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aoutrance 's review for:
The First Wives Club
by Olivia Goldsmith
3.5 stars, rounded up.
I chose this as the first to check off from my POPSUGAR 2018 reading challenge - "a book made into a movie you've already seen". It's been a hot minute since I watched the film, but there are so many differences that I didn't even need to consciously remember, most of which I can understand as a transition from printed word to screen. In the film, the four women come to know one another in college and dramatically make a pact to stay in touch after graduation, whereas in this novel, we see that they have drifted into one another's social circles (or the outskirts) due to their marriages and economic statuses. Movie magic, as it were.
Plot summary: three women conspire together to get revenge on their husbands, who all left them for younger lovers, amongst their other sins, partially avenge a friend who committed suicide because her husband was the biggest asshole of them all. Shenanigans ensue.
Side note: I never get tired of media about women pulling the rug out from under The Worst Kind of Men.
The slow come-together of their shared information, how they relate to one another in certain ways, but hide embarrassing information in others, speaks a lot to the way Goldsmith crafts their friendships, how she understands women. We have Annie, the "good girl"; Elise, the aging film star who left the industry to marry and Brenda, the Jewish-Italian woman who built her husbands empire with her own connections and skills only to be left behind as it became a success.
This was funny and irreverent as the ladies plot to ruin the lives of a few terrible men, while perhaps finding love again themselves (Elise, with a much younger man and Brenda with a handsome lady lawyer). Mostly, I was just relived that Annie, a doormat for much of the book, was finally able to take a goddamn stand against her ex-husband when he came crawling back to her like the most pathetic creature.
At the end of the novel, when all the men have been vanquished, Annie goes traveling to "find herself" (ah, the escape of the upper-middle class) and the epilogue see the gang back together again, successful in all their newly chosen ventures.
Favorite chapter title: "Morty, You Fuck!"
I chose this as the first to check off from my POPSUGAR 2018 reading challenge - "a book made into a movie you've already seen". It's been a hot minute since I watched the film, but there are so many differences that I didn't even need to consciously remember, most of which I can understand as a transition from printed word to screen. In the film, the four women come to know one another in college and dramatically make a pact to stay in touch after graduation, whereas in this novel, we see that they have drifted into one another's social circles (or the outskirts) due to their marriages and economic statuses. Movie magic, as it were.
Plot summary: three women conspire together to get revenge on their husbands, who all left them for younger lovers, amongst their other sins, partially avenge a friend who committed suicide because her husband was the biggest asshole of them all. Shenanigans ensue.
Side note: I never get tired of media about women pulling the rug out from under The Worst Kind of Men.
The slow come-together of their shared information, how they relate to one another in certain ways, but hide embarrassing information in others, speaks a lot to the way Goldsmith crafts their friendships, how she understands women. We have Annie, the "good girl"; Elise, the aging film star who left the industry to marry and Brenda, the Jewish-Italian woman who built her husbands empire with her own connections and skills only to be left behind as it became a success.
This was funny and irreverent as the ladies plot to ruin the lives of a few terrible men, while perhaps finding love again themselves (Elise, with a much younger man and Brenda with a handsome lady lawyer). Mostly, I was just relived that Annie, a doormat for much of the book, was finally able to take a goddamn stand against her ex-husband when he came crawling back to her like the most pathetic creature.
"I guess I'll go then, Aaron." She looked at him, his handsome face surprised, a look that said, This can't be happening.
"But Annie. I'm so lonely."
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it," Annie said, and she left him.
At the end of the novel, when all the men have been vanquished, Annie goes traveling to "find herself" (ah, the escape of the upper-middle class) and the epilogue see the gang back together again, successful in all their newly chosen ventures.
Favorite chapter title: "Morty, You Fuck!"