was slow in the book, and it took a long while to get to it, why leading it up it was about how much of a mess Eliza life is, but some of it wasn't believable like the previous love affair she had with a women, and her owning a restaurant before it just seem like that was a whole different person than the Eliza we where reading about now. i also thought the book had a lot of issues in it that confused me and really didn't have much to do with the story line, like Andrews brother. i also found this book ended so quickly that i really hope there is a second book to it! over all though this was an enjoyable read!
July 3, 2017
I loved this book! It was an easy, entertaining read....however, the ending left me hanging. Not sure what is to come?!?
September 7, 2018
Review pending. I'm kind of mad at the non(?)-ending.
December 26, 2020
one star for being set in Canada, one star for being queer, and one star for the pool. otherwise this was a boring mess. not the book I expected it to be, didn’t like any of the characters, and kept wondering when it was going to be over. the ending was ?????
October 26, 2024
Those Eyes, That Mouth - Cocteau Twins
Ik haat een open einde!
Ik haat een open einde!
March 28, 2017
I received a copy of The Change Room from Netgalley.
The premise is really interesting and definitely something outside of what I would normally read. I was also really excited that the story takes place in Toronto.
I was so excited to read this, but I was so disappointed. Everyone else who is reviewing this talks about how engaging it is to read. That wasn’t my experience AT ALL. I found it dragged on and was dull. It make have been that the book was very narrative-based. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. I just wished for so much more.
The premise is really interesting and definitely something outside of what I would normally read. I was also really excited that the story takes place in Toronto.
I was so excited to read this, but I was so disappointed. Everyone else who is reviewing this talks about how engaging it is to read. That wasn’t my experience AT ALL. I found it dragged on and was dull. It make have been that the book was very narrative-based. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. I just wished for so much more.
April 26, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this book!
Everyday life descriptions were on point and pleasant to read. Before I knew it, I was deep into the story and caring for the characters, following the plot gently.
It is the kind of book that was completely out of the scope that I normally read but I got it through a giveaway, and I'm glad I did !
The summary might make it sound 50 shades of grey -ish, but this one is not even comparable as it is in a completely different category.
I'd say: read it if you enjoy well written family-centered fiction and are not offended by explicit sex scenes. Give it a go if you enjoy reading in general, you could be pleasantly surprised.
Everyday life descriptions were on point and pleasant to read. Before I knew it, I was deep into the story and caring for the characters, following the plot gently.
It is the kind of book that was completely out of the scope that I normally read but I got it through a giveaway, and I'm glad I did !
The summary might make it sound 50 shades of grey -ish, but this one is not even comparable as it is in a completely different category.
I'd say: read it if you enjoy well written family-centered fiction and are not offended by explicit sex scenes. Give it a go if you enjoy reading in general, you could be pleasantly surprised.
May 23, 2018
Love it until the end. I hate ambiguous endings and this was worse than ambiguous.
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