I read this a long time ago.As is normal on goodreads, I started clicking at random trough my friends shelf, then going trough the ratings…blah blah…Eventually I landed on the page that had The Adultery club.There I saw, to my shock, that people like this book and rate it moderately high.I guess there are women (because lets face it, this is a chick lit book) out there who get off on the adultery and cheating theme.I don’t. It’s a real life factor and I understand it, but my romance radar is broken after one party indulges in cheating. In league with this happy ever afters that include cheaters are not plausible for me.But my personal view of this theme was not the reason I rated this book so low.It was the fact that it was crammed with clichés.The book was told form 3 POV. The man. The mistress. The wife.The wife was almost nice, if she stopped being a pea-goose and left her husband for her first love aka the man that wanted her with all her baggage and the children form an other man! (OMFg, where do I get one of those? And,yeah, I know! She decides to go back to her husband! How stupid could she be? How brainless? Sheeeesh!!!!)But other then her, the husband and the mistress were…its like the author took all the labels and clichés out there and pasted them in to the fibers that made these characters.The man, or hero, is a 40 something divorce attorney. I guess this is supposed to be an oxymoron because he should know better. But it's not really inventive. :/ He has a happy marriage and small children. But then he meets a 20 something pretty chick at his office. Page after page we read about him having hard on-s when ever she around.Why?I may be a woman but I surely understand physical attraction.That strong of an attraction to a person you don’t really know? To a person that is not superb or outstanding in any way? But hey, that may be just me. Heeeey, wait! That still does not explain why a 40 year old is behaving like a 17 year old boy. Why would he go crazy at the sight of her knee? Really? Why would he?It's like telling a woman would die of sexual frustration if she sees a good chest that belongs to a likable man.Give me a brake!The future mistress of this book does not understand the word no. As many times as the hero says no , she still goes back like flies on bad meat. It's kind of creepy.Me? If I would have embarked in an affair ? I don’t think I would ever choose a person that is so bluntly indifferent to my wishes, or integrity, and for sure has no respect for my marriage and kids.In this book her aggressiveness was the thing that made the hero brake. That and a totally unrealistic terrorist threat that makes the hero think of his mortality.Again…cliché much?Maybe I am just not a cheater at heart (because I will not stand and let people tell me this is all because the cheater is a man- men are the same being as us. The standard ‘he could not resist’ excuse in this kind of literature makes me sick!) but this is all very fairytale like. Lets face it. Most men that face death think first of all about their kids. Not about the boobies of the 20 year old stalker. Further more, the ‘I had to have her, because the temptation is too much and I am male’ is a (false) feminist notion that makes all men sound like morons controlled by their penises. I have a male friend that told me how he always feels the need to kick the person that says ‘For women sex is more then sex, and for men it is just a means to an end.’ By this we are making men in to these savage animals that have no brain , no inhibitions and can not understand the difference between sex and love, need and superficial attraction. I am sure there are jerks out there that simply do not care for their partners and do what ever they like, but normal nice men? There are those too, you know. Also not all women are fairy tale princesses either.So the affair starts. We, the readers are treated to a lot of sex. I know that Sara, the mistress was a heroine also (Or a psiho harlot moron, what ever rock your boat), but I so did not want to read about the ECSTASY that the husband felt while having sex with her. The 3 way point of view was supposed to give me a better feeling of the drama but sheeeesh, this? It just went in to the 'too much information' compartment. And I had this strong need to take a bath and clean all the nastiness form myself.The mistress is clingy, pathetic, crazy and mostly scary. Well, to me at least. She lies and muddles trough the whole thing all in the name of love. She makes scenes. She is a pain in the ass and a moron.The hero is kind of aware of that…well, he would have to be blind to not be, but he still buys her expensive stuff and plans a valentines day with her.Huh?What?I understand that it seem like love. A bit. To him.No wait! I don’t understand! It seem like meaningless stupid sex that had no point between to very different people! So duuuh…what is wrong with the man?I have no idea, and that is just the point.Maybe this book would have been ok if it was realistic.It was not!No sane person would take the things that girl did. No person would like her, and no person would not see trough her.Also, it is so stupid of the author to make the hero give all the costly stuff to the girl while his wife has…nothing really.And really, why would he do it? That is like, the oldest and most stupid cliché of them all! If a person is prone to giving stuff he will give them to any woman. If he is not, he just is not. No mistress could change that just with the fact that she is…well, a mistress!We continue down this rocky road of absurd situations to find ourselves at the peak of trouble.The wife know about the affair!Oh noooo!