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Product Description
Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.
With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.
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Customer Reviews: - Horrible Characters, Horrible Book
For the first half of this book I couldn't really decide what was the author trying to say. By the time I was two-thirds of the way through I stopped caring what he was trying to say because I absolutely abhored and hated the characters. These are some of the most unlikable, self-destructive characters I've ever had the misfortune to read about. I finished the book just to see how things ended, but I was never so glad to put a book down. Do not read this book! Save yourself the agony....more info - A fabulous story
I picked up "A Reliable Wife" and I couldn't put it down. This story of two people in rural turn-of-the-century Wisconsin is about love, hope, betrayal and so much more. Robert Goolrick's mastery of the history of the time is subtle, his details fascinating, powerful and just enough to keep you wanting more. Like "Water for Elephants," he draws you into the time that shapes his characters, and the characters draw you into the compelling tangle of their lives. A MUST read....more info - A stunning debut
For fans of tight, emotional thrillers, this is an incredible read. With elements of Cormac McCarthy and Philip Roth, the story of Truitt's tortured relationship with the woman he hires to be his wife, and their communal and devestating relationship with Truitt's estranged son, gripped me from start to finish. Rarely have I been this impressed by a debut author, or as pleasantly surprised by what on the surface appears to be a very small story. Trust the reviews: the depth of these characters and quality of the writing make this a must read....more info - Masterful storytelling!
I read this book during the early morning hours last Saturday . Once I opened the pages I was lost in the cold, white, endless winter world of Wisconsin. The beginning seems to be slow and very wordy, but after you get past that point you realize that the author wants you to feel the pain of the cold, and to envision how months of winter can drive people to commit heinous acts against those that they love. I was totally engrossed in the lives of Ralph and Catherine. I couldn't put the book down until I had finished it, which is a pretty good sign that I loved it. This story is one of mystery, love, death, murder, and ultimately human connections. But throughout the book there is a subtle vibration of menace. For me, this story at times, made me recall how I felt while reading "The Tell-Tale Heart." Because you know something bad happened or will happen, it's right there for you to see, yet you still feel that tension of impending doom.
She might wound him, she might lie to him, and still he would do anything to hear one word of kindness from her lips, to feel his flesh touch her flesh without humiliation. He was willing to take the chance. And all this because she had stepped from the train with a small scarlet bird in a cage, and she was coming home to him, bringing a fluttering life. He was at last waiting for someone whose name was known to him. People saw her come home to him, people in his town. She smiled at him, and he knew then that he would die for her.
p.192
I wish I would've read this book during a blizzard, for then I would have been able to totally immerse myself into the story, but even though I read it during a spring day, I still felt the harshness and bleakness of the Wisconsin landscape. This is an author that I would read again without hesitation and one that I totally recommend to my friends!!! You won't be disappointed!!...more info - How many ways can you say damaged.
I just don't get it. I had it as an audio download, and was forced to listen to it on a road trip. I thought his writing style was OK, but the endless, repetitive, and conflicting interior monologues were as grating as a Gerbil on a wheel. There must be some reality in a novel.
Two of the main characters were despicable, and the third was mad with obsession.
An interesting, but thin plot appeared occasionally and the ending was just too neat.
P.S. Not everyone goes mad in the long Wisconsin winters. ...more info - Drama, Suspense, Flawed Characters
This is the most gripping book I have read in years. The setting, era and plot made it one of those rare page turners that kept me up all night. Loved the book!!...more info - Moody, Wintery Period Piece about Death, Love and Redemption -- Superbly Written
At the turn of the last century, Ralph Truitt, an incredibly rich fifty-ish Wisconsin businessman, who is scarred by the overwhelming tragedies of his life, has advertised for a mail order bride to be his companion and helpmeet. He chooses thirty-four year old Catharine Land, and as this wonderfully dark, intricately-plotted novel opens, Truitt awaits Catharine on a freezing train platform as a blizzard begins.
