MADreads

Armchair affair fiction

March 2nd, 2007 Katharine - Sequoya

So you’ve read Bill Bryson and Jon Krakauer and are ready to move on from armchair travel stories to something more dramatic, maybe you should try some armchair affair fiction (just made up that genre myself.)  I just finished Still Life with Husband by Lauren Fox, a local first time novelist, and quickly decided it would be way too much work to have a real life rendezvous, I’d be happy just reading about one instead (that should make my husband happy.)

This story introduces us to Emily and Kevin, a young married couple navigating life in Milwaukee, WI.  They are both writers, Kevin writes for technical manuals and Emily writes for a medical journal (although her secret passion is the poetry she writes in her diary.)  Emily is struggling through a thirty-something life crisis as she grapples with the ideas of motherhood and marriage.  Through a chance encounter at a local cafe, Emily meets David, a handsome young writer for the local alternative paper.  Sparks fly, email addresses are exchanged and a steamy affair begins.

Fox does a remarkably good job of describing the highs and lows of the emotional roller coaster that Emily embarks on when she plunges into this extramarital drama.  Emily manages to keep David a secret even from her best friend and family, all the while trying to decide whether her marriage or the affair is what’s important in her life.  Does the affair end or does her marriage end?  This one has a plot twisty conclusion, so you’ll have to read it to find out.

I would give this “armchair affair” story a B+.  Fox’s witty writing style along with the references to local places made it a fun and quick read.  I finished the book wanting a little more though, but maybe that’s how all affairs have to end, wanting more.  I was just sorry this armchair affair ended so soon.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction