The Professors' Wives' Club (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
I enjoyed reading The Professor's Wives' Club. The character's were somewhat likable. I just don't understand how anyone would put up with someone like Jack, especially Mary, a Pulitzer prizewinning, professor's wife. I guess everyone has their reasons for staying...On to the food:"Sofia pulled the leg of lamb from the oven. The air filled with the scent of orange, white wine, and rosemary as the marinade sizzled and gleamed. Although she was sweating from the heat, too brown, crisp but not burned." p. 114 I love academic novels, so I tried this one out. It was ok. The writing reasonably good, and the story is reasonably interesting.But the characters are quite flat and generally unimaginatively created -- they're not 1 dimensional, but they're only 2 dimensional.For example, Mary used to be a Pulitzer prize winning writer, but now she's a deferential (abused) housewife; Hannah used to be a fashion model but now she's an aspiring artist.The male characters are even more generically flat. Jack used to be a typical academic (kind, soft-spoken, etc) but is now a hardened, abusive, careerist. Michael seemed to be an attentive doting boyfriend but is now a superficial, adolescent nerd.There is no attempt to suggest how all of these people changed so much. And there's practically no nuance. Characters are either good people or bad people (or good people become bad people).All of the women appear to have no character flaws (except some which are overly dependent and deferential to their men). Indeed, one character, Sam, appears to have no sin and the patience of Buddha. The flow of the plot is a bit Sex in the Cityish ... and the short, visual, episodic chapters would appear to be designed to be adapted into a movie.The end is as simplistic as the characters ... all the good people are rewarded and all the bad people are punished, and, presumably, everyone we care about will live happily ever after ...
What do You think about The Professors' Wives' Club (2008)?
A quick summer read, interesting enough to finish in one sitting.
—charlene
