Husband and Wife audiobook

I wish I could give this book 3 stars for the story and five stars for the spot-on depiction of married life and parenting. This is a story about a woman whose husband admits that the book he is writing about infidelity is actually partially true. The rest of the book deals with the consequences of this for them and their two young children and how the wife will ultimately respond to the whole thing. While I felt like the story started to drag a bit about halfway through, I stayed with it because the author stunned me with her ability to capture the relentless immediacy of life with small children - the way big things end up on the back burner because kids keep you stuck in the "right now" of diaper changes and Cheerios and naptimes. She nailed it as far as what it is like to try to write (or "be a writer") when you are also a mom, and can those two things even overlap? And, wow, some of the stuff about identity and motherhood (and how different that is from fatherhood) hit so close to home, I almost felt like she was reading my mind. I loved how she described the ups and downs of married life - how you can cycle between passionate love and indifference/hatred (!) in the span of 15 minutes, and oh, there was so much more. Loved so many little moments in this book. I should have taken notes!

On the surface, this book is about a man who cheated on his wife. But really it's about reconciling who you've become when it's not who you wanted to become, i.e. being true to yourself doesn't mean that you can't change who you are. (Also, I am now convinced that being a single mother to two young children might possibly be the worst fate in the world.) So glad I went to see Leah Stewart speak at Thurber House this summer. She's seemed like the perfect blend of who I am and who I admire. Favorite Quotes: Why do the same things happen to everyone? We want to be known when we do, and we want to be unknown when we don't, just like we want someone to touch us and kiss us until we don't anymore. I resented the hell out of the back of his head. Living with someone else is all about food...What are you going to eat and when are you going to eat it and who's going to cook it or should you go out.I was going to click my heels and go home, where life would be, as it is anywhere, a little bit dull Kansas, a little bit great and terrible Oz.

Husband and Wife opens on a common domestic scene, but it's not tranquil. The baby sitter has arrived to attend to the two young children of Sarah Price and her husband, Nathan, as they prepare to go out for the evening. Sarah is searching for her husband's shoe and resisting the urge to go breastfeed her baby son when Nathan shatters this contained chaos. He confesses that his pending publication titled, Infidelity, holds some basis in fact. He had an affair the previous year while attending a writers conference. Ironically, they are getting ready to attend the wedding of two of their closest friends.When Sarah and Nathan met, they gravitated to each other. They shared a passion for the written word, him as a fiction writer and her as a poet. They explored the joys and difficulties of their art together. Then they married and had their first child, and then a second. Nathan continued to write while Sarah drifted away from her poetry into the role of mother and provider. She did not mind so much, or at least she believed that she didn't, until Nathan's tearful revelation as she hands him the missing shoe.The pages that follow paint a lyrical exploration of the aftermath of infidelity. Stewart renders a believable and empathetic telling of Sarah's journey to reclaim her personal identity which she allowed to be subsumed by responsibility and self-doubt. She rediscovers her poetic voice and the thrill of writing by revisiting the path that she did not choose. This path is personified by Rajiv, a handsome filmmaker and college chum, who expressed deep affection for her several times, over several years. She always declined his advances and returned to Nathan. Did she make the right choice?Stewart keeps this common story fresh with her well developed and quirky characters. Alternately sad, insightful and comical, the end result is a very real story that could be anyone's experience rather than the hyperbole that often accompanies tales about infidelity. The novel is also full of literary references made by the characters, several writers themselves. As a writer and a reader, I appreciated the additional depth provided by the references. Sometimes our words are not enough to express what we feel, and sometimes, someone else said it better first. Sarah uses the words of other writers to give depth to her own and when language fails her.Stewart also gives a glimpse into Sarah's writing life. She inserts poems authored by Sarah into the text as she rediscovers her ability to write. Nathan's writing also makes an appearance as a short story. Stewart accomplishes this without breaking the rhythm and flow of the novel. Husband and Wife almost reads as a poem itself; it has a cadence, is told in three parts or stanzas, and loops back beautifully to the opening of the book, just before it ends.