The blizzard is symbolic of what is blowing into Truitt's life. For one thing, his chosen bride is not who she seems to be. He knows immediately that he has been duped when a beautiful woman steps off the train instead of the plain, "honest" woman whose picture he holds in his hand. Nevertheless, he puts Catharine in his wagon and begins the long journey to his farm, only to have disaster strike in the form of a horrific accident which almost kills him.
This is the beginning of a novel which is so fascinating in its many twists, so poignant in its insights into character, and so raw in its emotional impact that I literally could not put it down. Murder, poison, passion, deception, love, redemption -- all are embodied by three damaged, selfish, unique characters and set against a seemingly endless snow-choked winter. I read through the night -- a wonderfully stormy night as it happens -- and was so satisfied by my experience that I re-read the entire novel over the next two days. I almost never do that.
One aspect of the novel which I find most intriguing is that it breaks so many of the supposed rules the "experts" usually say is the "proper" way to write a novel and it still works. For one thing, the book is probably almost eighty percent third-person narration, broken only occasionally by dialogue. Usually one would associate this with "telling" and not "showing", and so it would come across as amateurish writing. But this author handles his writing style masterfully. His characters lead such rich inner lives that I felt as though I was actually intruding. The erotic connections made between the characters are almost embarrassing in their powerful intimacy. I felt myself a voyeur rather than a reader -- as though I was peeking through doorways and overhearing conversations in a huge, cold Victorian mansion where I was a guest.
I recommend this book without reservation. It will make you shiver and gasp and hold off until the last minute for bathroom breaks. I cannot wait for Mr. Goolrick's next novel....more info - Bravo, Mr. Goolrick
Robert Goolrick credits Michael Lesy's WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP as an inspiration for this book. Lesy's book deals with the unusual amount of murders, suicides, and madness encountered in a small corner of Wisconsin during the late nineteenth century. This may explain why so much of this occurs in the small Wisconsin town Goolrick uses for his setting in A RELIABLE WIFE.
The story starts with Catherine Land answering a newspaper ad from a rich man asking for a "reliable wife." She is a con woman who plans to poison Ralph Truit and inherit his vast holdings. Truit owns iron foundries, oil leases, and a railroad. He even his a private railroad car and owns one of the first automobiles in the county. But he's not happy. He wants Catherine to find his profligate son and bring him back with her.
Truit's "son" is Tony Morelli, a ne'er-do-well musician who hates his father for the many beatings he endured as a boy. Truit's first wife, Emilia, was an Italian countess who played Truit for a sucker and became impregnated by her piano teacher.
For a rich man Ralph Truit is remarkably forgiving. He feels guilty for blaming the boy for what Emilia did to him, but the man is a virtual saint. Catherine has had a terrible time herself. She lost her parents as a young girl and was responsible for her little sister. She had to prostitute herself to make ends meet. By the time she meets Ralph she has little feeling for anybody but her little sister who doesn't return the favor.
The book has some drawbacks. Goolrick loves description. He's loves to show how the sun reflects off the Wisconsin snow and he uses a secret garden as a symbol for the beauty beneath Catherine's hard exterior. The problem with this is that it doesn't move the story. When he's not describing mail order plants Catherine has ordered for the secret garden, he's inside one of the two main characters' heads. He even does it with Tony Morelli, who has absolutely no idea what he wants. The ending is also just a bit convenient.
