Why do you think Mebel is so intent on winning Henk back? What did you feel about her choice of how to go about it?
I don’t even think it was Henk, but her way of life that she is possibly more intent on winning back and maybe even her role as “trophy wife” is more of a important than Henk himself. I have to say that I was thinking I might be aggravated with how the book would end, but I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly approved. I also think her plan to win him back was a bit juvenile and not relatable for me, personally.
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I would imagine Mebel’s desire to win Henk back was a combination of wanting to maintain status quo with her lifestyle and pride. Her approach was certainly novel, albeit not necessarily well thought out. At least it was more constructive than other approaches might have been.
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It wasn’t so much winning Henk back, but just being able to go to her life before. She had a certain lifestyle for so long and losing him would mean losing her identity.
Being a trophy wife was all Mebel knew and she wants to keep that. While the cooking school choice wasn’t realistic it was a good jumping off point for the story and Mebel’s evolution so I was willing to buy into it.
I agree that she wanted her life back more than Henk. It did seem ridiculous of her to think that it was all it would take for him to return to her.
She was afraid of losing all she knew. He was tied up in her life, and it was not him, but her lifestyle that she was afraid of losing.
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Henk and the lifestyle he brought was all Mebel knew. She talks about how it was indoctrinated into her from youth to become a good wife. Her thought processes were flawed in how to win him back, and if she even should in the first place, but it was all she knew to do at the time. The irrational felt rational to her.
Mabel only knew the lifestyle she was accustomed to and wanted to return to that life. Henk was the way to achieve that. Her choice seemed strange, maybe even crazy at the beginning but the process gave her self confidence and a sense of accomplishment and self worth which she did not have with Henk as his trophy wife.