Review: My Husband by Maud Ventura

 

Publisher: Hutchinson Heinemann

Publication Date: January 2021

Source: Borrowed from library  [ goodreads ]

Blurb: 

From the outside, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she's never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated.

Determined to keep their relationship perfect, she meticulously prepares for every encounter they have, always taking care to make her actions seem effortless. She watches him attentively, charting every mistake and punishing him accordingly to help him improve. And she tests him -- setting traps to make sure that he still loves her just as much as he did when they first met. Until one day she realizes she may have gone too far . . .

I read this as part of my book club and had heard it described as "unhinged woman" meets "unreliable narrator" two of my favourites? Count me in!

I was immediately gripped by this book from the very first page. We are introduced to our main character whose one desire is to be perfect for her husband. Her entire day, life and world revolves around her husband - pleasing him, being noticed by him, watching him. Being inside this main characters mind as she spends her day observing, testing and punishing her husband for failing her mental tests was a wild ride. Because we spend so much time in her head, I did find myself thinking "oh well that wasn't too bad of a punishment" or "yeah that deserves a punishment" before being like WTF she is brainwashing me too! 

The book was so addicting to read. I started it on a Friday night when my boyfriend went out to see friends, and when he arrived home later I was in the same position on the couch about to read the final chapter. Incredibly fast paced, cannot pull your eyes from the page and so perfect for a book club as there will be so many things to talk about. The very ending, iykyk, is what knocked a star off for me. 

Wonderfully deranged - I look forward to reading another of Maud Ventura's novels.