Despite the above, this is an excellent, original book. We want to know if Catherine will follow through with her goal to kill Ralph. We want to know if Tony will forgive his father. We want to know if Tony will tell Ralph about Catherine's decadent past. Bravo, Mr. Goolbrick on your first fictional effort....more info - Really disappointing
I thought this one might be good for the book club I attend. I'm so very glad I chose to read it first - UGH! The plot seemed so interesting and the first few chapters captured me but then it just got worse and worse. All that lusting (get over it Ralph) became so monotonous - and your wife meanwhile is trying to slowly kill you with arsenic? I found myself talking out loud 'this is utter rot' - it just became so far fetched and in the end I think I just sped read the final 50 pages. Save your money...more info - Don't waste your time, instead read Cornell Woolrich's Waltz into Darkness
I learned about this book while listening to NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. I am a big fan of Wisconsin Death Trip and as the interview unfolded I was shocked to hear Goolrick relate the basic plot and themes of Cornell Woolrich's brilliant and beautifully written (and out of print) Waltz into Darkness. I have since read A Reliable Wife and am convinced that the plot and themes were either directly lifted from Waltz Into Darkness or indirectly from movies based on the book (Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid and/or Original Sin) or both. In addition, there are subplots and scenes borrowed from Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and Anna Karenina. This is indeed the most derivative piece of writing that I have ever read. For a really great read about turn-of-the century sexual obsession, madness, and murder; get a hold of Woolrich's Waltz into Darkness and don't waste your time on A Reliable Wife. ...more info - AN EXCELLENT READ
Great book...keeps you hooked until the end not knowing exactly how things are going to turn....more info - A Good Book
I bought this book for my wife for Mother's Day. She said she liked it very much....more info - Exxcellant read
[[ASIN:1565125967 A Reliable Wife]
This story really pulled me in. I was rooting for first one, then another character to see the error of their thinking and get their life together. Their foibles were so tragic but understandable......I wanted to "fix" them all. I enjoyed the book and the period story very much. I have already loaned it out to a friend.
...more info - Skip this ... read Waltz into Darkness instead
I had read "Waltz into Darkness" just a few months ago and could not help but believe he took the plot for "A Reliable Wife" right from its pages. The mail order bride who isn't the woman in the photo that he was expecting, the poisoning by arsenic, the other man who is in on the plot (although in Waltz we never meet him), even to the point of her buying a canary! Okay, there were a few things different, but still ... too many things were the same.
I have to admit I skimmed over the repetitive bits (of which there were many), the obsession that all the characters had with sex was tedious, and the number of sentences that began with HE were too many to count. His writing style bothered me. I finished it only because I wanted to see how he ended it.
Thankfully I did not buy this book but borrowed it from my sister. Find yourself a copy of "Waltz into Darkness" (out of print) and read it instead....more info - No Star: Where was the editor?
You know you're in trouble when you want to reach for a pen and edit the book you're reading. "A Reliable Wife": is a bodice-ripper on steroids, with an utterly contrived plot; implausible, cartoonish, characters; and writing that is annoyingly repetitive and hopelessly melodramatic. ...more info - extremely disappointed
I was really looking forward to this book: I read good reviews and the plot sounded interesting. Instead, I found this book to be very poorly written and the character portraits were shallow, it was impossible to relate to them in any way. I skipped through about 2/3 of the book, it was boring and I was sick of the many pages spent just describing the main character's sexual thoughts about his new wife. It repeated itself over and over. The last couple chapters were okay, as that is where everything occurs but overall not a good book and I wish I hadn't wasted my time reading it!...more info - Decadent, bleak and spiritual.
