A Reliable Wife

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Average customer rating 4.4 (19 comments)

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Goolrick has an almost poetic way with the language and builds suspense beautifully in this, his first, novel. It is a very gothic tale. As I was reading it, for some reason I kept thinking of Edgar Allan Poe, and the poem of his that came to mind was Annabel Lee. Not that the stories that the poem and this novel tell are particularly related but the cadence of the language and the use of repetition struck me as being similar. The book also reminded me of younger (much younger) days when I used to devour the novels of Daphne du Maurier and the Bronte' sisters. This book would be right at home on a shelf with those ladies' works.

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It takes a lot to surprise me in a book and yet this book did just that! Just when I thought I knew who these characters were, they reached out and slapped you around a little to make sure you weren't too comfortable in your beliefs! The story-telling is engrossing and so detailed that it draws you in...allowing you to become each character whether you like it or not. I love finding new authors to read and this is definitely one that will make a recurring appearance on my list!

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An amazing look into such an intimate life of 2 different people. I had a hard time getting into it at the beginning and was glad I continued to read on. Full of insight, sinful pleasures and heartbreaking pasts.

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Great book. Had a real Edith Wharton feel to it. If you like Ethan Frome and the House of Mirth, you'll enjoy this book as well.

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A wonderful tale full of twists and turns, thoroughly enjoyable and "unputdownable"

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i had no expectations of this book before i read it.so,all the more was i surprized when i discovered i couldn't put it down(almost) until i finished it!it is an atypical mystery in that there is deep characterization along with very unexpected twists(@unexpected moments).the freezing cold enviornmental context turns sizzling hot before you realize it.the cliche "still waters run deep..." seems apt for both the protagonists and the times.a great read.

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maybe the best book i have ever read

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Original, well described story.

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A mix of passionate characters. Emotionally challenging at times. Could not wait for the conclusion. What a twist!

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Enjoyed this book the best of all I read in 2010!

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beautiful prose, sexy, and dark.

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I learned a lot about late 19th/early 20th century Midwest America, and enjoyed the beautiful writing.

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I love a strong woman intent on thriving in the impossibly patriarchal society of the time. She lures men in, captivates, creates a stir and never lets us down. Although she enters the book as a snake in the grass, she does become a most remarkably RELIABLE WIFE.

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I expected to love this book. I even pre-ordered the paperback edition and suggested it for my book group. All of us were very disappointed in it. Although the first few pages were promising, the rest of the first half was slow and plodding--too much description and too little action. I appreciate good writing more than most, and Goolrick describes the harshness of a Wisconsin winter in all its bleak unendingness...but he does it for far too long. The second half picks up, but Goolrick drops in characters (for example, India) and minor events (such as all those horrific things that "just happen" because of the winters) without apparent reason or resolution. If his goal was to show the parallels between a bleak Wisconsin winter and bleak human relationships, he succeeded. If, however, his goal was to write a captivating novel with well-developed characters and a spellbinding plot, he failed.

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This is one of those books where you're just not sure what to make of it until the end. It sort of reminds me of a non-Christian version of Redeeming Love. It is about redemption and forgiveness. The main characters are all flawed, gritty, and driven by their need for love, although that often plays out through them either thinking about or having sex. Their are a few plot twists that are fun and I liked the way the characters' lives are told bit by bit instead of being revealed all at once. This is a quick read and if you're looking for something a bit quirky and deviant I would recommend this.

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While A Reliable Wife has it's faults, as most debut novels often do, I think this is a great piece of fiction that is very hard to put down. The plot features intriguing and secretive characters and carries a dueling suspenseful and erotic tone. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a thrillers, romance novels, or who enjoy dark works of fiction.

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Very disappointing after all the hype. One reviewer suggests that if you don't like the book, you must not understand how complicated relationships can be. I'd say that relationships are or can be highly complex and complicated, and that even the most complicated can ebb and flow, and that the people within them change in unexpected ways. But there was almost nothing unexpected or surprising in this novel, not in plot, not in character, not in the use of geography and the seasons as symbols. I waded through repetitive paragraph after repetitive paragraph describing desire and torment and despair, but the author's insistence on telling -- not showing -- left me unmoved. I did not feel as though I knew the characters or what prompted their transformations; I became acquainted with their psychological outlines via stereotype (or, at best, archetype). Keep buying books at Powell's -- just not this one.

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An engrossing read; I couldn't put it down!

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The presence of the past (3.75 *s) Perhaps the 40 percent here that can't stand this book don't like complicated relationships. Maybe it is the Internet purchasing paradigm at work. Products should come as advertised. That extends even to mail-order marriages. The wifely role should be straightforward. Fortunately, the author has hardly succumbed to such simplistic nonsense when it comes to people. Middle-aged people have pasts, maybe very disturbing pasts, and inclinations and desires, maybe not well understood. Ralph Truitt, a rich businessman, now fifty-four, living in rural Wisconsin in 1907, is haunted by his past - a failed marriage to a very demanding Italian countess and his subsequent antipathy towards his son that resulted in his leaving as a teen-ager twenty years ago. But he knows that he cannot continue without the touch of a woman, regardless of his contention in his advertisement for "a reliable wife" that his interest is only "practical." Catherine Land, thirty-four, dares not be the "honest" woman that she claimed to be in an answering letter to Ralph. She has lived by her wits as a prostitute for years. Survival for her trumps righteous honesty. Revealed early is the depth of Ralph's pain and Catherine's agenda, her plan, which has little to do with a long-lasting marriage. Despite a great deal of awkwardness, the marriage is rapidly completed. But marriage becomes almost secondary as Ralph requests that Catherine go to St. Louis to retrieve his thirty-something son, Antonio. The remainder of the book involves the fatalistic playing out of Catherine meeting Antonio. The characters are not without puzzling traits, but even though grievous harm is inflicted by Catherine, there is core toughness, if not decency, that comes through in Ralph and Catherine. Catherine, despite her background, is surprising in her thirst for knowledge, as she literally hangs out in libraries for hours on end educating herself on numerous subjects. Perhaps it can be agreed that the story at times is laboriously told, is overwrought, and is somewhat excessive. The dark and desolate Wisconsin winters add to a general tone of oppressiveness. Despite any such drawbacks or atmospherics, the book is redeemed by the halting change and growth of the two principals, by the extraordinary acceptance and forgiveness exhibited, and the evolution of emotions that fully deserve being regarded as love. Life is complicated, has to be lived to be figured out. Packaged, simple life is a fantasy.