This book was wonderful. While the subject matter is not easy and encompasses much that people don't like to think or talk about, I could not put this book down. It was beautifully written and heartachingly complex.The story opens up with Sarah Price getting ready for a wedding. She is putting herself together, coralling her children and assisting her husband, as always, with finding his missing shoe. Out of nowhere her husband confesses to cheating on her. And so it begins.When I began this book I believed I firmly knew how I would feel about what this character is going through and how I would react in this same situation: punch my husband in the stomach and kick him out the door. But like many well developed stories (such as works by Jodi Picoult) once I really started reading the story and getting to know the characters, I found my resilence waivering. Sarah is so often in her head, explaining her reasoning and breaking down her logic. I found myself relating to this character like I haven't in quite a long time. She worries about her children's safety to the point of anxiety and unjustifiable clarity. She has trouble defining herself outside of working mother, loyal wife. She sometimes longs for the past and wonders what would have happened if she just turned left instead of right. She sometimes wants to strangle her husband for his lack of understanding and incredible onesidedness while also wanting to wrap her arms around him for the simple ways he loves his family. If I could relate to her on all of these levels, how could I be so different from her in her way of dealing with his betrayal? And I wouldn't even have said husband writing and publishing a book with all the nasty details of his infidelity! Leah Stewart takes her readers on an emotional and logical rollercoaster with this book. Every action and reaction of her characters is familiar and yet so hard to understand. What makes a person cheat and what makes a person be faithful? When should we leave and when should we stay? Where do we draw the line? The reader is left to make those decisions for themselves while moving along with Sarah on her journey of resolution and re-self discovery. I loved this book and can't wait to read her others!

In this compelling family drama, we meet Sarah Price and her husband, Nathan. She has given up her dreams of creativity for a steady job that supports them, while her husband devotes himself to his fiction and their two small children.Then, out of the blue, while they are getting ready to attend the wedding of friends, he announces that he has cheated on her. Is this confession a way of escaping the life they have created? And what does it mean for the future?In the pages that follow, we experience, almost as if it has happened to us, the rage, the fear, the insecurities that characterize Sarah's life. When she thought she knew him and understood the life they had fashioned for themselves, had she been wrong? Now what?"Husband and Wife" is not your typical story about a life coming apart. It's more about how the characters look back upon who they were and try to rediscover those selves. It's also about how the day-in-and-day-out ordinary stuff of life can sometimes steal the essence of our being.I loved the parts of this story that delved into the everyday grittiness. The parts that showed us how completely imperfect a life can be. The author granted us a peek into the humorous aspects of parenting, like when the baby has diarrhea during a stopover at McDonald's and how a mother matter-of-factly deals with that.In the end, the partners have to decide whether or not they can put their lives back together, amidst any other options that might be available.A complete page turner, I could not wait to see what would happen next—hich was why I gave this book five stars.

This story had a great plot. Sarah is a mother of two young children. She thinks she has a great marraige, Until her husband an author tells her his new book Infidelity isn,t all fiction.He had an affair a year earlier. Sarah has no idea what to do , she never whats to see him again but knows its not possible because of the children. And yet she wants things to stay the same as before.Sarah has some tough choices to make. This is a really engrossing story..Look forward to reading more by Leah Stewart

There are a lot of elements to this book besides the fact that wife finds out that her husband has cheated on her in the first couple pages. It's about her path in life, that she chose to work to support her family when she too was a writer- because her husband is a published writer and it's his career and his latest book is called Infidelity and guess what? it's basically based on his experience with the affair. But the story is about her having made the choice to stay faithful to her husband when she had ample opportunity, until her husband admits to his affair. This sort of sends her into a tailspin. She wants to work it out. But then she can't. So she leaves and we follow her digression of thoughts and feelings and goals and what she wants out of life. She struggles with her identity- which is a usual fare for women's lit- but it goes deeper than that. The author pinpoints the kind of details that not only happen in any romantic relationship but she captures this ambiguousness that one might feel about her partner and what she's done for the partner which ends up with her losing herself a little. I was a little disappointed in the ending. And it meanders a little at parts but I couldn't put it down.