I read "A Reliable Wife" in one sitting. At first I was frightened; its a very emotionally intense, elegant book. But Goolrick gives an irresistible sensual tour of the lives of the rich and the poor of 19th century Wisconsin. You feel the rough cruelty of drugged up sex for pay, and you experience the luxurious food, furnishing, scents and sights of the wealthy.. Its Huysman's "Au Rebours" but with an American heart - bleak, moral and loving. I recommend it more than anything I've read this year....more info - Disappointed
Not as good as I thought it would be. I didn't really like it. Too wordy, something is missing here! Would make a good movie maybe, liked the ending!...more info - compelling
too often, books offer characters the reader is meant to either like or dislike. protagonists and antagonists are clearly written so that there is a clear delineation between the two. this book is interesting and engrossing because all of the characters are developed enough that they each have both appealling and unlikeable traits. it is compelling because the author leaves it to the reader to draw a conclusion (favorable or otherwise) about the characters and your perspective and judgment will impact how you think about the entire work and the ending. an unusual and well written story....more info - Bleh
I too found myself skimming this book, waiting for it to be over. Ugh - it was all about sex, lust, sex, love, sex, obsession, sex, betrayal - get the picture yet? I'm not sure who's more obsessed with sex - the characters or the author. It's dark, dreary and depressing. This book was a waste of time....more info - A "couldn't put it downer"
At first I thought this would be a "girly love story"....boy was I wrong! I couldn't put this book down. Stayed up late just to finish it. Full of intrigue, subplots, twists and turns. I absolutely LOVED it! Would recommend it to anyone who likes to figure out what's going on and loves suspense right up to the end. An absolutely awesome read!...more info - Excellent Read
Wow! I loved this book, the characters were raw and human. I found myself both sad and inspired by this very well written book. ...more info - careful rendering of a complex man
A Reliable Wife sneaks us into rooms normally closed and bolted. From Ralph Truitt's beastly behavior as a young man well into his sad middle-agedness and the purgatory he creates to scourge himself for his brutality and ineptitude, Goolrich forces us to look. We see how a man beats a child and wife. We see his lust and his obsessions. And see him invite death to rid himself of these ghastly sins. And finally, we see how Goolrich renders Truitt's humanity. An amazing feat. Readers are so used to clear-cut heroes and villains, but in this book are neither. Only people with moments of villainy and moments of heroism. Truthfully rendered characters, beautifully done in a plot with deep historical, literary nods. ...more info - Read a page out-loud.
Worth reading aloud? Ok, I jest some. But the book is written with lyricism and tenderness, and I was frustrated to read another reviewer mock it. I applaud such a fluid and elegant and vivid style.
I also appreciate the care he gives each character. His sketches are thoughtful and respectful, even when a character behaves otherwise. Little details, like how someone enters a room or engages a stranger or subdues an impulse, are all right-on. The book tackles intimacy and human connectivity with amazing success.
Finally, the final 70 pages are stunning. As I shut the book I felt both hopeful and exhausted. ...more info - A fantastic novel... but maybe not for you?
This is a fantastic book. Reviewers have called it a page turner, a gothic romance, a mystery, etc... But if you are expecting any of those, you may find yourself disappointed. "A Reliable Wife" is not at all what you might expect.True, it shares the victorian setting and sometimes flowery writing of great romances and there are facts about the main characters that are withheld so long and carefully that you are nearly drooling to find them out. But, in so many ways, this book subverts the readers expectations making it something more than any genre novel.
I have two children, and I was reading them "Little House in the Big Woods" just after I finished "A Reliable Wife," and I could not help comparing the two. Both are set in the cold north and define the lives of the tough people who choose to make their lives there. Little House is an incredible personal story, but it is through the eyes of child, and so it has that childlike acceptance of hardship and optimism about the future. A Reliable Wife on the other hand, is through the eyes of a woman who has had nothing to look forward to for her entire life. Yet her own need to be human, to be loved and wanted, cannot be held down. When it happens, it is so gratifying and yet unexpected.
The characters who live in this very proscribed environment have the same sense of dislocation as time travelers: They recognize the world around them, and behave as they should, but their inner lives and their choices seem to be guided by a sensibility that is more modern, and also more insecure, than you would ever expect from their contemporaries. The "family" at the center of the novel bears more resemblance to a reality show family, than to those from Dickens, Bronte, or Hardy. For me, this was really the strength of the novel. The characters are avatars for the reader. They are in a world that THEY are familiar with, yet their thoughts and reactions are ones that WE are familiar with. That contrast is intriguing, and makes the turns of plot visceral, real, and present.. in a way that great novels of the past can do. So much of the genre fiction's appeal comes from the expected turn of events, and the expected behaviour of stock characters. These characters seem to hint at the stereotypes: Wealthy businessman, Ambitious prostitute, Louche Libertine, etc, but then the writer picks away at the stereotypes, page by page... until you are left with real people, riddled with contradictions, self-doubt and self-loathing. They make ridiculously impulsive choices on matters of great importance... and careful plans on matters of no real consequence... the way we all do.
