Private Means

The author manages to write a book about two extraordinarily bright people who can\’t manage a single truthful conversation from page one to the end! Long married couple, Alice and Peter, do not develop in any way, either personally or as a couple. I am unclear on what the author hoped to accomplish or what compelling message is to realized. Ms.LeFavour, if you want readers to revel in your work you must take your character\’s growth from point A to B, not leave us exactly where you started.

The theme – a couple in their fifties with more than 20 years of marriage- is very interesting but the development of the novel is not.

This book is not that long but really a slog to get through because nothing happens. It’s about a married academic couple who have been together for twenty-something years and are bored out of their minds with each other. It’s just hard to drum up sympathy for a couple that isn’t disgustingly well off but is definitely doing just fine financially and health-wise. Are their careers not always as scintillating as they may hope—oh boo hoo, join the club. They have twin girls going to college in California and Alice had them shortly after they got married, so she really didn’t do much with her Ph.D. and focused on raising them. That’s it. That’s all that happens. They drink a lot and whine a lot. I just saved you the trouble of reading this book. Also, the author chose not to use quotation marks around what people say, so you have to figure out for yourself if someone is speaking or if you’re reading exposition. Usually it’s not that hard, but there are times you have to go back and figure out what you just read—the reason we as a people have agreed to punctuation is to make things easier for readers. In a world where people are attached to the internet and not books, I really don’t think we should make things even less pleasant for the people who can be bothered to read. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I went into this book expecting to enjoy it. I like the premise–empty-nester couple realizes they\’ve grown apart and struggle to determine the course of their relationship–and the cover is striking. Instead, reading the pages felt like a chore, and I could not connect with the characters or the story. Peter and Alice spend three months contemplating how they arrived at their current marital state. He\’s a psychoanalyst put off by how much more she cares about their missing dog than she does him. Having postponed her career after earning a PhD and having their twin daughters, Alice is frustrated by how difficult it is to make that happen now, eighteen years later. At the risk of revealing spoilers, Peter and Alice whine a lot, drink a lot, fantasize a lot, break marital vows, and generally make you dislike both of them to the point that you hope they stay together because they deserve that misery. Peter thinks he\’s a far better man than he is, and Alice is too full of self-pity for you to empathize with her state. I wouldn\’t have blamed that dog for fleeing the scene altogether. The affectation of not using quotation marks must be engaged only when the material supports it. Sally Rooney, for example, can pull it off. Here, though, it feels pretentious, much like Peter. And Alice. Despite the negatives, I did keep reading. I had to know what Peter and Alice would decide, and I had to make sure the dog was safe. Cree LeFavour may not have written a terribly compelling book, but she did write one that I had to finish.

This book wasn\’t exactly what I was expecting based on the description; I think I expected more of the couple\’s dynamic in relation to people \”with means,\” which was really a minor theme in the book. I have noticed over time that people I\’ve known for years, who used to happily eat Taco Bell with me on a Saturday night, have become restless and envious with regard to material things (kind of a relentless wanting and inability to be still or content) that I just don\’t understand, and I guess I wanted to know more about that. This isn\’t at all about that, but it\’s very much a worthwhile read. It is focused on the couple\’s dynamics and the (pretty typical, I think) \”familiarity breeds contempt\” type of feelings that arise in long-term relationships. If you\’re married or have been married for a long time, you can doubtlessly relate to at least some of the moments these characters share. The book is a quick and easy read, and it\’s entertaining and touching while remaining light. It\’s relatable. The characters are flawed but mostly likeable. The author gets a little muddled in detail for my taste in some areas (notably the Starlings which, while interesting, take up an awful lot of the book–I get that they\’re metaphorical, but it\’s a short book so…). Still, I enjoyed it. It made me laugh, and I would recommend it.

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