How to Be a Good Wife

by Emma Chapman

"In the tradition of Emma Donoghue's Room and S.J. Watson's Before I Go to Sleep, a haunting literary debut about a woman who begins having visions that make her question everything she knows. Marta and Hector have been married for a long time. Through the good and bad; through raising a son and sending him off to life after university. So long, in fact, that Marta finds it difficult to remember her life before Hector. He has always taken care of her, and she has always done everything she can to be a good wife--as advised by a dog-eared manual given to her by Hector's aloof mother on their wedding day. But now, something is changing. Small things seem off. A flash of movement in the corner of her eye, elapsed moments that she can't recall. Visions of a blonde girl in the darkness that only Marta can see. Perhaps she is starting to remember--or perhaps her mind is playing tricks on her. As Marta's visions persist and her reality grows more disjointed, it's unclear if the danger lies in the world around her, or in Marta herself. The girl is growing more real every day, and she wants something"--

• ISBN10: 1250018196
• ISBN13: 9781250018199
• Publish Date: 15 October 2013 (first published 3 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[meowstina]

I received this advanced reader’s copy for free as part of Goodreads’s First Reads program.

From the very first page you become fully entrenched in Marta’s world. The tone of the novel is set immediately, and never wavers. This is my favourite part of reading this book, because that’s really what a good book should do: create and draw you into a completely new and all-encompassing world. Chapman does a great job setting atmosphere and creating a unique voice in Marta.

The story unfolds from Marta’s first person perspective, so for the entire duration you are in her mind. This is a really interesting (and I think successful) choice, as you never know what is real and what is just perceived. The whole premise of the novel revolves around the strange circumstances Marta encounters and is about her trying to figure out if they are real or if it’s all in her mind. You begin to wonder these things for yourself, and it definitely affected me. The story explores the boundaries of the mind, but I can’t go into much detail without giving away any spoilers.

The prose can get a little monotonous, but that’s just Marta, so it’s kind of understandable. Also, ambiguity can frustrate me, but I completely see the point of it for this novel. It really works, so I’m (more) fine with it. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, but overall this is a really interesting concept and novel.