This is also a novel that is entirely American. Non-American readers may find it somewhat perplexing, it is not the America of cheerful optimism and generous ambition. Instead it is as though the bleak fatalism of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were grafted onto the insecure and desperately needy characters of Lars Von Trier. Though Goolrick's first book, the disturbing and powerful "The End of the World as We Know It" was set in the South, "A Reliable Wife" is clearly about the North. Goolrick has a northerner's understanding of winters that seem to never end and the double-edged sword of numbness and pain that freezing temperatures can cause. The language is descriptively rich, but, like the setting of the story, it is also rough, somewhat abrasive, and almost too rigid. While it may be challenging to get into, it is worth it. The splintery quality of the writing puts the reader firmly in the uncomfortably compromising and vulnerable state of the protagonist. These are the stone-faced taciturn people of the cold-midwest that are familiar to every American schoolchild. They are hard and tough as they seem, but their inner monologue, and choices reveal that they are also deeply melancholy and emotionally fragile. It is a side of them that is rarely touched on in historical fiction.
In A Reliable Wife, Goolrick has written a novel that supersedes all the genre fiction that seemed to inspire it. It may not be what you expect, but it is definitely a classic and not to be missed. ...more info - A Good Book
I bought this book for my wife for Mother's Day. She said she liked it very much....more info - A modern masterpiece
Goolrick's "A Reliable Wife" is written with poise, precision, polish and not just a little wry sense of pacing. As the plot unfolds-a simple-seeming narrative of change-it isn't long before, one after another, the threads of what we believe we know to be true are pulled, each revealing another layer to this complex, heady story. A good red wine is the closest sensory experience comparable to what is giving oneself over to the pleasure of diving into "A Reliable Wife", wholly and fully, on a quiet night. Goolrick's a master. ...more info - A Modern Classic
I have never written an online review before. But this is how strongly I feel about this book. I never read new fiction but I read Goolrick's memoir, The End of The World As We Know It (a must read)and was curious about ARW. I have not read prose this elegant since Wharton or James (which, in my life is over a decade ago.) I felt as though I was reading a film. Perhaps Ang Lee or Merchant Ivory. Goolrick has a way of making the depraved beautiful and the mundane classic. I could smell Catherine's garden, feel her sex, and revel in the piano music. I was challenged to examine my own life, the choices I've made, the paths I've taken for myself. Self help books do that- what novel does that? A damn good one. I am anxious to read more work by the author. I would love to stroll through a garden or enjoy a cup of tea with this man and tell him how his books have really, truly allowed me to escape my own reality for a while and help me heal from my own past. Please read A Relaible Wife....more info - Overwrought Nonsense
Think hysterical pregnancy when thinking about the state of mind of Robert Goolrick, the author. The book is sheer overwrought nonsense....more info - One of the Best I've Read So Far This year
I was up until 3 a.m. last night finishing this novel; I just couldn't sleep without knowing how it ended. It is definitely one of my best reads so far this year. Goolrick creates two intriguing and believable characters in Ralph and Catherine, the northern Wisconsin mogul and his mail-order wife, and he is especially adept at giving them interior lives. Although they initially seem like opposites, we soon learn that they share pasts flawed by misplaced love, tragedy, and self-loathing. Goolrick so successsfully sets forth these characters and their stories that the novel's twists and turns, while often unexpected, never seem unbelievable. The spareness of his style is a perfect complement to the empty white landscape of the Wisconsin winter and to the empty lives of Ralph, Catherine, and Antonio. But don't let this fool you: A Reliable Wife is hauntingly, lyrically beautiful as well. And beneath both the landscape and the seemingly empty lives lies the promise and dread of something more.
