Book Review: "My Husband" by Maud Ventura

I came across this book after searching for books that might read like Virginia Feito's Mrs March. Now, when it comes to Feito's book, I absolutely loved it and it was one of my favourite books that I had read that year. I have not though been able to find anything quite like it even though I've been searching through lists and lists. I came across Maud Ventura's book not long ago but never really got around to reading it until now and let me tell you this, though there are some clear signs that this book is like Feito's novel, the similarities end with neuroticism. By the end of the novel, I felt a bit cheated out of a good story. A classic case of a good novel that went nowhere.

This novel is about a woman who has been married for fifteen years. She obsesses over her husband: what he says, what he does, the way he says it and the way he does it. She records their private conversations to listen to them later and dissect them, she micromanages the household but still wonders why, she controls her husband's life and actions so that when he has made a mistake he gets a punishment without communication. These c an include moving his things around the house without his knowledge or refusing to give him a hug.

When our narrator goes to a dinner party with her husband there is a game played where people must assign fruit to each other's personality (I personally cannot imagine what kind of adults would participate in such a juvenile game). The husband gives his wife a clementine and she is absolutely and utterly insulted. Now, she is going to start the punishments really quite heavily. As the book goes on, we can see her becoming more and more neurotic about her marriage whilst her husband is almost blissfully unaware of what is going on.

Now, this could have been a good novel if it actually went somewhere and we weren't just relying on the narrator's feelings in order to get a glimpse of what could be something quite important to the plot. I feel like the reader was almost cheated out of a story because though it was supposed to be dark and comical, at some points it was almost unreadable because of the stupidity of the narrator. I felt like no matter what she said or did, I couldn't take her seriously at all and I didn't even feel like I knew who the other characters were, they just walked in and out randomly.

It might be the translation losing some of the humanity, but I think that this book was really repetitive. Maud Ventura has created a great plot line but has filled it with repetitions into the moon and a lack of actual substance. What we get instead is this 'pretty but psycho' trope which I think has been one dead horse that is flogged too much. It felt very empty and whiney when reading it and at major points in the plot, it can really drag on because the reader no longer cares how the main character feels.

Another thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. The ending (though I won't say what actually happened) was boring and lazy. It could have been something more, even philosophically. It was something that reads like it was written in a rush and doesn't have any form of closure to it, nor does it leave the reader wanting more. It was a very 'blah' ending with nothing of note to offer the reader who has been reading this book for a little bit now. It feels like the author was just trying to put something on the page rather than actually crafting something of value.

All in all, I am severely disappointed by this book as it could have been so much more than it was. It featured these silly tropes which have been done to death, very lacklustre language (I may blame the translation) and corny dark humour which was actually not in the slightest funny because the characters themselves are either unknown or unlikeable. It was a huge let-down to be perfectly honest. But, I would still recommend that you read it for yourself if an insane French woman with an obsession with looking like Grace Kelly and no love for her children is something you want to read about. It really was not for me.