Marriage is complicated. Extramarital affairs just add to the complication. And the past, well that can be a complication all on its own. In Leah Stewart's novel, Husband and Wife, we find ourselves introduced to Sarah and Nathan, a married couple with two children. She brings home the bacon, while he stays home to fry it - well, he also writes books and takes care of their kids. In fact, his latest book is set to be a best seller, which should be good news. Except that this book is about infidelity (that's the title of the book) and according to Nathan its based on his own extramarital affair. He tells his wife this fact on the night of their best friends' wedding, where they are set to give a toast all about marital bliss. Stunned at this revelation, all Sarah can think of is that they have a wedding to attend. From this point on we are witness to the topsy-turvy whirl of emotions that Sarah undergoes as she struggles to understand what happened to Nathan, their marriage and her sense of self. This is a novel that explores what happens when you find out that your spouse has cheated on you. How do you react to such news? Who do you blame? Why did this happen? What are your options - separation, divorce, stay married? All of these questions run through Sarah's head as she decides to pretend it never happened, then decides to throw her husband out of the house, and finally decides to take a road trip with her kids. We are privy to all of Sarah's thoughts and actions, whether they be bad or good. We read about Sarah feeling guilty for leaving her children alone so that she can take long drives in the middle of the night. We read about Sarah kissing her husband's best friend. We read about Sarah learning that her husband's mistress will be in town the exact same weekend he suggested that she should take the kids and get away for a few days. We learn about Sarah's life as a grad student in Austin, Texas where she smoked pot and planned on becoming a poet. We learn about the fact that Nathan resents the changes Sarah has made - such as, maintaining a nine to five job instead of writing poetry, no longer reading books or discussing art house films and instead choosing Spider Man 2 as her favorite movie. We also learn about Rajiv and the fact that he has always been a little in love with Sarah and continues to keep in contact with her.In fact, being that this book is from Sarah's perspective, we learn quite a few things about Sarah's life and are able to gain a better understanding as to why this betrayal has allowed her to take a closer look at the choices she made throughout her life. Recognizing how much of herself she has sacrificed in order to provide for her family has not only affected her marital life, but also her sense of self (her identity). Once passionate about poetry, Sarah realizes that she has not written a poem in years and begins to question why exactly that is. What has prevented her from creating poems? Why has she allowed herself to stop indulging in a passion that was once a huge part of her life? Why did she choose to let Nathan continue to pursue his love of writing, whilst she gave up hers?By the end of the book, you may or may not agree with some of the choices that Sarah has made along the way, but you do understand how she got to where she is. You find yourself wondering what will happen next for this couple and their kids - will they ever be happy again? Will they allow their past mistakes to remain in the past? Will Sarah write poetry again?I don't want to reveal everything that happens in the book, because I don't want to spoil the story for you. Suffice it to say that the ending was what I expected. Overall, this is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading contemporary fiction, specifically women's fiction. Its a book about betrayal and the ways in which one struggles to deal with its aftermath. The writing is solid and emotive and allows you to easily connect with Sarah. The story is filled with details from the past and present that hold your attention throughout. And the characters, whether they be peripheral or center stage, are engaging and memorable. This is a book that has left me wondering so many things about marriage and the concept of identity and self.

This book spoke to me. As a new mom, Sarah’s struggle to find her identity was one I could understand. I think any mom and wife, especially ones with young children now, will find themselves nodding in agreement with many of Sarah’s thoughts. I felt completely understood.That being said, Sarah is no saint and some of the things she does are destructive and dangerous. But Stewart does such a good job of making me understand Sarah that I never totally wrote her off. I felt her pain. I didn’t like Nathan either, he seemed like a loser with a capital L, until I started to understand their relationship and marriage- the good, the bad, and the ugly.I love stories about marriage and all the complications that inherently make themselves known. When one person cheats, can trust be restored? Can she stay in the marriage? When a woman becomes a mother, is she still the same woman she was before? Should she be? Is there a way to be a mother and retain your identity and your dreams? Again, the identity issues are ones I’m struggling with right now so I loved this book. As an older mom this passage made me nod my head,“My mother was twenty-two when she had me.”“My mother was twenty-five.”“Can you imagine? That was when we were in grad school. Can you imagine having had kids at that age? I didn’t even know who I was.”She settled back into the couch cushions. “Don’t you think knowing who you are makes it harder? I mean, you know who you are, and then it becomes really hard to be who you are.” Chapter 16

