Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
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I was not intending to enjoy this book. I'm not even sure what drew me to it. I knew it was a book about infidelity, and I wasn't particularly interested in exploring that topic. But I must tell you - I enjoyed the book so much more than I anticipated.
This is not another romance novel glorification of affairs. There's nothing Danielle Steele about it. This is the story of two women at different stages of their lives who are both married to ambitious men and live in the two parts of a double house. The older woman has been married to a philandering senator for 40 years. The younger is a newlywed who finds herself in a new town with a new baby.
I felt shocked by some of what happens in this novel. The scenes left me wondering how I would handle something of this nature, wondering what makes a person a "good" person or a despicable person. I can't remember the last time I read a novel with such compellingly flawed characters. I felt so angry with them at various times in the book, so disappointed in their choices, and so wanting to comfort them through their challenges.
If characters who prompt you to think about your own life choices are the sign of a good novel, this is a good novel. It addresses that question of why women stay with men who belittle them, cheat on them, lie to them. Why? This is one author's answer told through the lives of two interesting neighbors in The Senator's Wife. With a caveat for sexuality, I give a thumbs' up for Sue Miller's latest bestseller.
