Wife 22: A Novel (edition 2012)

It was good! I really felt for the mother. Confused, funny, smart but no excuse for doing what she did. Not going to spoil it for anyone so I'm making this very short. Read this in a day and 1/2.
( )

While I did win this book in a First Reads contest, it is definitely worth buying. I picked it up this morning to read, stuck inside after a snowstorm, and completed this afternoon. I started laughing on page one and finally chased my husband out of the room because I couldn't stop laughing. Alice Buckle could be any of us...trying to find meaning in life while actually living it! Not an easy thing to do. I think the previous reviews have done an excellent job outlining the major plot of this book so I won't repeat. If you want to just relax and enjoy a fun read with heart, this would be the book for you. ( )

What a fun, realistic read! The way we are all so "connected" these days, this story could be about any of us. Loved the surprise ending. Has good discussion questions. ( )

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon has been compared to Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones Diary and it's easy to see why. Of my own small reading repertoire, I'd say it's a cross between Bridget Jones and Domestic Violets, a story about a middle-aged copywriter wannabe writer going through an early mid-life crisis.

Wife 22 is a modern-day story of middle-age, fraught with family and marital tensions, told in humorous and insightful anecdotes varying in structure from traditional prose and dialogue to mini-plays to google searches to email correspondence to facebook status updates and chats. Alice is 44 with a cranky, self-righteous teenage daughter and near-teen son she suspects is gay, married for 20 years to distant William. She teaches drama part-time at a local elementary school; William is a creative director at an ad agency. There worlds no longer seem to overlap much at all, and unhappy Alice signs up for a study of 21st century marriage that she finds in her spam folder, which assigns her the code name wife22. Researcher 101 is her contact, and he feeds her a few questions a week from the survey.

Alice finds that the anonymity of the survey lends itself to greater honesty, and she relates intimate details of her life with a humor, frankness, and attention to detail that has been missing in her present. She feels guilty for keeping her marriage survey participation from her husband, and, after her communications with Researcher 101 start to go beyond harmless flirtation, eventually confesses to 2 of her closest friends, who both tell her to cut if off before she does something rash.

The novel is full of exchanges like:

"Can we tell people?" asks Peter.
"What people?" I say.
"Zoe."
"Zoe's not people. She's family," I say.
"No, she's people. We lost her to the people some time ago," says William.

as well as witty advice such as:

"Humiliation is a choice. Don't choose it."

Though I found the format a little trying and gimmicky at first, it ultimately worked for me as Alice grew on me. Is Alice imperfect? Of course. Selfish? Definitely - but aren't we all? Trying to figure out how to navigate life with all the gadgetry and online-connectedness we're supposed to be experiencing? Absolutely. But Alice is a very relatable character, even if she makes much different choices than I might make (or think I might make - she has higher meanness tolerance levels than I do). She's goofy and funny and frazzled but not to the point of ridiculousness (like the Bridget Jones in the movie version). She survives her crisis and manages to circle back to herself - the end is satisfying in it's slightly unpredictable obviousness (even if one could see it coming halfway through the book... it's the how that's fun).

One thing to note, as I was reading the ebook version: The questions to the survey are in the appendix at the end. While reading, it just seemed that the reader was supposed to guess the question, which often was possible, but sometimes annoying. I'm not sure if knowing about the questions would have enhanced or detracted from my reading experience, but there is.

Either way, reading Wife 22 was a pure delight and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a light summer read with a little bit of depth to it.

*I received this book compliments of Ballantine Books via NetGalley. ( )

Read on Apr 28, 2012

I'm a sucker for good chick lit. Or women's fiction. Or domestic fiction. Whatever it's called these days.

