I jumped up and down when this book arrived. My husband took one look at the cover, arched an eyebrow, and asked, “Should I be worried?” No, he shouldn’t be. I’m planning to give my marriage a lifetime. But...
I jumped up and down when this book arrived. My husband took one look at the cover, arched an eyebrow, and asked, “Should I be worried?”
No, he shouldn’t be. I’m planning to give my marriage a lifetime. But a new Holly Wainwright book? Yes, please. So, let’s dive in, shall we?
I Give my Marriage a Year / Holly Wainwright
(Pan Macmillan Australia, 2020)
Lou and Josh have been together for 14 years. They share two kids, a mortgage, careers and plenty of history. Now, after a particularly fraught Christmas, Lou is ready to ask herself: is this marriage worth hanging on to?
Every month, Lou sets a different test for the relationship – from daily sex to brutal honesty – to help her decide, by the end of the year, if she should stay or go. Secrets are exposed, old wounds reopened and a true-to-life suburban love story unfolds.
I’m going to give I Give my Marriage a Year the ultimate compliment: I finished it.
That probably doesn’t sound like much. But in 2020, the year of Covid-19, lockdowns, heightened anxiety and waning concentration, it really is praise of the highest order. It’s one of only three books I’ve finished since the first lockdown.
This is particularly notable given I didn’t really like any of the main characters. I didn’t like the main characters in Wainwright’s books The Mummy Bloggers and How to be Perfect either, and enjoyed those reads too. I’d chalked that up to having been a mummy blogger myself and recognising the environment and shenanigans. A third non-stop read suggests the key is actually Wainwright’s talent to invoke empathy for all, not just for the likeable.
(Perhaps she could turn that talent to the Covid-deniers and anti-maskers of the world?)
I laughed. I groaned. I squirmed. I shook my head. I thought, “How could you?” and shouted, “EWWWW NO!” I crossed my fingers. I might not have liked these characters, but I cared. I’m also not sure I liked the final resolution but I’m comfortable with it and, most importantly, I’m glad there was one. No cliffhangers here.
I don’t do big spoilers, but here’s a little one: I also enjoyed Josh’s mental load epiphany. It’s a delight to read an otherwise decent character – one who does more for his family than his friends do for their families – come to the realisation that he’s still nowhere near carrying his weight without getting defensive about it.
Standout lines:
How long since she’d felt lucky, the way she once had, before a million dramas big and small had white-anted the solid base of the life she and Josh had built together?‘I would support you if you decided to cut Josh’s head off,’ Gretchen said, pouring hot water into two cups. ‘But it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t tell you it was murder.’How much of this had Lou just got on with, while he’d been patting himself on the back for being an ‘involved’ dad?It feels like a holiday from my life was true, but it didn’t look like the brochure.You can purchase I Give my Marriage a Year from Booktopia here. I’ve also seen it available online at Kmart and Big W.
Have you read I Give my Marriage a Year? What did you think?
This is not a sponsored post. I received a copy of I Give my Marriage a Year from Macmillan for the purposes of review. All views are my own. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you click to purchase the item, I may earn a little commission, but you won’t pay any extra.