The Things We Wish Were True
by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
When reviewing The Things We Wish Were True, where do I start? The alternating perspective chapters that are all told in past tense – except for the young girl’s sections, which are in the present tense. The characters who make the absolute worst decisions when presented with a problem. Or the completely unrealistic child, whom Marybeth Mayhew Whalen clearly thought she was cleverly writing. Children – I don’t care how intuitive and intelligent they are – do not analyze the feelings of adults and compare their reactions to previous incidents. Writing that the child recognizes how her mother was sad and applying it to a grown-up neighbor’s behavior is wishful thinking.
The setting is a small suburb, during one fateful summer. One woman has returned to her hometown with two kids in tow and a scandal attached to her husband. Her ex-boyfriend is apprehensive about seeing her again, but his wife is even more nervous about old sparks. An older woman doesn’t like her empty nest, so she agrees to take in a stray child whose mother is unfit. The widower next door is still adjusting to single parenting, and while he claims he has no interest in dating again, one sight of a new pretty face makes him forget everything – including the need to be a responsible father. And don’t forget about the strange and creepy man across the street who cares for his elderly mother; and everyone’s trying to forget about the disappearance of a young girl the previous summer. Believe it or not, these are the good points.
I can’t believe we’re really supposed to root for these characters. Whalen must be playing a practical joke on me. How are we supposed to root for a woman who allows her child to spend time alone with a man she believes is creepy and dangerous, with the caveat of “stay where I can see you”? What about another woman who, while battling infertility, chooses to have an affair to hopefully get pregnant instead of talking to her husband about their options? I can’t recommend this novel in good conscience, and I doubt if I’ll try another of Whalen’s works in the future.
The setting is a small suburb, during one fateful summer. One woman has returned to her hometown with two kids in tow and a scandal attached to her husband. Her ex-boyfriend is apprehensive about seeing her again, but his wife is even more nervous about old sparks. An older woman doesn’t like her empty nest, so she agrees to take in a stray child whose mother is unfit. The widower next door is still adjusting to single parenting, and while he claims he has no interest in dating again, one sight of a new pretty face makes him forget everything – including the need to be a responsible father. And don’t forget about the strange and creepy man across the street who cares for his elderly mother; and everyone’s trying to forget about the disappearance of a young girl the previous summer. Believe it or not, these are the good points.
I can’t believe we’re really supposed to root for these characters. Whalen must be playing a practical joke on me. How are we supposed to root for a woman who allows her child to spend time alone with a man she believes is creepy and dangerous, with the caveat of “stay where I can see you”? What about another woman who, while battling infertility, chooses to have an affair to hopefully get pregnant instead of talking to her husband about their options? I can’t recommend this novel in good conscience, and I doubt if I’ll try another of Whalen’s works in the future.