Ratings1
Average rating3
"From "America's librarian" and NPR books commentator Nancy Pearl comes an emotionally riveting debut novel about an unlikely marriage at a crossroads. George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family--his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom--while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love. Over the course of their marriage, nothing has changed--George is happy; Lizzie remains ... unfulfilled. When a shameful secret from Lizzie's past resurfaces, she'll need to face her fears in order to accept the true nature of the relationship she and George have built over a decade together. With pitch-perfect prose and compassion and humor to spare, George and Lizzie is an intimate story of new and past loves, the scars of childhood, and an imperfect marriage at its defining moments"--
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I'm not opposed to quirky books or unlikable characters and although I've seen both charges leveled against this book, those aren't the reasons for my 2 star rating. My problem with George and Lizzie was that neither George nor Lizzie seemed like real people to me, so I never cared about the outcome of their relationship. None of it rang true, especially Lizzie's “Great Game” and her emotionally absent psychologist parents (I'm so sick of that trope; and do your research Ms. Pearl, worshiping B.F. Skinner went out of fashion long before Lizzie's fictional birth year). The flash forward detours for the Great Game “participants” added nothing to the story except display Pearl's knowledge about football. I think the author is trying to say something about marital love that supports and grows over time, as compared to the passionate love of short-term affairs, but she chose an awkward vehicle to deliver the message.
Kind of disappointing. I gave up partway through, but I may try it again later.
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