When the book opens, Jane is struggling with the state of her marriage along with the monotony and exhaustion of parenting teens. Could you relate to any of the emotions she was feeling?
Yes, yes and yes. While Dan and Jane really don’t have anything to complain about, marriage and child-rearing are hard, and at times, very boring. I was heartened by them eventually getting to honesty and rawness.
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I had a hard time getting into the story. Jane asked if the parents would be home but did not seem to care. It did not ring true for me. She seemed checked out of the family already.
I wanted to add to why I did not really like Jane. I felt she wanted to control everyone.She did grow on me as the book went on. But I have had to many controlling people in my life.
As a single mother I thought raising two teenage boys was exhausting and worrisome. They were good boys but they did like to be out and about with their friends.
Totally understand her point of view, having 4 teens at once and always feeling exhausted and unappreciated. Her fantasy that leaving her marriage would magically “fix” her life is very tempting to indulge in.
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Karen_K, I agree, being a parent is tough. I am probably biased, but in my experience and for my friends’ women in general seem to have a lot of additional family responsibilities (remembering birthdays, cooking for holidays, having sport uniforms clean and countless other duties) in addition to working outside of the home. It is tempting to think that there is a solution that would let us not have any of these responsibilities.
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Dealing with teenagers can be difficult at times. I completely related to how Jane was feeling.
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Absolutely yes. Raising teenagers is tough and a long marriage does get boring at times.
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I agree. I couldn’t stand her at the beginning of the novel. She grew on me as well.
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I think if you only have housewife and parental duties to look forward to every day it takes a special kind of person to stay strong in that life day after day. A person also needs time to themselves and friends of their own and activities without a spouse or children along. I think most women go thru a stage of the feelings that Jane felt. Without an outlet, those feelings can be quite heavy and debilitating.
Completely. I understood exactly how she was feeling. Parenting is hard, earning a living is challenging, and marriages become monotonous. Partners start being parents and roommates, and stop remembering that they started out as sweethearts/lovers. And once those patterns are established, they are almost impossible to escape.