Customer Reviews

The Actor and the Housewife: A Novel

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You might be tempted to dismiss Shannon Hale's new novel The Actor and the House Wife as mere fluff.

Don't.

Yes, the premise details a woman who forms a relationship with her silver screen heartthrob but this novel also explores friendship, loyalty, family, love, faith and heartache. And the crowning achievement of this book, the elusive holy grail of writers-- is Shannon Hale's flawless portrayal of a good marriage. The movie star moments pale beside the beauty of a committed husband and wife dancing in the kitchen.

Famous people bewitch us; they intrigue us. And it's a common fantasy to believe the movie star, the brilliant inventor or the charismatic politician would enjoy spending time with a man like you or an ordinary girl like me. I would make him laugh, provide insight into common life and fill that empty corner of his soul. Can't you see that longing in Daniel Craig's eyes? He needs me.

For Becky Jack, it was Felix Callahan: a British Adonis who graced all her favorite films. When a chance meeting led to an instant rapport (totally believable, Daniel Craig would feel the same way about me), Becky felt like she was living the daydream of every woman in America.

But fantasy doesn't fit easily into a married mother-of-four's reality. Felix didn't enjoy tagging along to the ward potluck and Becky could hardly leave her family to mingle on the movie set. And the biggest question-- one that is revisited over and over as the story unfolds--is whether a happily married Mormon mother of four should maintain a friendship with a man at all.

Mormon women generally kiss their male friends goodbye on their wedding day. KC Brown was my closest buddy, my compatriot in zaniness until I fell in love with my beautiful husband. I neglected KC, along with my girlfriends, during that season of tunnel-vision romance. Later, my female friendships were renewed and multiplied, but I haven't cultivated a male friendship since. Would I love to see KC again? Would we laugh ourselves silly and concoct wild pranks? Would our spouses be completely annoyed? Yes, yes and oh yes.

So I'm not chatting it up with KC or even looking for him on Facebook. But would I make an exception if he were famous, extremely wealthy and offered countless opportunities to my family? Maybe.

And now I'm beginning to measure my words. How much shall I tell you? I want you to curl up and unwrap the book for yourself, layer by layer, moment by moment. I don't want to be like the annoying movie trailer that reveals every plot twist and discovery except for the oh-so-predictable ending. So let's chat about the novel's language, it's Mormonism and the oh-so-beautiful authentic marriage.


Like many readers, I was introduced to Shannon Hale's fairytale imagination and poetic prose in The Goose Girl. Let the book fall open to any page and the reader is immersed in haunting, gorgeous descriptive words. The Actor and the Housewife is written in a completely different style yet Hale's command of language remains. When she calls a Slurpee "shockingly purple slush" or notes that "it was a skinny moon, a mere fingernail clipping" I wonder that I saw them any other way.

Written for a general audience, Hales includes her characters' religion without proselyting or preaching. Mormonism is simply there, from the bishop's interview to Becky's faith in God. Her descriptions and interactions are spot-on--often hilarious but never irreverent. Mainstream readers will receive a gentle tutelage of Mormonism 101 that may increase understanding of our misunderstood culture.

Women may pick up this book in anticipation of the fantasy scenes between a common housewife and a glamorous movie star, but it is Becky's marriage to her darling husband Mike that carries the novel. Their relationship is genuine (even during arguments), inspiring and develops over the years. Since I happen to know that Shannon Hale is just a sweet young thing and has been married for less than 10 years (thank you Google) I'm awed at her uncanny ability to describe my own 18 year marriage and interactions with teenagers. The moments with Felix will make you smile; the hours Becky spends with Mike will bring you to tears.

And so, despite my protestations that The Actor and the Housewife isn't simply chick-lit, I'll admit that reading it was very much like curling up beside my husband to watch a silver-screen romance--when the credits roll and the music soars I turn to the very real and solid man next to me and feel oh-so-glad that he's mine.

