The Wives

Jamie & Aaron - Flume - London Theatre (Topeka) 9.17.2011
Tarryn Fisher
Apr 29, 2020

The Wives should come with a warning. Settle in, silence your phone, and have some snacks handy. Because once you get into this story, you won't want to stop reading.

By all accounts, Thursday has a great life. A job she loves, a gorgeous apartment, and a loving, devoted husband. There's only one catch - she only sees her husband one day a week because she shares him with two other wives. Her husband is a polygamist, having been raised in an ultra conservative Mormon family. Thursday knew this when she married him, of course, but lately it seems to be bothering her more and more. None of the wives know anything about each other, so when Thursday finds a doctor's receipt in her husband's pocket, she becomes curious and starts to investigate. This leads her down a rabbit hole where nothing is as it seems and her world is turned upside down. Soon she is on the run from her husband, unsure if she can trust her family, the other wives, or even herself.

During the first few chapters, I wasn't sure what to think of this book. I'm usually a fan of unreliable narrators, but I found the main characters incredibly off-putting. The husband, Seth, comes across as a controlling womanizer and Thursday is even worse, fully embracing her role as the meek, dutiful wife. All of this, however, sets up the perfect foundation for the second half of the book. Once Thursday starts to question her reality, all of the character traits the author so deliberately established begin to twist and warp. The ending will leave you breathless, wondering how we can ever uncover the truth when everyone seems to be lying, especially to themselves.

 

Reviewed by Library Staff