Book Review: Love in Mid Air

DETAILS: Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright. Copyright 2010. Women's fiction

SUMMARY: A thirty-something woman's marriage falls apart and she has an affair and a bunch of other stuff happens.

PROS: Honestly, the writing was fantastic.  The characters were dynamic, the story was engaging and it had none of the "slow bits" I so dread in a book.  It was also written in present tense, and I love it when writers successfully change up the "norm" with regard to tense and person.

CONS: Let me temper this by saying that I am not a prude when it comes to books.  I have read many books about divorce, affairs, etc. and generally they do not bother me.  This one bothered me a lot.  The author and the characters seemed to be of the opinion that ideally, a woman would have an affair and/or leave her husband.  Her husband was not abusive, not cruel, not anything that would make me say "run for the hills."  Mostly, she was just bored.  Now, I understand that women leave their husbands for this reason all the time, and I am not here to debate the validity of doing so.  What I objected to, was the attitude that if women all weren't such spineless pansies, we would have all ditched our men a  long time ago, that this was the ideal situation, when I think it clearly is not ideal at all.  Now divorce is a sticky subject, and I can't say I never agree with it, but affairs, in my opinion, are not.  I had a problem with the character constantly sneaking around behind her husband's back and seeming to feel no guilt or consequences from it.  I almost put the book down after the second or third chapter, but decided to give it a chance to see what the ending was.  Without giving anything away, let me just say that I was not satisfied.

BOTTOM LINE: If glorifying affairs and divorce does not bother you, you may very well like this book.  As for me, I have to give it two stars out of five.

Book Review: Committed

DETAILS: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Copyright 2010. Memoir.

SUMMARY: In the sequel to Eat, Pray, Love, Ms. Gilbert is "sentenced to marry" after her boyfriend is denied access to the US unless they get hitched.  While waiting for all the paperwork to go through, they travel around the world and Ms. Gilbert goes on her personal quest to understand and come to terms with marriage.

PROS: I loved Eat, Pray, Love and I was not disappointed with this one.  It has the same funny, relatable feel to it and it was still packed with those moments that I love where I thought: "Wow, I know exactly what she means but I have never seen it all spelled out like that."

CONS: I wish she had included a little bit more of her travel experiences and stuff and less history of marriage and things.  In parts it read a bit like a non fiction book about marriage and less like a memoir.

BOTTOM LINE: People who liked Eat, Pray, Love will not be disappointed and anyone who is on the fence about marriage will enjoy this too.  Four stars out of five.