Wife 22. by Melanie Gideon [Anglais] [Relié]

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I read the brief description of Wife 22 but since it was clearly about a woman at an unhappy point in her marriage, I was in.

Alice Buckle is a wife and mother. Her 20 year marriage is sort of lackluster. Her kids are growing up and emotionally away from her. She had dreams of being a playwrite but the one play she did write bombed at the community theater so that was the end of that.

While googling one day (the story starts out with her googling eyelid drooping) she enters Happy Marriage into the search bar. The next thing she knows a marriage survey turns up in her spam folder. She moves it to her Inbox. Once she begins the anonymous survey as Wife 22 she REALLY gets into it with long, thoughtful answers. We learn a lot about her and her early years with her husband. She learns a lot about herself. Unfortunately, so does the Researcher facilitating the survey, resulting in Alice engaging in a somewhat inappropriate verbal and emotional relationship with the Researcher.

I found this story to be very engaging. It was fairly fast paced and the characters were introduced solidly. This is a very modern novel as social media is the thread that binds it. Melanie Gideon uses Facebook status updates, email communications and Facebook Chat along with traditional first person story telling. Some readers might not care for the back and forth of the story telling as they might find it confusing. I enjoyed it. I felt like I WAS Alice checking her Facebook status and always checking for the next email from Researcher 101. I especially enjoyed the answers to the survey questions. Of course the reader is not privy to the questions but reading the answers gives us enough to figure out the questions. The author DOES supply the questions in an appendix. Unless you flip entirely through a book before starting to read at page one, who would know that? I personally was glad I didn't know because as I mentioned I found it fun to guess the questions as I was reading the answers. I went back and compared my idea of the questions to the actual supplied questions as a little game with myself. So, the book really is interactive.

Is this a groundbreaking novel? No. It is a story about a forty something wife and mother who is on the verge of being lost and throwing away everything that she spent the last 20 years building. A lot of women readers can relate to it. The writing flows well and the chapters are very short so you can easily read this in small increments of time.

I really enjoyed this take on a modern marriage in the throes of middle-aged angst. Alice Buckle is a loving wife, mom and elementary school drama teacher whose insecurities and minor internet obsessions make her a very believable character. Her role in the novel is bolstered by a great supporting cast, including her maybe-gay adolescent son Peter, whose assistance and judgement Alice seeks for all fashion-related decisions; Zoe, her teenage daughter/mini-me who may or may not suffer from an eating disorder; and Nedra, Alice's gay lawyer best friend whose happy and sex-filled relationship torments Alice in this time of midlife crisis.

When Alice is approached to participate in an anonymous online survey about love and marriage, she jumps at the chance. She is soon connected to 'Researcher 101' and, in her role as 'Wife 22', shares intimate details, fears and stories with ease. Her responses to the seemingly random array of questions paint a vivid picture of Alice's early love and romance, and subsequently what she feels is lacking in her current relationship with her husband of 20 years. Alice soon comes to rely heavily on her internet relationship with Researcher 101, craving his communication to the point that she begins to feel the relationship has taken an illicit turn, and even considers relinquishing her anonymity to meet him in person.

How do we keep love and romance alive over time? How do we reconnect with loved ones from whom we've grown distant? How do we balance our kids, our jobs and our sex lives? These are Alice's personal dilemmas, ones with which I imagine many readers can relate. Melanie Gideon's prose is witty, her sense of humor self-deprecating but never cruel - I highly recommend this book as a fun and engaging summer read. I give it 4 1/2 stars, and look forward to reading more from this author.

Alice Buckle from the very beginning is a spunky, enjoyable main character. She teaches theater at a local elementary school, part time. William and Alice have 2 children, one boy and one girl. William and Alice have been together forever. So maybe the newness has worn off. Alice received an email asking if she would participate in a marriage survey. For $1000, why not!

However, Alice thinks she is falling for Researcher 101 --- Wife 22 to be exact as she is known. In cute little conversations and snippets they converse back and forth through emails and eventually start talking on facebook as well.

Lots will be revealed when you read it, as Alice and William as well search themselves and what they are really looking for. It might just be right in front of them!

Good writing, loved the modern day email and facebook talk! Perfect for these days. Alice was such an endearing character to me, I fell in love instantly.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.