“Anna could never really love a Steve, a Bob, a Mike.”
Anna Benz is unhappy with her ‘perfect’ life in Switzerland
with her Swiss husband and little children and
is seeking the answers from her analyst, and the odd ‘oops I did it
again’ affair. She is not a happy camper, except for those fleeting encounters
that put her at a remove from the monotony. How can someone whose love of
constant innovation, excitement and new experiences deal with the quotidienne
drama of married life? Obviously with difficulty.
Cheating is all well and good, but woe betide the woman who
gets caught. Semi spoiler - The ramifications here are torturous and go beyond
shame at being found out. Essbaum beautifully captures the escape of mad sexual
abandon, combined with the over self analysis and guilt that haunts the
transgressor.
Just when the book seems to be heading in a certain
direction, the reader, like the protagonist is shocked into reality and then
lulled into a typically understated but memorable conclusion with echoes of a
certain famous Russian tome.
There is an immediacy in the writing that has strong
resonance and I couldn’t put this one down in a hurry. I was reading this
during a ridiculously stressful time at work, with a horrid cold and perhaps I
could relate too closely with the feeling of life spinning out of control – but
then my cold went away and I laid off
the Codrals. What woman hasn’t had a
moment of thinking “ I’m nothing but a series of poor choices executed poorly”?
5 out of 5 people can’t have their cake and eat it too.
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