Wifey

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It's a hit!

What an unfulfilling ending! But then, I suppose many other frustrated suburban housewives in that era had similarly unfulfilling endings. If I w... (show more)

What an unfulfilling ending! But then, I suppose many other frustrated suburban housewives in that era had similarly unfulfilling endings. If I were married to an asshole like Norman Pressman, I'd kill him instead of trying to "make things work." Sure, Sandy had affairs and found short respites of relief through other men, but I'm not sure she grew as a person and at the end of the book she's still the same timid wife, content to keep busy with the house and the children and her dead fish of a husband. (show less)

 

 

by Whitney Walker

No, it's a flop!

May contain spoilers. I was recommended the book and after reading the description I decided to give it a read. The story is set in an older time, ... (show more)

May contain spoilers. I was recommended the book and after reading the description I decided to give it a read. The story is set in an older time, and at least personally, the structure and society was bothersome and frustrating (racism, accepted/expected submissive behavior of women, etc) for me, but at the same time a tad fascinating. While I was first reading I could not help but sympathize for Sandy and her situation but as the book went on, I grew a sort of impatience with her character, expecting more growth and change. I do not think, however, that Blume had done this unintentionally. It was very consistent with Sandy's character, who had admitted herself that she never learned how to think for herself. Although she has some revelations at the end of the story, the ending leaves something to be desired, but is what I guess would be realistic for a woman in Sandy's situation in that time (and maybe today too, in some parts of society).

I liked the book for it's emotional factors; I could really feel the struggle of the characters. I just felt a lot of frustration toward the end with the characters. I guess the young girl in me still believes in happily ever afters. (show less)

 

 

by Amanda Wu

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  For us fans of Judy Blume's Forever in our youth, the next step up was Wifey, Blume's 'adult' book about sex and marriage. I think I first read it when I was about 17 or 18, just as I had finally gotten over Michael and Catherine's split (not Douglas and Zeta-Jones).

  Wifey is about Sandy, a bored housewife with a perfunctory marriage and a dull husband who likes his little 'meal' on a Saturday night with a very set menu. The death of JFK sparks off a change in Sandy. She has always compared,... (show more)

  For us fans of Judy Blume's Forever in our youth, the next step up was Wifey, Blume's 'adult' book about sex and marriage. I think I first read it when I was about 17 or 18, just as I had finally gotten over Michael and Catherine's split (not Douglas and Zeta-Jones).

  Wifey is about Sandy, a bored housewife with a perfunctory marriage and a dull husband who likes his little 'meal' on a Saturday night with a very set menu. The death of JFK sparks off a change in Sandy. She has always compared, in looks, to Jackie Kennedy and Sandy feels an affinity with her. Sandy beings to remember her first love Shep, a man that she passed over as her head and her mother ruled and told her to settle with the more successful and grounded Norman. Now Shep is a multi-millionaire and she runs into him again re-igniting the passion and lust she felt with him.

  Meanwhile, her friends' husbands and her sister's husband seem at sea after the death of JFK, and try bumbled, clumsy and embarrassing attempts to seduce her, and somehow she manages to be a comfort to them.

  Blume is a great writer - not especially purple but solid, engaging storytelling, the kind of which made her a huge CYA author with a plethora of fantastic books. This is a funny glimpse at sex and marriage when the children have grown up and you find yourself with nothing to do. (show less)

   

   

  by Hazel Hay on Nov 14, 2009 at 10:15AM

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  I was curious about "Wifey" as I had read & enjoyed her YA (young adult) novels several decades ago when I was a teenager. Reading "Wifey" today, I have to say this book is not particularly memorable.
  The blurb "Over 3 million copies sold" on the cover makes one wonder why it would sell in those numbers. It's my guess that back in 1978 when the novel came out, the story of a sexually & emotionally frustrated suburban housewife introduced to us on page o... (show more)

  I was curious about "Wifey" as I had read & enjoyed her YA (young adult) novels several decades ago when I was a teenager. Reading "Wifey" today, I have to say this book is not particularly memorable.
  The blurb "Over 3 million copies sold" on the cover makes one wonder why it would sell in those numbers. It's my guess that back in 1978 when the novel came out, the story of a sexually & emotionally frustrated suburban housewife introduced to us on page one as a woman stirred to action by the sight of a naked man pleasuring himself outside her window was more likely to cause a sensation amongst the female reading public than in today's "Sex and the City"-satiated times.
  Overall the novel is lightweight and superficial, and a far cry from the complexity of Erica Jong's 1973 ground-breaking "Fear of Flying."
  Sandy the 31-year-old protagonist is described by her husband as possessing half a brain, and sometimes it feels as if "Wifey" is written for a younger (than Sandy) audience, or for women who fit Sandy's IQ description. That's what bothered me in the end; "Wifey" doesn't challenge the reader in any intelligent way. The situations come off as formulaic and Sandy is quite stereotypical in her marital malaise.
  I also got the impression that J. Blume is trying to play both sides of the fence, delivering the goods to readers expecting a modicum of titillation, and at the same time avoiding the complexity of Jong's writings & other texts coming out of the women's lib movement during that decade.
  After saying all this, there is a part of me that wonders if I'm being too criticial of Blume's writing, in the light of her committment to stand up against censorship. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Aug 13, 2009 at 04:34PM

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