This is the story of Alice Buckle. Alice signs up for a study about marriage in the 21st century and realizes she isn't as happy as she thought. Alice isn't perfect, her husband and kids aren't either, but this book is pretty close. The ending is fantastic with a bit of a twist I didn't expect. A great read for a summer day. ( )

eh, I tried, but just didn't care for it. ( )

It is hard to read a book and know the "surpise" after 100 pages. A bit much.... too much information maybe 100 pages too long. ( )

I was thrilled to finally snag a copy of the much talked about Wife 22. A novel about love, marriage, and family and one woman's inability to deal with all of the above.

The story begins as Alice the protagonist is in her mid-40's and realizing her mother passed away when she was 45. Her 20 year marriage is already in shambles and she is dealing with two teenagers. All these components seem to have sent her off on a mini mid-life crisis. Since the story comes in at a point where Alice and William's marriage seemed to be falling apart, the reader is only left to wonder what the history was of these two. I wanted to know when did this ennui set in?

I believe Ms. Gideon was writing about the consequences of lack of communication in today's marriages. As Alice & William settle in to the same old routine, relationships start to become more individualized. She uses a modern approach to their story, utilizing text messaging, emails, google and facebook to tell the story of Alice and William which ironically is also listed as a reason as to why communication has fallen apart.

The story's concept was good. One has to get used to the different types of prose used. Overall, characters were developed nicely. I can't say that I really liked Alice but I understand the basis of the story and it is conveyed nicely in the book. ( )

{ I won an ARC as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. }

Beautiful story. Much deeper and lovelier than I had expected. It's so full of real emotion and real issues and real relationships. I was starting to see a lot of myself in Alice, or a lot of Alice in myself. I very much liked the twist at the end. I hadn't heard much about this book or Melanie Gideon before winning Wife 22, but I really enjoyed the book and Gideon's writing style, and I'll definitely be checking out more of her work in the future. ( )

I unfortunately could not make it very far into Wife 22; the rather trite subject matter and mundane writing style put me off into delving into the novel any further. ( )

This was a cleverly written novel that was innovative in the way the author wove social networking, searching, and regular prose to develop the story. The characters were entertaining if a bit one-dimensional. Overall I enjoyed the book but found the ending rather predictable. I'd recommend to someone who was looking for a light read. ( )

Loved this light, fun, easy read! ( )

Very refreshing, some very funny spots in this book, made me want to read outloud to my husband. A nice read

F Gideon

Cute ( )

This was an enjoyable, quick read. I am perhaps a little slow on the uptake as the book was not entirely predictable until about half way through. I enjoyed the characters presented, but did not feel as though I really got to know any of them in depth. I would have enjoyed this book more if the characters were developed more. All things considered, it was a good book, and I liked the characters, but when the book was over, I was ready to put it down. ( )

In her superb first novel, Gideon (The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After, a memoir) artfully traces the contours of a dull marriage in the age of Facebook. Alice and William Buckle start out happy, but two kids and nearly 20 years later, Alice is bored and desperate for stimulation. When she gets an e-mail asking her to participate in a study about modern marriage, Alice impulsively agrees. Dubbed "Wife 22" and assigned a caseworker called "Researcher 101," Alice begins answering his probing questions (though readers are usually privy only to her responses), rendering Alice and her marriage in impressionistic strokes vibrantly textured with succinct, revealing details: "15. Uncommunicative. Dismissive. Distant. 16. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"). However, as the confessions pour forth, Alice and Researcher 101's relationship takes a romantic turn. Comprising a tapestry of traditional narrative, e-mails, Facebook chats, and other digital media, Gideon's work is an honest assessment of a woman's struggle to reconcile herself with her desires and responsibilities, as well as a timely treatise on the anonymity and intimacy afforded by digital communiques. Fully formed supporting characters and a nuanced emotional story line make Gideon's fiction debut shimmer. ( )

The formatting of this book was a little difficult to get into, but once things got going, I couldn't put this book down. It was a good read, with an unusual outcome. Highly recommend this book by Melanie Gideon. ( )