What an interesting book! After reading the first 50 pages or so, I couldn't decide if I was going to like this book, or even if I wanted to finish it. I had not read Leah Stewart's other books, and had won this on Goodreads. My first complaint was that I just didn't like the main characters. Sarah, the narrator, seemed kind of whiny. But - I am really glad I persevered in reading the book! the more I read, the more I liked Stewart's writing. And I was actually interested in how the story turned out. Anyway - the "plot" involves Sarah and Nathan, a young couple with two young children. Nathan is an author who has just written a book titled "Infidelity" - and he confesses to Sarah that part of it is true - he was unfaithful to her about a year ago. The rest of the 300+ pages is essentially Sarah trying to come to grips with this revelation. She DOES do a lot of whining, and feeling sorry for herself, and behaving irresponsibly. But the more I read, the more I believe that many of her thoughts were probably universal. It is interesting to imagine ourselves as either Nathan or Sarah - and comparing our current lives with what we were, or how we imagined ourselves in younger days. Can we ever go back to our old self? Or is our old self really part of us now? I really think this would be a good book to discuss in a book group.

Husband and Wife is a novel by Leah Stewart. The story begins with the main character, Sarah, learning that her husband's recent novel was partly based on personal experience...experience cheating on her. The story follows how this revelation effects Sarah as it leads her to contemplate the adult she has become and other paths her younger self could have taken. The plot itself didn't wow me, but I really loved Stewart's prose. The writing carried me through the book and fleshed out well-developed characters so I enjoyed the journey even though I wasn't overly drawn by the basic plot. I'd have picked 3.5 stars if I could...4.5 for writing, 2.5 for plot.(This review is based on an early copy of the book sent to me by HarperCollins).

One of the most realistic novels I've read on the subject of marriage and infidelity. Some of the other reviewers have complained about the wife's "bad behavior" and "whininess" but it really rang true to me. I have a friend who had the same experience and reacted in the same way, right down to tracking down old boyfriends for a little revenge. I also loved the portrayal of the children: they were a perfect and completely believable mixture of adorable and soul-crushing. (There's a scene in a McDonald's involving long lines, a screaming baby, and explosive poop which is the most visceral bit of writing I've encountered in ages.)

This book literally gutted me with how easily, how inevitably, every marriage becomes That Cliche after you have children. No matter how unique your beginning or how clever or cool or different you were convinced you would be. No one goes into marriage expecting to become That Woman. There should be some shared comfort or something in that knowledge. Instead this book left me exhausted. And sad. And profoundly amazed at how similar our life experiences are. And how little separates me from Those That Have Been Cheated On. Great read.

Over the past couple of years, I've noticed that I really love books where the bulk of the narrative is the main character's thoughts. Leah Stewart's The Myth of You and Me was one of the books that made me realize that I don't need a lot of dialogue to be a happy reader, and Husband and Wife follows in those steps.

Shortly after this novel starts, main character Sarah's husband confesses to her that his new novel about to be published, titled "Infidelity," isn't entirely fictional because he had an affair. The rest of the book grapples with the aftermath, and Sarah's complicated feelings not just about her marriage but about having set aside her own poetry writing to get a day job to support their family, and about life with two small children. It's a quiet book, but filled with some deep thoughts about marriage, cheating parenthood, friendship, and creativity. Leah Stewart has an almost uncanny knack for bringing characters to life - not just making them seem like real flesh and blood people, but literally making me feel like I could feel each of Sarah's feelings along with her, whether I related to her situation/thoughts/actions or not. 4.5 stars.