Official Reviews: Past Wives
Posted: 19 Jul 2013, 10:38
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Past Wives" by Kelly McIntosh.]
Past Wives tells the story of two young women who meet at uni, become friends then lovers, marry, break up, and move on. (The break-up is on the first page, so I'm not spoiling the plot here.) Told in three parts, parts one and two are told by Kirsten, who started out wanting a career in journalism, and part three by Deanna, who went into law.
Whilst the main story is plausible, and indeed fascinating and well thought-out, there are other aspects of the book which just didn't hang together for me. I found both of the two main characters a little hard to believe in; it's difficult to say why without giving away too much of the book, but both women were given characters which didn't quite add up. Also, with one a lawyer and one a journalist, you might expect them to be able to discuss their feelings on various matters quite easily but this is denied them. There was also perhaps too much early naivety and inexperience for two young women at university, and religion, obviously a large part of their parents' lives, came and went from theirs rather puzzlingly in that one moment it was important to them, the next non-existent, and then it was back in their lives again. The quality of writing also varies throughout the book in that quite often some unimportant conversation is given in minute detail but at other times events which are crucial to what is happening between them are simply referred to but few details given.
There were some fairly graphic sex scenes, so this would not be a book to appeal to everyone.
All in all, I enjoyed the main story which I found well thought-out, but I was left feeling that some editing was needed with some of the book re-written. For that reason I would give it a mark of 3 out of 4.
***
Buy "Past Wives" on Amazon
Past Wives tells the story of two young women who meet at uni, become friends then lovers, marry, break up, and move on. (The break-up is on the first page, so I'm not spoiling the plot here.) Told in three parts, parts one and two are told by Kirsten, who started out wanting a career in journalism, and part three by Deanna, who went into law.
Whilst the main story is plausible, and indeed fascinating and well thought-out, there are other aspects of the book which just didn't hang together for me. I found both of the two main characters a little hard to believe in; it's difficult to say why without giving away too much of the book, but both women were given characters which didn't quite add up. Also, with one a lawyer and one a journalist, you might expect them to be able to discuss their feelings on various matters quite easily but this is denied them. There was also perhaps too much early naivety and inexperience for two young women at university, and religion, obviously a large part of their parents' lives, came and went from theirs rather puzzlingly in that one moment it was important to them, the next non-existent, and then it was back in their lives again. The quality of writing also varies throughout the book in that quite often some unimportant conversation is given in minute detail but at other times events which are crucial to what is happening between them are simply referred to but few details given.
There were some fairly graphic sex scenes, so this would not be a book to appeal to everyone.
All in all, I enjoyed the main story which I found well thought-out, but I was left feeling that some editing was needed with some of the book re-written. For that reason I would give it a mark of 3 out of 4.
***
Buy "Past Wives" on Amazon