31 July 2017

The Uncoupling Book Club: Week 5



Meghan
Another book club come and gone. Can't wait to decide on what we will read next. I'll just say I found this book to be cheesy as hell. I almost gagged when it is revealed that the drama teacher is the one "casting the spells." In the end The Uncoupling kind of struck me as a young adult book. I feel like this amazing premise was totally lost.So overall, I don't think I really enjoyed the book that much. I found it easy to get through and I feel like we had some good discussions, but I would be a bit hesitant to pick up another Woltizer book. (Though that being said I am interested in seeing a movie adaption of her book The Wife at TIFF ... but only because we read her for bookclub).  
Meagan
Ok so all the guys getting on stage in this last part and apologizing to their wives was ridiculous. Most of them didn't even do anything! I thought it was very corny. I was especially pissed with Bev Cutler however, who did accept Ed's apology. How lame of her where is her backbone. My boyfriend recently told me I wasn't "crack whore" thin and I still haven't forgiven him.At first thought, I didn't like how this ended. I think Fran Heller (and yes, Meg, its super weird Wolitzer keeps using full name) as some sort of witch is exactly where we all didn't want this to go... however... I've been thinking a lot about what Sam said last week about maybe the spells being a symbol of the dry spells all relationships go through (this is why we do book club, to collaborate)... and I really, really, like that interpretation. I think the last line of the entire book makes it even more accurate:"But they wouldn't know what to do about it, and for a while at least, they would just have to let themselves remain suspended and powerless- waiting, as we all do, for the spell to lift."In thinking of the spell as a symbol, I kind of like the book. It was a very cheesy way of getting there, but I think there's some good lessons to be had from it. One being, dry spells happen to everyone and they aren't worth ruining a great relationship over. Another being, relationships that can't survive a dry spell maybe weren't that good to begin with? It goes back to what Becca said too around mental and physical health, we can only all do so much all the time.I also really liked the line, "comfort was the best thing, and maybe the worst." Meg & I were just talking yesterday about how sometimes when you're uncomfortable in your relationship the highs seem higher than they do when you are comfortable, creating the illusion you're somehow happier... but its temporary. There are definitely pros and cons to feeling comfortable even though we all know its a better permanent state for our well-being.Overall thoughts on the book??? For me, not a life-changing recommend to everyone novel (and I'm not sure if I'd read more Wolitzer again tbh) but I'm glad I read it with this group to chat about it. I don't feel like I wasted my life like Moby Dick.

1 comment:

  1. I'm super excited for the next book. I totally agree with both of you that this book ended on a huge cheese factor. Meg I also really like what you said about the dry spells; that maybe a relationship that can't last through a dry spell might not have been that strong to begin with. Let's get to our new book!

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