I was so affected by this novel that I probably won't be picking up anything new to read for a day or two. I'm just not ready to leave it yet.
...more info - Psychologically fascinating, as you would expect from Robert Goolrick
This novel, from the author of The End of the World as We know It, is a fascinating psychologically work, as you would expect from Robert Goolrick. His characters come to life immediately, intensely, and a sense of the past speaks volumes in this well-crafted story.
Like Goolrick's previous book, A Reliable Wife will stay in my mind and haunt my imagination for months to come. A very big thumbs up....more info - Good plot, too much sex
The story line was excellent, but I felt the author spent way too much time inside the characters' minds, describing their thoughts on sex....more info - Relentless and Almost Compulsively Absorbing, A RELIABLE WIFE Will Send Chills Down Your Spine
Upon reading the opening chapters of Robert Goolrick's debut novel, A RELIABLE WIFE, you might for a moment think that you've read this one before. It's 1907, and a wealthy Wisconsin widower, Ralph Truitt, is waiting at the local train station for his mail-order bride to arrive by rail from Chicago. It's the classic theme of historical romance novels, right? Think again. What Goolrick has concocted here is a compelling and deep novel that sheds a harsh light on the warped desires, passions and obsessions of all its main characters.
You see, Ralph Truitt isn't just some kindly old widower looking for a second chance at love. He's a jilted husband who flew into a murderous rage after his wife left him, a guilt-ridden old man who feels doomed to a life of frustration, pain and brutal disappointments. He is surrounded by wealth and beauty but can enjoy or appreciate none of it. He has picked out the plainest, most reliable-looking woman out of the dozens who applied to his newspaper advertisement, hoping that a "normal" relationship with her might be his chance to atone for past sins.
But the woman who emerges from the railway car is nothing like her picture, or what Truitt was expecting or hoping for. She's beautiful, for one thing. And, as readers learn as they witness Catherine Land's transformation during her railway journey, she's neither innocent nor pure nor exactly reliable. She's a chameleon, a woman whose long and sordid history has taught her how to change herself effortlessly to match others' whims: "She never stopped to wonder which self was her true self and which one was false." In this case, Catherine has modeled herself to be the kind of wife she thinks Truitt wants.
Not surprisingly, when two people's inner lives and past histories are so divorced from their outward appearance, Catherine and Truitt's courtship and marriage are neither straightforward nor exactly romantic. But when Truitt asks Catherine to help him track down and bring home his wayward son, Antonio, from his first marriage, the depths of Catherine's deceptions and Truitt's past wrongdoings become violently clear.
Erotic, brutal and very, very dark, A RELIABLE WIFE is the kind of Gothic novel that the Bront? sisters would have written had there been no Victorian sanctions against writing frankly about sex. There are madwomen, and men, aplenty here, all driven to violence and despair thanks to desires thwarted or warped beyond recognition. Both the smothering snow of northern Wisconsin and the opulent debauchery of St. Louis (where Catherine goes to find Antonio) seem to engender damaged people, in one place because sexual desire is so suppressed, in the other because it is too freely given. Throughout the book, Goolrick gives readers brief glimpses into other, anonymous lives destroyed, even as he fully spins out the seemingly fatalistic narrative of Catherine and Truitt's relationship to its surprising conclusion, giving the impression that their tragic, twisted story is just one of countless tales just like it.
Relentless and almost compulsively absorbing, A RELIABLE WIFE will send chills down your spine even under the warmest eiderdown comforter.
--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
...more info - No Star: Where was the editor?
You know you're in trouble when you want to reach for a pen and edit the book you're reading. "A Reliable Wife": is a bodice-ripper on steroids, with an utterly contrived plot; implausible, cartoonish, characters; and writing that is annoyingly repetitive and hopelessly melodramatic. ...more info - Brilliant!
