Rachel Hawkins is American and she was a teacher too, at some point, before focusing on her writing career. What a fantastic path! I love that! That she could eventually focus on what she loves doing for fun.
I read the Wife Upstairs without realising it was a Jane Eyre's spin-off. Once I finished the book and stayed with my mouth twisted, wondering What? I read everywhere what I apparently should have known from page 1, but I did not. I did not recognise the Jane Eyre of my childhood with her ill friend, hardship, hopes and dreams. I did not find anything that reminded me of the classic Charlotte Brontë novel.
What I did get was the desperate housewives atmosphere, the desdain for all other human beings, and the indifference that plagued all of these characters. I did not like anyone, any of these people. They were all unlikeable.
I read critics calling this novel a revelation of 2021. To me, it wasn't. I was really waiting for someone to show a good side of their psyche, I was hungry for someone to become likeable. I was longing for that revelation I felt I was promised. But sadly it did not happen. Isn't one of the main aspects of a good book to have the reader identify with one character? Like or hate them? Or at least care for them, feel with them?
Publishers Weekly calls it a page turner. I turned the pages alright, hoping to get somewhere interesting. So, yes, I turned and turned and read this quickly, hoping to get to a more juicy tale but ending up disappointed. I was promised unbelievable twists, but to my liking the twists fell on their faces, as they did not live up to my expectations.
Here is a list of the 4+1 characters and what I understood:
JANE: ok, she has Jane Eyre's first name but that's about all. She is unpleasant, dishonest, jealous. She lives with a guy that she dislikes and who knows her "secret". See, when she was living with her foster family, the father (an abusive slob with a heart disease) was having a heart attack or something and she did not give him his medicine. No one was there, no one saw this, no one cares and she has been in hiding since then, even changed her name and what not. She wants to marry out of envy, for her own benefit. It works out for her and she somehow weirdly inherits a fortune, which makes absolutely no sense, since she did not even marry the guy she inherits from and knew him for about a minute. She spends her days disgusted about what she does not have and trying to steal it, whether it is material or not. She is unlikeable, but I could not hate her either. She is just shallow and mean spirited in a lazy way. To me, she is without a purpose.
EDDIE: could have been the poor dude who gets played, but he was not in the end. He was undecided. It would have been different if he turned out to be violent, murderous, manipulative. But instead, he was just there, not knowing what to do or why he was doing it. Another shallow character who was neither here nor there in his development. He controlled nothing, seemed to understand nothing. Even his money was not the fruit of anything he achieved. He went in and out of the house without really taking any decision. He reminded me of a supporting character in a Sim's game.
BEA: lived her life envious of her supposed to be best friend, Blanche, whom she disliked anyway. She slept with Blanche's husband (whom she disliked too) because she saw a look exchanged between her husband and Blanche (OMG! What is she? 15?). She orchestrated Blanche's murder and as one could expect, it all went downwards after that. She killed her because she suspected that Blanche suspected that she killed her mother, because when her mother (a raging alcoolic, whom Bea disliked too (see any pattern here?) died, Bea was alone in the house with her (OMG! Seriously?).
BLANCHE and TRIP: the dead best-friend who literally resurfaces to spin the sad tale, and her husband, framed for her murder. I believe Tripp was the only weird and weirdly believable character for me. He seemed like a normal guy in the way that he drowned his sorrow in alcool. Other than that, we find out that his love story was also as unpleasant as anything else in the book.
What I liked
The title, yep! There was a wife upstairs!
The fact that it was on several recommendation lists of the books to read in 2021. I felt like I was belonging to my era.
I liked that I got it hot from the press and finished it in less than a week.
What I did not like
The cursing, could have done without it.
The dynamics between the characters, as in: where is it?
Finally, I am left wondering about too many plot holes. For example:
- What is the deal with the John guy? How does he have cause for blackmailing Jane? Her secret is not even a secret.
- What is the deal with Eddie, trying to play the big rough mafia guy with John? I really thought there was something there, but no... Just another weak plot mis-twist.
- And again, Bea's "secret", seriously? I mean there is massive tension build up that ends up in puffs of smoke as the characters disappoint and are not even proper evil in the end. OK, Bea managed to kill Blanche, but she had hated her almost all of the time.
- The end: completely unrealistic. The entire playout was weird and uneasy. It started out ok when Jane finds Bea. I was expecting something cool to happen then, but then it was just a succession of hits and misses. Jane frees Bea, then they hang around and chat away while Eddie (the genius!), sets the panic room on fire. How? And why didn't Bea try this trick herself in the past year? The house burns down (duh!). Bea runs to save Eddie... Why? Where does this make sense for a calculating diva to run back in the fire once she is free from her cubicle prison? Love? Really?
Rachel is a YA writer and I think this transpires in The Wife Upstairs. Adults need bigger drama than "there was a look!" or "I hate that guy but he gives me a room in his house, so..." or "I killed her because I thought she thought that I did..."
I am happy I read this book, because, as I said there was a lot of noise about it. Now I know and I have my opinion on the topic.
Happy reading!
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