Book Review: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Title: The Husband's Secret

Author: Liane Moriarty

Price: £7.99

Type: Fiction

Pages: 402


The Husband's Secret is a book that's been talked about a lot and has been high up on the list of bestsellers for a while. I do love a book with a great mystery, so I spontaneously picked it up one day while waiting for a train.

There are three main characters in this book and from the very beginning you get a sense that they are all connected in one way or another. Sadly, this also means that I figured out very early what this secret might be, although finding out the secret is not the point - it's about how the characters deal with the secret and the effect it's had on them.

First, there's Cecilia: A middle-aged woman living in suburban Australia with three daughters, impeccable organisation skills and a thriving Tupperware business. Think Bree from Desperate Housewives and you're pretty much there. She finds a letter from her husband addressed to her from years and years ago and it's this letter that throws her life upside down.
Then there's Tess. Tess has just found out that her cousin and her husband have fallen in love with each other. In complete shock and disbelief she packs her stuff, grabs her son and flies halfway across Australia to live with her mother again, hoping for a new beginning.
Finally, we meet Rachel, an elderly lady who works at the local school as a secretary. Rachel's daughter Janie was murdered when she was just seventeen and Rachel has never been able to move on from this horrendous event. Her life is filled with bitterness, hatred and a deep, vengeful desire to find Janie's murderer. In doing so, she alienates her son more and more without even realising.

As such, it is beautifully written. Although I hoped for a bit more on the relationship between said husband with a secret and his wife, the author delves really deep into the emotions of each character. They are well rounded and most importantly, very believable. I found it very easy to imagine to be each of those women and to follow their thought process. In that way, it is really similar to Jodi Picoult's writing and I think that if you're a fan of her books then you'll love The Husband's Secret.

It's a really great book - well written, it drags you in and makes you desperate to find out what happens next. The thing is, I didn't really enjoy reading it as much as I hoped I would. My problem with this book is that it's just so goddamn white middle class. I have nothing against white middle class, but when I read a book, I want to escape from everyday life into a world I would not normally experience and even though the characters in this novel were all thrown into an unusual situation, I found their reactions to be not only extremely predictable, but also incredibly dull. The ending in particular is what really did it for me. It was too perfect, leaving the reader with no unanswered questions. Uninspiring is the word that describes it the best.

I realise there is a place for books like this one and there's a reason it's been so successful. If reading about suburban everyday lives being thrown off-kilter is your thing (and by all means, there's nothing at all wrong with that), then I would gladly recommend this book to you, as chances are you're going to love it. For me, I've finally come to realise that this is simply not my kind of story and thankfully, my next read could not be further away from this book if it tried...

Book review: The Genius of Dogs by Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods

Title: The Genius of Dogs

Author: Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods

Price: £8.99

Type: Non-fiction, Pop-Science

Pages: 282

It was while browsing a WH Smith before getting on a long train journey that I picked up my very first pop-science book. I'm usually much more drawn to fiction than to non-fiction, but the title just drew me in somehow. Every dog owner in the world will be able to tell you that dogs are lot more clever than what we give them credit for and I was hoping to gain a better insight into what goes on in my little puppy's mind from reading this book.

From the very first page I was hooked. The book is divided into three parts: The first one explores how dogs evolved from wolves, became domesticated and developed the kind of intelligence they are showing today. The second part shows the findings of some experiments that detail exactly in which ways dogs can be considered to be a genius and in which disciplines they can, let's say, be a little silly. Finally, the third part, labelled "Your Dog" delves into different breeds and how to train your genius dog.

I found the first part to be incredibly fascinating. I always wondered what had happened thousands of years ago, for a wild and pretty aggressive animal like the wolf to slowly but surely become man's best friend. Turns out that it's highly likely that it wasn't us domesticating dogs, but more that dogs domesticated themselves, seeing a chance of obtaining easy food and shelter in return for guarding their shared territory and helping humans in hunts. The book is full of facts and figures, but it is written in such a light and entertaining fashion, that it reads like a breeze without being at all overwhelming.

The second part dragged for me a little bit, as it detailed a ton of experiments which to be honest didn't show anything I didn't already know having owned three dogs already. We know that dogs react to pointing gestures and verbal commands, but I guess if you ever needed scientific proof of that, then that's where you get it.

The final part of the book was where I got quite frustrated. From the titles of the chapters I expected some practical insight into how I can best train my dog by tapping into the particular way her mind works. Turns out, it was nothing like that. The authors basically concluded that all races are equally intelligent and that dogs are really great. They did make a reference to their website, which offers exactly what I'd been hoping from the last chapter of this book... for a small fee of $38 a month. Needless to say, I felt cheated and a little scammed. A terrible end to what had started out as a great book.

Because I enjoyed the first part so much, but was a bit annoyed by the other two parts, it's quite difficult to give this book an overall rating. To be fair, my disappointment stems mainly from going into the book expecting some practical advice. As I mentioned above, this is the first pop-science book I've ever bought or read, so if all books in the genre are like this, then it's my expectations that were wrong. I'd probably say that if you're interested in dogs, then this is a book worth borrowing or renting from the library... but not to spend money on.

Book review: Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

I thought I'd mix it up a little on here, as I was getting a little tired and bored of my typical Week in Instagram type posts. Instead, I thought it would be nice to have a non-beauty related, lifestyle post on here every Sunday. This can be anything relating to entertainment, recipes, DIYs, health and fitness related posts or anything else really that I think might be interesting. We're starting out this week with a review of a book that I read a while ago.

Title: Sophie's World

Author: Jostein Gaarder

Price: £8.99

Type: Fiction and Non-fiction

Pages: 427


I read a book by Jostein Gaarder when I was little called "The Christmas Mystery". It was like an advent calendar in book form in that you were meant to read a chapter each day and then on Christmas the big mystery was revealed. I have very fond memories of that book and those memories are essentially what drove me to pick up Sophie's World - a book about philosophy - even though I had no interest in philosophy whatsoever.

The book follows the story of 14-year old Norwegian girl Sophie, who one day starts receiving mysterious letters taking her on a course of philosophy, starting from its very early days in Ancient Greek history and going all the way up to the modern days.

The story itself is more of a sort of vehicle for the actual letters. There is an awful lot of information in each chapter and though I found it very fascinating and interesting, I found that it was best to read only one or two chapters a day, in order to really let everything I've just read sink in. It's certainly not a book you'd pick up to race through on one particularly stormy evening.

Eventually, the story becomes more interesting and absorbing and even though I found the characters to be rather flat and the style of dialogue a tad exhausting at times, I soon longed to know what happens next to Sophie and her ... erm, world. Upon finishing the book I was left with a sense of awe and curiosity regarding the world around me, which very few other books have ever done.

Upon reading some online reviews I noticed that the book has received quite a few negative reviews based upon the fact that several big names and were omitted, but I don't think it's fair to judge Sophie's World on that. It never claimed to be an encyclopaedia containing the whole history of philosophy. It's not like it's going to replace a university degree in philosophy, either.

As a whole, I feel that if you're really, really interested in philosophy you'll be disappointed by this book. It won't tell you anything you don't already know and you will probably see the plot twist coming from miles away. But if you're someone like me, who never really spared a thought for philosophy, but are after a leisurely read that might just teach you something you didn't know, then (just like me) you may end up enjoying this book a lot more than you originally thought you would.