I understand his story of a weekly postcard sent to the wife by the husband was drawn on the true story of his great-aunt and uncle, but the book soon made me moan out loud.
Adam, an estate dealer, is the main character and is mourning the loss of his marriage through divorce. He wants to do it right the second time around, if there really is a second time. He's attracted to a collection of old postcards written from one spouse to another that span many decades, and wants to discover the secret of their successful marriage.
Adam drove me nuts with his whining about wanting a perfect marriage, and his 'woe is me' attitude was both immature and irritating. He even tracks down the daughter of the couple's housekeeper in hopes of possibly returning the cards, but becomes emotionally involved with her instead, which appeared to me a bit desperate. Her stories cause him to be further drawn into the history of the couple, and he's overly fascinated with several aspects of the couple's romance. That he was so astounded with their lives seemed a bit over the top to me, but maybe that's me being too critical. He was constantly having light bulb moments in comparing his marriage with the Alexander's relationship, which caused me to wonder at his ability to relate to women.
Also, I was busy shaking my head at his overuse of period terms, I think trying to show the readers that he'd adequately researched what folks did in the first half of the twentieth century. Lots of smoking, (which was common, and does prove valid at the end of the book) and also alcohol consumption, but this was partly during the Prohibition, which seemed a bit odd. His main characters professed to be Christians, but had no qualms with drinking and violating the law.
What stands out so strongly in the story is the way the couple idolized one another. Their love trumped any situation, and at times the wife, Huck, became a crybaby when she didn't get her way. She made much of them never being separated, to the extent of causing a major situation, which resulted in another person's death. Again, not very realistic.
Not to drone on, but while Lewis appears to be a good writer as far as sentence construction and all, his overly sentimental style was frustrating to read. He can put together excellent dialogue, but what the characters said was, again, way too lovey-dovey. People don't act that way. But maybe fiction is the perfect vehicle for this sort of escape reading. Considering the positive reviews at GoodReads, it appears Lewis has found his niche, it just won't be with me.
(i received this advance reader's copy free to review from waterbrook/multnomah)
