A Reliable Wife

By: Robert Goolrick

Narrated by: Mark Feuerstein

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Robert Goolrick's riveting debut novel is both foreboding and sensual. When a wealthy man first meets his mail-order bride in 1907, he realizes this statuesque beauty is anything but a "simple missionary's daughter." But he doesn't know of her devious plan to leave Wisconsin as a rich widow. Nor does she know of the furious demons he longs to unleash during the lonely months of snowbound isolation.

©2009 Robert Goolrick (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic Reviews

"A sublime murder ballad that doesn't turn out at all the way one might expect." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"This darkly nuanced psychological tale builds to a strong and satisfying close." ( Publishers Weekly)

Homage to Walt

...Whitman, that is.
I enjoyed this read, in spite of its retro aspect. I usually avoid novels that are dated pre-2000, but this book held my attention. It's very evident that the author's prose style is heavily influenced by the work of Walt Whitman, with all the richly layered series of descriptions and details. It's also a very visual narrative style and many scenes come together like a still life painting.

The story line is quite powerful and is based on a woman in charge of her destiny. She decides what she wants, formulates her plan and delegates the players within that. Revolutionary for 1907. Thus I felt that the narrator should have been female, instead of the scratchy-voiced older male - although he did lend a "period piece" quality to the reading.

I even liked the narrative style - a bit "stream-of-consciousness" for me, but here it seemed to work.

The reason I give this book only 3 vs 4-5 stars is the preponderance of the customary male pre-occupation with sex and sensuality. There seems to be way too much time and energy devoted to this aspect of human interaction, and I found myself resenting the long sexually descriptive passages, as though they were taking time away from possibly more interesting (to me) topics. I realize this may sound sexist or prudish - and I am the exact opposite - but there is generally a different focus among male vs. female writers in this department. Exceptions abound, of course. The work of Wally Lamb (among others) comes to mind.

Or, regarding the heavily layered sensuality in the book, perhaps there just was nothing more to describe vis-a-vis recreation during a 1907 Wisconsin winter. No internet, email, even telephone conversations. Not that these characters would indulge in video games or online scrabble.

But, on balance I'll give this one a "go".

Intriguing story but only average writing

The premise of this book is very interesting (I'd sum it up as "sexual sociopaths in turn of the century Wisconsin"), as is much of the detail the author imagines for the characters, however it's clear that a more capable writer would have delivered a far more compelling story: there are a number of inconsistencies in the story where a character thinks or acts as if they don't know some crucial detail about another character, only to have it revealed later that they knew all along. It happens with enough frequency in the story as to be distracting and ultimately to make conclusion of the book pretty clumsy.

That said, it's a good read, er, listen and is well narrated. For pure escapism you could do worse. Be prepared for a lot of rather explicit and not always savory sex -- the author seems to be downright obsessed.

Reliable Wife

I thought this was a beautiful book. It was a mystery - and it did in did dig deep into the characters past, present and maybe future. It was the old story good versus evil that live within us all. It was a story of forgiveness - of others an of oneself. The words were musical and the narrator's cadence was perfect. I could not stop listening to it. It gets an A from me - it has been a long time since I have heard such a good book.

Strange but lovely

This book is for lovers of "literary fiction" (things like Ian McEwan though this is a much smaller scale); it's not for those looking for a mystery/thriller. The flawed protagonists drew me in and the end was satisfying.

skin like oiled earth

Ever wonder what a book would be like if there were no good guys, where everyone was not only flawed, but down right nasty ugly? This is it. Every character in this book is mean and nasty. They care for no one but themselves and I did not care for any of them. I listened to four and a half hours and could not listen to any more. The farther along the book went, the more I hated every single character in the book.

The book is filled with lots of imagery and prose like a woman whose skin is like oiled earth.

This is the punk music of literature.

Dreadful

A ridiculous nonsensical story of three personality free individuals as told through their own disjointed ramblings and punctuated by the impatient, petulant barking of the narrator (a technique which he employs to express every human emotion). I can't believe I listened to the whole thing. It doesn't get better, people. It just gets worse and worse. Utterly pointless.

Don't rely on the jacket (a great book)

It looks like you either love or hate this book, and I am one who loved it. I purchased it because I expected to read an interesting cat and mouse game between two devious people. It is not. As someone already mentioned, this is a character study and quite a bit about redemption and whether one can atone for or outrun the past. I will not tell you whether the answer is yes or no, but I will tell you I cared deeply about the characters and how the story was going to turn out at several points along the way and barely restrained myself from fast forwarding to find out. You may call some aspects of the story line predictable, but I found the resolution completely satisfying. I highly recommend this book.

Strangely erotic and depressing

The narrator is fabulous, however, this is not a murder mystery - it's a character analysis. Beautifully written but honestly, I was glad when it was over.

Disappointing

This is the first review I've felt compelled to write although I have listened to many books. Whoever described the narration as "Petulant barking" was exactly on point. The narrator ruins a story that might have had considerably more charm with a better reader. Aren't there editors or someone to say, "hey, hold up there!You sound like you're barking petulantly!!" Well, I fast forwarded to the end,listening to bits and snatches to get the drift and if it had been a book instead of my beloved Ipod I woulda thrown it in the trash. Terrible.

Mesmerizing

I can't imagiine having enjoyed this book as much if I had read rather than listened to this book. Mark Feuerstein's poetic, sensuous , mesmerizing reading pulled me in, lured me to complete the story, amde me feel the desolation, the isolation, the human need for contact and love in the midst of loneliness. I will carry the message of forgiveness with me long after hearing the last word read.

Satisfying

i thoroughly enjoyed this story and it's narration. It opened my eyes to what's humanly possible in the face of adversity.

Narrator is awful

Plot is ok but author is far too melodramatic and long in their description of everything, making the characters unrealistic and ridiculous at times.
Narrator is awful so monotone and depressing.
Glad this book was one of my free choices as I would not have liked to pay to hear it. How can it be compared to Wuthering Heights or Rebecca I do not know? Something I read when I searched for similar stories to those and it came up with this one.