I would give it a 3.5 - I am biased in favor of Shreve’s writings given the setting of Portsmouth and Rye (called Fortune’s Rocks in the book) in NH as my parents’ hale from there and my many summer vacations there. The book makes you think a lot about relationships and was suspenseful.

To me, this book was very predictable. I know I have seen the movie of this. However, how many movies have been written like this where the husband has a tragic accident and the wife finds out about the mistress. I will say, the only thing I found unpredictable was the fact that he wasnt alive. I felt like he was alive and living with his other family.

In the beginning, the book was very drawn out. For example, I believe it wasnt until around page 85 or 86 that we were eventually into the next day. Then, everything went into a fast loop.

I did like the storyline, but I felt like more inspiration could have put into how she found out about the affair. Like, she found out about it and called a few numbers and all the sudden she was at the mistresses house. Like does that happen in real life? No, it usually takes some serious digging...

Maybe, also, Kathryn "knew" subconsciously about the affair. I knew there was going to be an affair, but I felt like the signs were there all along. How short he was with her, how he didnt want her going to London (the picnic story), how he was rushing to get to the computer (and how protective he was of it), the seperate bank accounts (not saying that couples cant have seperate bank accounts, but it would be very easy to cheat with seperate bank accounts).

Anytime they did a flashback of Jack I felt like he was nothing but a douchebag. He wasnt this "prince charming" that Kathryn was making him out to be. Maybe after so many years of marriage that's what you get, but I felt like most of the flashbacks should have been about the qualities she saw in her husband. I feel like it should have shown to the readers why she was grieving so much for her husband, but instead it made me glad for her that he was gone. And honestly, I was rooting for Robert the whole time. Kathryn was a mess because she grieving and he fell in love with that mess.

And can we talk about how Robert was always getting into her place? Like, there was twice in the book where he just comes into her house? Did he have a key? I know it couldnt be that she left her doors unlocked because in the beginning she didnt want to let him in, in fear that he was a rapist.

Anyways, I give this a 4 star. I did like the book, but would have rather it not been so drawn out in the beginning. I like mysteries and would have rather the beginning of been shorter and her finding about the affair and the woman longer with more clues to solve the puzzle.

Kathryn thinks that life is pretty good. She’s married to the handsome pilot Jack, they have a good marriage and they have a wonderful 15yo daughter Mattie. They live in a beautiful house overlooking the ocean on the east coast of the US, their ‘dream house’. Jack is flying the Boston-Heathrow route which seems to make him happy and although there are long times apart, Kathryn is content.

Her world is blown apart when she receives a visitor at 3am with the news that her husband’s plane has exploded. Union rep Robert has rushed to be the one to tell her as there are some.. complications in that it seems like the plane exploded. They’re saying pilot error, then they’re saying suicide…

Kathryn, quite rightly, falls completely apart at this news. She’s just lost her husband and even worse, they’re saying he could’ve chosen to take his own life and the lives of 103 other people with him. She cannot believe it, will not believe it if for no other reason than their daughter Mattie. Struggling to communicate with Mattie who is going through the difficult daughter phase, Kathryn tries very hard to be supportive and strong for her daughter while all the time questioning just how well she knew the man she’d been married to for over 15 years.

Kathryn is right to question just how well she knew Jack. She remembers things, little things, which on their own aren’t too suspicious. Put together and coupled with his periods of occasional distance from her, she begins to wonder. Was her husband leading some sort of secret life? The results of her investigation are heart-breaking for her. You can’t be angry at a dead man, you can’t scream at him and abuse him for his betrayals.

How well you really know someone is a topic not so much gently inserted into this book – it’s more rammed in with a bulldozer. Not only is it proved that Kathryn didn’t know her own husband and that he was keeping pretty much, a whole second life from her and that he was a different person in that life, it’s also outlined that she doesn’t much know what is going on with her teenage daughter. I’m not too sure this is really all that necessary – what mother does know everything that’s going on with their teenage daughter? It’s a teenage thing to keep details from your parents. When I was 15 I’d have rather died than tell my mother all the stuff we were getting up to – which actually, wasn’t much! But I still certainly wouldn’t have told her!

Because the novel takes place over a very short period from time from when Kathryn is woken to be told the news, with only several flashbacks from her point of view about meeting Jack, marrying Jack and one or two other memories involving Jack, I don’t feel I ever got a feel for either of the characters. Jack was like some Top Gun-eque hero in aviator shades and possessing a detached demeanor and Kathryn was just grief and anger. I never got a feel for their relationship in its early days, or during the middle years, or towards the end. There were flashes, but it wasn’t enough for me to feel sucked in by Jack and then devastated by his betrayal and deception. Was he so good at deception or did Kathryn just turn a blind eye? Give up too easily? The few times she did try to question Jack about his distance from her, he said one or two things and brushed her off and that seemed to be it. Did she believe it because it was what she wanted to hear? Or was Jack just that convincing?

