One night, after tossing and turning for about an hour, I picked up Love and Other Natural Disasters by Holly Shumas, thinking I’d read a few pages and then go back to sleep. In fact, once I’d started reading this novel I couldn’t put it down—I read for about five hours straight and finished it in one sitting!Love and Other Natural Disasters is the story of Eve, who discovers in the middle of a family Thanksgiving dinner that her husband Jon is having an emotional affair. From the first chapter on, Shumas plunges the reader into the thick of this marital crisis alongside Eve. I loved the fact that Eve doesn’t second guess her gut feeling that something is off when she overhears her husband’s conversation, nor does she let it go when he denies the affair. But what I enjoyed most about this novel is that Shumas provides a context for this story—she explores the ripple effect the affair has, not only on Eve’s nuclear family, but also on her relationships with members of her family of origin, her friends and her coworkers. Given the seriousness of the issue, this is a fairly light read (you know things are going to turn out OK in the end, regardless of whether Eve and her husband stay together), but Shumas accomplishes this without glossing over the pain this situation causes. Despite the fact that Jon’s affair wasn’t sexual, I never questioned its seriousness or the validity of Eve’s reaction to it (although I don’t think I would have reacted the same way had I been in her shoes), so I may not have found that aspect of the book as thought-provoking as other readers will. I did wish that Eve’s journey of self-discovery had been further explored, but maybe that’s material for another book.
This book provoked a wide range of reactions. To read other reviews, visit these blogs:
A Bookworm’s World (with author interview) • A Circle of Books • At Home with Books • B&b ex libris • Booking Mama • Bookopolis • Books Ahoy • Breeni Books (guest reviewer) • My Friend Amy • S. Krishna’s Books • The Read Feed
Thank you to Hachette for sending me this book to review.
This is the first book I review for the New Authors Challenge.
This is also the first book I review for the LibraryThing Author Challenge.
I'd never thought of an emotional affair, so I found this thought provoking, too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this too - lots of discussion for a book club here!
ReplyDeleteI found this book hard to put down as well! I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteIt's true though. In a lot of ways an emotional affair would be just as damaging if not worse than what we commonly see in today's society. Sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting one. It reminds me of Jennie Shortridge's recent novel, Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe. That dealt with a similar topic.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking forward to this one...great review. Love a can't-quit-reading book!
ReplyDeleteThis does seem to be a thought provoking book. I've seen a few good reviews of it already. Great review Avis.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good - it's pretty rare, for me anyway, to pick up a book and literally not put it down, so that's a good sign.
ReplyDeleteI thought this book was very thought provoking as well. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I've heard a lot of good things about this book.
ReplyDelete--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Thanks, everybody, for your comments on this review and apologies for not responding to them in a timely manner!
ReplyDeleteLiterary Feline, that book is on my radar too!