Husband Material
by Emily Belden
A story about grief, process, lies, and people generally not using their words. And no, it’s not a romance novel.
Despite the title leading your brain into Romance-landia, this book’s not that. (Spoilers below.)
I listened to this on Audible and it was okay. That’s a terribly imprecise review with lackluster words and zero specifics—I know. But I’m going with it.
This book came across my radar as a suggested summer read in the NYT. I kept wondering if I needed to declare DNF but there was a collection of little somethings that kept me going. There was enough story there that drove me to want to know how it all turned out.
In general, the plot can be characterized as many different people withholding important information from one another, emotions, or outright lying. So, miscommunication, or lack thereof is a main theme here. And grief process, or lack of. It was often exasperating.
The MC, Charlotte, and her stuck-ness in the past is often aggravating, but her turn-about and eventual growth are satisfying.
Brian, her former husband’s former best friend, is everybody’s book boyfriend. Except for the money stealing and lying. But gawd, those dimples! And he redeems himself. His actions were for a good cause and all that. That’s all I’ll say there lest I spoil the surprises in the book.
Decker, pictured above. Photo by farshid moghadam on Unsplash.
Specific Bones I Have to Pick
What’s up with sending matzah to LA? LA is literally full of Jews. No one I’ve ever met eats the cracker version of the bread of affliction outside of Passover. And as for making matzo ball soup, you use matzo meal. Her mom sending matzah from New York did not make sense.
Charlotte’s Birkin/Firkin must be reinforced with steel mesh or something because the urn containing my friend’s ashes is HEAVY. Really heavy.
And what’s up with the continued worship of designer brands in romance and women’s fiction? It’s exhausting. Is it to be more relatable to readers? I’m probably not brand-aware to even add my two cents to this discussion (which is practically a trope in this genre), but I will anyway. Because I’m not going to talk about brands.
A book is a chance for an author to impact an audience and affect readers. Why hammer away on objects that lead to keeping up with the Joneses and Josephines, highlight the attainment of wealth, and emphasize image projection instead of, oh, say anything else that could be meaningful to society, even in a meager way?
This form of product placement only serves to fuel the fashion treadmill that is literally ruining planet Earth. It is also keeping women distracted. What about emphasizing shit that ACTUALLY MATTERS? Like equal pay, ideas over stuff, a just and habitable planet, or freeing oneself from one social construct or another? Or just pick some other fixation!
The brands take our money and bring us down, sisters!
I get it. I can hear your counter-argument. It’s that these *characters* are interested in such things. Fine. And yes, Charlotte frees herself from grief and old patterns. That part was really good.
But for my next read I’m going to look for characters who’ve got more going on in terms of contribution to the bigger picture.