The plot as to why the plane went down was a bit far fetched for me. It just didn’t seem very well thought out and that whole section was rushed – literally explained and over with in a scene. I felt that if that was the way the author was going to go, then some time should’ve been given to the organisation behind it, the people who set these events in motion. Instead it’s almost like an afterthought, thrown in offhand just so the reader knows technically how the plane went down. But there’s quite a lot left unanswered as to why. It’s all a bit vague and glossed over.

This was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and honestly, I expected something a bit better. Something deeper, that engaged me more. Something better I suppose, although that may be an unfair word. It wasn’t an unenjoyable novel, it just wasn’t as enjoyable as I expected. I expected a deeper exploration of marriage, of the connection between Jack and Kathryn from the beginning and what, if anything, were the clues it was dwindling, even if only on one side. I would’ve liked a lot more insight into Jack, to know something about how he thought, his motivations. This was a good storyline with a lot of potential to really be a wonderful narrative on how two people in a marriage can feel so differently. In the end for me, it just wasn’t as involved as I would’ve liked.

Did not finish. I hate books with affairs. Period and end of story.

I never imagined that I would be interested in a book about men and their secret families. But after the heroine's husband is killed when his plane explodes, her search to understand her life with her husband is fascinating, since it is not the life that she thought that she was living.

Check this book out if you like to see women rise above their circumstances or if you're interested in an insider's experience of finding out that her life is a lie.

This novel is unforgettable. I read it when it first came out but after learning of Anita Shreve’s death I am re-reading her books.
This book reads as non-fiction, one of my favorites.

Most favorite quote -
“Sometimes, she thought, courage was simply a matter of putting one foot in front of another and not stopping.”
More great quotes –
“And then she moved from shock to grief the way she might enter another room.”
“Among other things, Kathryn knew, grief was physically exhausting.”
“Odd, she thought, how intensely you knew a person, or thought you did, when you were in love - soaked, drenched in love - only to discover later that perhaps you didn't know that person quite as well as you had imagined. Or weren't quite as well known as you had hoped to be. In the beginning, a lover drank in every word and gesture and then tried to hold on to that intensity for as long as possible. But inevitable, if two people were together long enough, that intensity had to wane.”

I have no idea how I ended up owning this book, but I decided it would be a quick read on the plane. It was quick... but every second of the three hours was painful. The book suffered from multiple personalities. The first half was all grieving (fitting for a self help book), the second half attempted to bring in some more mystery and intrigue. Unfortunately the mystery involved was the "pilot" having an affair,,, which comes as no surprise to anyone who has worked in the airline industry. The last couple chapters of the book were the only juicy part, and at that point it was just too little too late. There are five books that I consider the worst books I've ever read, this is now number two.

This is my second Anita Shreve book. She is a masterful writer. Her use of language, metaphor, pacing, and setting are all beautiful. And then she adds to that a solid plot and deep insightful character development. This book is about an American pilot’s wife who finds out at the opening that the plane her husband was piloting has exploded off the coast of Ireland over the Atlantic Ocean. The journey of her grief, protecting her daughter, finding out the truth, and dealing with the loss of her husband and marriage, is gripping. I savored this book, sometimes lingering over the language or needing to take a moment to process my emotions. Very well done!

3.5, but rounded up. On the surface this story seems well-worn. Married, one-child, settled life, husband dies, wife finds out about secret life she was oblivious to. Meh. If that was all this story was, then I would typically not like it at all. However, this time it seemed different to me in the way the author unfolded the secrets. Because of her grief and unwillingness to let go of what she thought she knew was true, we (the readers) often figured out what was happening before the main character. Because I felt connected to Kathryn, I wanted her to know what I knew, but I didn't want to be the one to tell her. It was a relief to me when she caught up with me and we could take the next step.

I felt it went a little too far with the Ireland connection. That plot twist wasn't necessary in my opinion. Hence, the .5 drop from a 4.

I have always been fascinated by the idea that there are things others can see in our lives that we are blind to for a variety of reasons. For me, this book latched on to that fascination and walked me through what that might look like.

Read this book over one evening! It’s engaging and lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming. Some swearing but overall a good read.

Wholesome and comforting, a quick and enjoyable read. Nothing too extravagant but nevertheless a solid book.

Such a good book. Could not put down!