I really enjoyed this clever, technology-driven novel about a suburban mom's mid-life crisis as she approaches her 20 year anniversary to her husband. The author uses online postings through Facebook, text messages, and other technological communication devices to move the dialogue along. I could totally relate to the main character, Alice Buckle, as her life and mine are so similar (same-age kids with similar personalities and genders, 20 year marriage, poorly trained dog, etc.). The story was witty and fun and I really loved the tension between Researcher 101 and Alice (Wife 22), as she participated in an anonymous research study on marriage. Alice's voice seemed very real and believable. While I predicted the ending early on in the story, I still enjoyed watching it come to the climax. I would highly recommend this story for anyone who enjoy contemporary novels that have technology synched with a good dose of nostalgia, family life and romance. ( )

The beginning is a 4 and the end is a 2 so I'm averaging it out to be a 3 star book. Very funny and touching but also very cliche. Can't say why though as it would be a terrible spoiler and it is an easy no-stress read so you should go for it. ( )

Review based on ARC:

Also, my book group, Desert Girls, read the book. See the group's review at desertgirlsbooks.blogspot.com.

I thought the book was OK. I didn't hate it, but I found it cliched and predictable.

I found the characters to be somewhat dull and 2-dimensional, and a lot of them seemed to have a lot of anger and negativity. The so-called best friend of the protagonist seems to love her friend by offering good advice, but seems to turn her back on the emotional sufferings and baggage of bad decisions. She was a friend who seemed present only when it was convenient for her to be so. The various "mother" figures in the book were interesting and ... well, probably the only likeable characters that were really there.

The writing and the story-telling, however, were quite good. I thought Gideon did a *great* job interweaving various social networking, texting, emailing, etc. to tell the story. I also felt that there were a lot of realistically drawn characters, but I felt that the "resolution" was altogether too easy for the lack of self-reflection and growth the characters seemed to exhibit or experience in the story.

Overall, I would recommend to someone who likes suburban stories about the emotional struggles that we experience as a result of our own decisions. The book isn't challenging, but it's funny at times, light at times, thoughtful at times, and written well enough to not throw. ( )

Entertaining and easy to read. Terrible ending. ( )

This novel really is somewhat of a Bridget Jones’ Diary for midlife, although being in my mid-thirties I was quite captivated by it. The form of the novel is unique; it’s written partly in first person present tense, partly in screenplay, partly in answers to questions that the narrator has Googled, and partly in Facebook chats. The basic plot is that Alice Buckle, a 44-year-old wife, part time drama teacher, and mother of two, is invited to participate in a research survey about marriage. As she, Wife 22, engages in answering the questions and strikes up a dialogue with her correspondent, Researcher 101, her doubts and questions about her 20 year marriage come to the surface.
Alice is a thoroughly human, flawed, and endearing protagonist. She alternately rails against the way technology has taken over our lives, and wonders whether she herself is addicted to Facebook. She begins to communicate things online to Researcher 101 that she could not dream of sharing with her husband, causing her to more deeply question her marriage and the path her life is taking. As she recounts her courtship with her husband, she becomes increasingly aware of how far they have drifted apart, and must grapple with whether they can find each other again.
The novel turns out to be a nice blend of romance and comedy, with some drama thrown in. It’s equal parts hilarious and heart-tugging. Alice and her family could be any of us, and that’s what makes her story so relatable. A delightful read. ( )

I could actually relate to Alice Buckle so of course I enjoyed it. This is what I consider a beach or pool read. You can pick it up read a few chapters and then not pick it up until the next weekend. If you like sweet happy endings then this is the book for you!! ( )

Absolutely delicious! What Bridget Jones did for single women, Alice Buckle will do for married ones. Told in part through google search results, emails, facebook posts, and delightful answers to a marriage questionnaire, Melanie Gideon’s Wife 22 is a fabulously funny contemplation of relationships and parenthood in the twenty-first century. It will have book club readers laughing together well into the night. ( )