Hey guys,
it's been a while since I've read and consequently reviewed a book. And I honestly I thought I would never read this one. Mainly because I thought it didn't exist.
Marriage Vacation was featured in the TV series Younger as the novel of the estranged wife of Charles - one of the characters on the show (let me just add that I can't wait for Liza and Charles to finally be together). And until two days ago I had no idea that the show went through these lengths to actually publish their fictional book.
GoodReads Summary:
By all appearances, Kate Carmichael had the perfect life: two adorable daughters, a pre-war town house on the Upper East Side, and a husband who ran one of the most successful publishing companies in New York. But when Kate attends the wedding of two of her oldest friends and reconnects with successful classmates from graduate school, she suddenly sees her life in a different light: the career she didn’t pursue, the dreams she’s locked away, the empty veneer of her privilege.
When the wedding weekend ends, instead of heading home to her husband and family, Kate gets on a plane and flies halfway around the world. She claims it’s just going to be for a week—two max—so she can clear her head, make headway with her writing, and shake free of the feeling that time is passing her by.
But just like Kate’s life, the adventure doesn’t go quite as planned. When it’s time to return, she finds herself trapped between wanting to be a good mother and partner and needing to find herself again.
This provocative and gripping novel asks: is a wife and mother allowed to have a midlife crisis? And, if she does, can she ever be forgiven? Marriage Vacation is for anyone who has ever fantasized about what it would be like to run away from it all.
My opinion:
I may be biased but I genuinely enjoyed and liked this book. The plot revolves around Kate a wife and a mother who had lost herself in her family life, running errands and being everyone's cheerleader and organizer. She left herself to blur in the background of someone else's life until she can't take it anymore and after a fate reunion with an old friend she decides to go to Thailand on a whim. Just for a week, but this week turns into a year. A year in which she finds her way back to her own self.
I've got a lot of things to say about this book, and truly don't know where to start. First, having the knowledge from the show about Kate and Karl's (Pauline and Charles) relationship, and being a fan of Younger, added to the enjoyment and the interest that I had in the book. It was interesting for me to get a little bit of a backstory on Charles as I honestly think he should be the one to end up with Liza, and I think that in the show his character is still not developed enough. And I got to read the infamous page 58 which was so hyped in the show.
Kate (or Pauline) is shown in quite a sympathetic light. The book is truly centered around her, and even that she talks about her husband and their past and how she hopes she would reignite the sparks between them, I felt like the book was about her own journey, which was different from most books, as the romance is usually dominant. That's why I understand the ending had to be written this way, even though I was disappointed. In short she gets back together with her husband, but we're robbed from these scenes of reconciliation. I feel like they would have been the most interesting for me to read, as I can't imagine how someone could forgive leaving just like that (Karl was shown as a very understanding man, which looked unrealistic to be honest). But as I said the focus on the book wasn't Karl, it was Kate so the moment she decided what she wanted out of life it was the end her journey and consequently her book. And I'm glad she reached the conclusion which was clear from the first pages - she let her life be overtaken by everyone's needs, it wasn't their fault. The take away from the book is that you shouldn't just expect your partner to guess what you're thinking but to communicate and if you want something just say it. If I look the book on its own I think it's a nice summer read, which would be appealing even to people who don't know that Younger exists.
P.S. I can't mention that the Pauline from the book and Pauline from the TV series had very different reasons for leaving. And in the series we're told that she had written Marriage Vacation in hopes of winning back her husband. But she had left her husband for another man, she wasn't in Thailand on some spiritual journey - she was in California. So, as much as I liked the book it made me not like TV series Pauline that much more.
it's been a while since I've read and consequently reviewed a book. And I honestly I thought I would never read this one. Mainly because I thought it didn't exist.
GoodReads Summary:
By all appearances, Kate Carmichael had the perfect life: two adorable daughters, a pre-war town house on the Upper East Side, and a husband who ran one of the most successful publishing companies in New York. But when Kate attends the wedding of two of her oldest friends and reconnects with successful classmates from graduate school, she suddenly sees her life in a different light: the career she didn’t pursue, the dreams she’s locked away, the empty veneer of her privilege.
When the wedding weekend ends, instead of heading home to her husband and family, Kate gets on a plane and flies halfway around the world. She claims it’s just going to be for a week—two max—so she can clear her head, make headway with her writing, and shake free of the feeling that time is passing her by.
But just like Kate’s life, the adventure doesn’t go quite as planned. When it’s time to return, she finds herself trapped between wanting to be a good mother and partner and needing to find herself again.
This provocative and gripping novel asks: is a wife and mother allowed to have a midlife crisis? And, if she does, can she ever be forgiven? Marriage Vacation is for anyone who has ever fantasized about what it would be like to run away from it all.
My opinion:
I may be biased but I genuinely enjoyed and liked this book. The plot revolves around Kate a wife and a mother who had lost herself in her family life, running errands and being everyone's cheerleader and organizer. She left herself to blur in the background of someone else's life until she can't take it anymore and after a fate reunion with an old friend she decides to go to Thailand on a whim. Just for a week, but this week turns into a year. A year in which she finds her way back to her own self.
I've got a lot of things to say about this book, and truly don't know where to start. First, having the knowledge from the show about Kate and Karl's (Pauline and Charles) relationship, and being a fan of Younger, added to the enjoyment and the interest that I had in the book. It was interesting for me to get a little bit of a backstory on Charles as I honestly think he should be the one to end up with Liza, and I think that in the show his character is still not developed enough. And I got to read the infamous page 58 which was so hyped in the show.
P.S. I can't mention that the Pauline from the book and Pauline from the TV series had very different reasons for leaving. And in the series we're told that she had written Marriage Vacation in hopes of winning back her husband. But she had left her husband for another man, she wasn't in Thailand on some spiritual journey - she was in California. So, as much as I liked the book it made me not like TV series Pauline that much more.
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