(What ever.)The husband was just about to end it because he loves his wife when he is found out.Naturally the only thing the said husband could do is…to go an grovel in front of the wife,right? Brake up with the clingy scary mistress?No!You are wrong!He goes to live with the mistress and leaves the wife.Again-huh?Well, now you see what I mean about absurd situations and behavior that no normal person would practice.While the wife goes off in to the sunset with her NORMAL first love that cares for her and her kids, the mistress and the hero have a tough time living together. The mistress lies that she is pregnant and the hero, again naturally, decides to have a divorce because of the baby so he could marry the woman he does not love. This would all be something I could maybe swallow (not really!) if not for the fact that his youngest child is less then 2 years old. So, tell me, how is the care of his small children ages from 2-8 less important then a newborn? Hmmm? He can leave them in cold blood but has to makes things right for a baby that was supposed to be born? Yeah, well… I think this is the culmination of the authors stupid premises campaign.The mistress lied, but of course! The hero decides to make up with his wife. (Ummm...I do not seem to remember-why did he even leave? *shrugs her shoulders in confusion*) The wife decides to dump the nice man that loves her for who she is and goes back to the moron hero that kept kicking her when she was down. Also, she goes back to the man that cheated on her because he could not stop himself. The happy ever after end. Um….wait. How? How will it be a happy ever after? What will happened when he meets the next Sara? I don’t really think I want to know.All in all a pretentious book that was supposed to show us how a real affair looks like. Well, boy oh boy… it looks like something out of a text book, it seems and a text book in which women are ditsy morons or young sluts that want married 20 years older men for no apparent reason and men are still stuck in the era where their free thinking is compromised. Veeery realistic….not.
Leí este libro hace un tiempo, cuando tenia más paciencia para libros que trataran de infidelidades y personajes tomando estúpidas decisiones. Estoy seguro que si lo leyera ahora lo terminaría tirando a la basura,pero no me siento inclinada a torturarme releyendo este libro así que simplemente hablaré de lo que en ese momento me pareció.Aparte de Nick quien era un cero a la izquierda y al que ignoré la mayor parte del libro porque no tenia nada interesante para decir, las dos mujeres en el libro,la esposa y la amante me agradaron, no se como no odié a la amante pero ella era una chica joven, oportunista,quería pasarla bien y ganar a toda costa, no es su culpa que Nick fuera tan fácil de conseguir, como dice el dicho "cada día nace un tonto y el que lo encuentra se lo queda".En este caso Nick era el tonto y si pensó con su aparato reproductor pues es su culpa y de nadie más.Lo que si recuerdo que no me gusto para nada en este libro es su final (view spoiler)[No solo la esposa vuelve con el descerebrado de su marido si no que en las ultimas páginas se sugiere de manera bastante obvia que la culpable de todo habia sido la esposa,pues Nick nunca quiso separarse de ella,solo quería tener una amante...que estupidez. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Adultery Club (2008)?
I deliberately didn't read all the comments so as not to spoil the suspense, so I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. I expected a bit of fluff and was surprised by how thought-provoking I found this. I particularly relished the way the situations were perceived by the different characters and from the different points of view, sometimes mirror images, sometimes more like distorted fun house mirrors, often using the same phrasing and metaphors to describe something.I have to admit I felt a bit disappointed by the choice Mal made in the end (although the book would suggest there was no choice)... without wanting to spoil this for anyone, it seems to me her other option was a more wonderful person... But this is not the first time I observe a "Marriage Conquers All" attitude in this type of literature.This book is a ray which I'm hosting, still open for more participants. (Clicking the "sell or swap" option to sort of indicate this, not sure if that's a mistake or not.
—penelopewanders
a wife, a husband, a mistress. whose side will u be on? nicholas lyon is a happy and contented divorce lawyer with his wife, a cookery writer, and their 3 children then sara enters his life and his sex life acquires a new life! sara wanted it just as a one off fling but soon realises she is far deeper than that and neither of them can let the other go mal eventually faces her doubts and must decide what she wants - and whether it is worth fighting for if anything save some of the sayings from their middle daughter. they r priceless and will make u laugh out loud on a rainy day! bev
—Bev Taylor
3,5⭐️Quando me emprestaram este livro e li a sinopse, não me despertou muita vontade de o ler, afinal o título dizia quase tudo. E na realidade trata-se de uma história igual a tantas outras e até previsível, mas espantosamente, dei por mim "embrenhada" neste enredo, numa mistura de dor, raiva, tristeza, compaixão e solidariedade que só me apetecia continuar a ler. Não é espectacular mas merece mais que as 3⭐️ que costumo dar, quando para mim, um livro é mediano.
—Ana Fernandes