The literary world is a better place with the debut of
Robert Goolrick's "A Reliable Wife." The characters of Catherine Land and Ralph Truitt, as well as the juicy supporting individuals, are fleshed out in exquisite detail along with the riveting plot and descriptions of a spellbinding world lived out in a bitter cold town in Wisconsin. Goolrick's storytelling is impressive and dazzling and the tale reveals itself with such suspense, he has you eating out of his hand for each subsequent twist and turn. Bravo to Mr. Goolrick. I loved his writing so much that I just ordered his memoir! ...more info - Reliable Wife for the uneducated
I have read reviews from one star to five stars and come to the conclusion that although I have a college education I may not be worthy to read A Reliable Wife. After college I made a pledge to only read a book for pleasure and never stop to analyze the book. My review is only for pleasure seekers.
The book was a page turner, certainly not light Chick-lit which I ordinarily chose to read on my train commute to work. The Today Show recommended the novel as a summer read and the story line intrigued me.
An older married man (Ralph) places a want ad for a reliable wife and a young beautiful woman (Catherine) answers the ad as a simple and honest woman. Both are lonely people looking to fill a void in their life and in the end Catherine and Ralph found what was missing in their life and it was not Tony, Ralph's son.
Tony reminds me of too many men who hate themselves but blame other people. When this reader discovers the true connnection of Catherine and Tony, she felt obligated to tell her to run and make a life with Ralph. The story did not disappoint and the descriptions were a highlight of the book. Buy or borrow this book for an excellent read....more info - Disappointing!
The three reasons I elected to read this book were: Wisconsin locale, winter and historical period. Having recently read Hearts West: True Stories of Mail Order Brides I imagined Reliable Wife would be a good fictional follow up. As I read, I thought this sounds like a lot has been borrowed from Wisconsin Death Trip (a great work). I have, since, learned that the author was indeed influenced by Wisconsin Death Trip. My major disappointment with Reliable Wife is that the characters are shallow. Their plight simply does not inspire any sympathy. I am throwing in the towel at page 133. Very rarely do I give up on a book, but I do not care how this story plays out. ...more info - Horrible from start to finish
A Reliable Wife is set in Wisconsin in 1907. Ralph Truitt is a local, wealthy businessman who advertised in a Chicago newspaper for "a reliable wife." Catherine Land answered the advertisement, and sets in motion a plot to poison her husband.
The novel is marred by heavy-handed prose that aims to be literary, but isn't. A really depressing theme and plot does not make a novel great. And I got really, really bored by the obsessive way in which Goolrick describes things. An entire chapter on waiting for a train? Really? A hallmark of a great novel is one in which the theme is subtle, but powerful, and makes you think about it long after you've read the book; in this one, Goolrick hits his reader on the head--over and--over--with his theme.
Ralph Truitt's obsession with sex becomes tiresome by page 30, and the plot is filled with some major gaps. Why would Ralph hire someone to find his son, but not have them check into his wife's past, for example? And it's good to know that I wasn't the only one bothered by the plagiarized scenes from other books. The novel is billed as suspense, but it's hard to see such in a novel where one of the main character's motives are displayed right from the get-go--heck, even in the blurb on the back of the book!
Don't take my word for it though. There are plenty of people who loved this book. It just wasn't for me.
...more info - A Reliable Wife
Excellent read. Great Details. Very Passionate. I have not read anything by Robert Goolrick before but will check into more of his writings. I have passed the book around and when it comes back I will read it again. It was a book I couldn't put down because each word made me want more....more info - Three very unhappy people
This is a very dark book about three very unhappy people. And yet . . . the last few pages almost make the whole, dark journey worth it. Almost, I say. It truly was difficult reading this book; there were many times I put it down, loathe to pick it up again. But, I kept coming back. Goolrick writes such wonderful character studies; you feel the anguish, the malaise, the disdain, the hurt with each character.
While I can't recommend this book for someone who wants a light read, it is recommended for anyone who enjoys character-driven stories....more info
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