In Husbands and Other Sharp Objects by Marilyn Simon Rothstein, Marcy Hammer is separated from her husband, Harvey, after learning that he has fathered a baby with another woman even younger than their own three children. She has just formed her own life, with a career and a serious boyfriend, Jon, an English professor at a local college. But she has not filed for divorce, determined that Harvey will file first in a move to admit his culpability in their split. But Harvey wants to get back together with Marcy and won’t file.
Then one day Marcy goes to pick up her best friend, Candy, at the airport when she has a collision with an expensive car that cuts her off. Soon she learns that the man, Jake, is Harvey’s lawyer and is at the airport to pick up Marcy’s daughter Amanda. This is a surprise because Amanda told her mother she wasn’t arriving in Connecticut to visit until a few days later. It turns out that she is seeing Jake and plans to spend several days with him before seeing her mother. Though Marcy has never even heard of Jake, she soon learns that he will become her son-in-law, as the couple have become engaged.
As Marcy struggles with the repercussions of her separation from her husband, she has to deal with a daughter who has turned into a Bridezilla of the worst sort. Further, she also has to work to try to maintain relationships with her doctor daughter, Elizabeth, and law school student son, Ben, both of whom are alienated by Amanda’s wedding plans. In addition, she faces conflict with Jon about his desire to meet her children yet Amanda’s refusal to invite him to her wedding or even meet him.
Husbands and Other Sharp Objects is a fun, creative book that gives a glimpse into the dramatic life of Marcy as she deals valiently with what life has thrown at her. We see the irony of Amanda’s expectations of married life in contrast to Marcy’s reality. Amanda has not only unrealistic ideals of marriage but a twisted sense of what a wedding signifies in relation to the reality of her married life. With a constant refrain that this is “my special day,” Amanda fails to recognize that a wedding is merely the start of married life and not a performance for the rest of the world that allows her to exhibit all selfishness. The account of all Marcy’s adventures is told in humor and pleasure.
Pamela Almand performs the audio edition of this book, playing the part of Marcy with tongue in cheek and a glorious sense of irony. Her characterizations of the individuals in the novel lead to their sense of being real people despite their crazy antics. With strong expression, Almand gives the book a pleasurable listening experience.
I highly enjoyed the many fun details of listening to Husbands and Other Sharp Objects. The book contains a lot of humor and great characters who seem realistic and neither all good or all bad. The storyline was a delight, and I give this book five stars.
Disclaimer: I received this book forc free for review purposes, but that had no effect on the content of my review.
To purchase this book for yourself, click here on Amazon.
