Liane Moriarty - The Husband's Secret

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.
Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

Comment: I got this book in a Portuguese edition because it was at half price since it was close to Christmas a couple of years ago and the supermarket where I got it had a sale of several titles.

I had read another book by the author which hadn't been such a great experience but this one has a better average and at a lower price I thought why not.

In this book we follow the POVs of three main characters, Cecilia, Tess and Rachel and how their lives in the small Sydney community they are part of suddenly collide after Cecilia discovers a letter by her husband with a devastating secret that also affected the other's lives, mostly Rachel's.

Throughout the book, the characters have to deal with how their choices affected their lives, how uncovering secrets would have consequences in more ways than one and what it means for their conscience as well...

I really enjoyed this book more than the other one. The author's writing style is quite unique so I expected the narrative to have a similar feel to it but this was different enough to be more engaging and captivating to read.

The plot centers around a small group of people whereas the other book was more focused on two characters... I think I appreciated the sense of community included in this one a lot more.

The base premise is that Cecilia finds a letter by her husband with the instruction to be read only after he dies. Of course human nature is difficult to ignore and the more Cecilia thinks of it and wants to respect his wish, the more eager she feels to read it. One day she does, after amusing chapters of her inner thoughts debating the issue and from there, the biggest developments happen.

I think this was, in fact, my favorite part of the book: how we got to know the characters feelings, thoughts and not so friendly opinions on several other people and subjects while they behaved slightly different from their thoughts.

I mean, it was not just Cecilia, since with each development, the plot would move on and it felt like something would have to happen at some point. For how many of us must deal with a certain situation and we let our thoughts go wild even if we don't act on them nor do we treat people accordingly to our "lesser" behavior? It was both sarcastic and amusing to see how their ideas would go everywhere while in specific situations.

I'd say the majority of the story is focused on the power of guilt and the hopelessness of fate.

Things happen for a reason and so on but at the same time each step has a consequence and how we think of it and how it feels to live with the weight of our choices can be a powerful stone in our chests. It's not that easy to go through life without stronger emotions or regrets or guilt over things done or said and not done, not said.

I think the author conveyed these little things that can have huge impacts quite well on how some characters dealt with a few situations in their lives.

It's also difficult to imagine but what we do, in small communities or when people are closely linked, can seriously affect others somehow without or direct knowledge, such as Cecilia's husband actions in the past are still having repercussions now.

I would have given this story a better grade but the presence of Tess and her family issues and how she is connected to the main plot was a bit too forced. In fact, her sub plot was even irrelevant to what I consider the most important part of the book.

There are some details used that actually don't have any relation to the plot nor to the themes of guilt and sometimes despair that follow tragedies but I think in some cases, those details were just a fun add on, in others it was a missed call.

Generally speaking, though, I think the book is consistent. It's pretty obvious the author's intention from the start so I can't understand why some readers complain about the often vague things here and there. I can agree with the fact some situations feel too handy to be taken for serious but I think the overall effect of the fun elements and the more serious ones was well done.

The psychology of things, of the character's thoughts is really the hidden gem to look for. How many of out actions are based on assumptions and sometimes even small mistakes that grow into big bad scenarios?

I think the end had an interesting twist, one I thought had to happen but not the way it happened. It was rather..."eye for an eye" of sorts.

The epilogue has a series of possibilities explained in regard to some things in the story, different perspectives included... I understand why the author included these but I think they only served to show how small a decision can be but what a huge impact it can have. I'm still thinking if I liked because it clarified a few things or if it ruined the drama for me.

Grade: 8/10