The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

So the idea is that you have an endless stream of husbands, which one do you choose? (warning, this post contains slight spoilers for the book)

Synopsis: Holly Gramazio's new book: The Husbands is an original concept, and I do love original concepts. It seems these days there are a million stories about the woman struggling in a midlife crisis situation where her husband just isn't cutting it, well imagine that but with a magic attic that allows you to switch him out whenever it's just not working. There is only one stipulation, our main character hasn't been in a serious relationship for a few years now.

So when she comes home to not only a man she has never seen before in her house, but pictures in her phone, and a life she can only piece together through her now changed flat, it is awfully confusing that just by going into the attic to change a light bulb, every one of those details changes when a new husband comes back down.

It seems the attic is a gateway to every possible life she could have with a changed partner each time, she will never be unmarried again, so who does she choose, and what life does she want? (END SYNOPSIS)

Can you imagine that? While it seems like it may be a blessing to have an endless stream of lives for your choosing, I am sure it would be difficult to swallow that the once single life of our main character is suddenly over, with no choice of her own. I love that this book expanded on an idea I had never heard of, but when talking to my own husband about the subject and plot of the book, he reiterated a comic he had seen in passing years ago.

The comic had been made to comment on the fact that women are never satisfied. A woman went to the mall to do some shopping, only to realize that it was in fact not the mall she was used to, but a mall that gave her options of different husbands she could have. The idea was that you could go up a level if you weren't happy with the selection, but you couldn't go back down.

She went up each level, getting better and better men, but she was always intrigued by what could be on the next level. When she reached the top though she learned that she should have just chosen a husband on one of the other floors because she would be leaving with nothing.

I am curious if it was a story such as this that inspired the author, it is an interesting concept, a million different lives made by tiny choices that led our main character this way or that. Sometimes she would end up with the same husband but a slightly different story.

While to some people this might seem like a great situation, maybe because you would like to see all your possible lives and where you could be in them, to me as a happily married person, I felt bad for her because even though she could choose one husband and stick with him, she would never actually be able to live their story leading up to the marriage. She was dumped into these lives sometimes five to eight years after they had met.

It was not her choice at all with her partner or with the life she had been given. She may have chosen to stay with one person only to find out a detrimental fact about their lives years later.

Magic attics may be an interesting concept to read about but I would never want to be in the main character's shoes, leading a million different lives that would never be completely her own. I applaud the author though for the exploration of a topic I had never thought of, it is always fun to see where a hypothetical plot may go.