I got this book because I like Shannon Hale's children's fantasy writing, but then, this novel is for grown-ups, so I'll have to switch my reviewer hats. Actor and Housewife is what might happen if the leads of When Harry Met Sally went on a double date with Romeo and Juliet. Only Sally/Juliet is Mormon. Keep in mind that even though the book starts off like a lighthearted romp, it is not ultimately a romantic comedy. It's not even chicklit. As the subtitle warns us, it's "A Novel"--so don't expect a happily-ever-after ending.

Frankly, the author has given herself a challenging task. On the one hand, she is working from the premise of wish fulfillment, as her housewife, Becky Jack, attracts the attention of a celebrity along the lines of George Clooney--while seven months pregnant, no less. On the other hand, we soon learn that Becky is not about to cheat on her husband.

Felix is intrigued by the attraction he feels to this unlikely woman, so he contacts her again, then introduces her to his wife, trying to figure out just what it is he's feeling. "Best friends!" Becky suggests brightly, remembering how much talking to Felix reminds her of her best banter buddy from high school. Though Becky makes a ready connection with Felix and gets a kick out of the incongruities of their relationship, she is very much in love with her wonderful hubby, Mike. Felix seems a little more willing to cheat on his gorgeous French actress wife, at least until Becky labels their relationship a friendship and convinces everyone to go along with it.

Becky also sells not one, but two screenplays in Hollywood without even having an agent. This is so unlikely that Hale has her characters point out just how unlikely it is, which is clever. THEN Becky is actually asked to star in a movie with Felix! Still more unlikely, but Hale has a lot of fun with all this, playing out the dream--red carpet, designer dress, and all.

Naturally, the dream has its downside: Mike is somewhat bothered by the situation, and that's even before the tabloids speculate in nasty ways. Hale also delves into the reactions of family members and the worry of Becky's pastor (bishop, in Mormon parlance).

The friendship fades in and out over time, and then Mike becomes very ill. Will the field be clear at last for Felix? Even if it is, if you've been paying the least bit of attention, you'll realize the author is determined not to go there. No, this is When Harry Met Sally WITHOUT the sex and its aftermath.

While cynical readers may feel that Becky is committing emotional adultery, others will enjoy Hale's examination of male-female friendships. The author's various purposes do create a slightly disjointed read, however. When women dream about having someone like George Clooney show up in their lives, the fantasy is usually not couched in terms of husbands and moral considerations. Of course, this is one of the ideas Hale addresses. Movies are not real life, she reminds us.

Yet the author is a little too successful at creating a relationship between the actor and the housewife. The "best friend" scenario doesn't quite ring true for me. Although Becky is determined to take the high road, these two have something pretty intense, and I found Mike to be abnormally understanding. What's more, Becky's emotional state seems inconsistent over the course of the book. Whether they admit it or not, Becky and Felix seem more like soulmates than best buddies.

In When Harry Met Sally, we're told that men and women can't just be friends because sex gets in the way. Shannon Hale begs to differ. I'm not sure she pulls it off, but you'll have to read The Actor and the Housewife and decide for yourself.

I had an extreme reaction to this book. An extreme and unexpected reaction. The thing is I haven't reacted so strongly to a book for quite some time and it took me a bit by surprise. Oh, well, who are we kidding? It threw me for one hell of a loop and I had an extremely hard time shaking it off. Despite all this I'm going to try to continue my tradition of spoiler-free reviews and, as a result, won't be able to tell you the precise reasons why I reacted the way I did. I won't be able to go into excruciating detail explaining exactly how and when my emotions bounced back and forth. But let's be honest. That's probably for the best. So.

Becky Jack is a Mormon housewife living in Layton, Utah, pregnant with her fourth child. She has just sold a screenplay to a film agency in LA and is meeting them there to sign the contract, when in walks Felix Callahan--sexy British star of Becky's favorite romantic comedies. The two of them clash right from the start and, despite their visible disdain for one another (and the fact that Felix has long been Becky's movie star crush), they find themselves staying at the same hotel and eating dinner together that night. Becky returns to Utah sure it was some fluke, a fun story to tell the fam, and that she'll never see Felix again. Au contraire, Becky. Turns out Felix hasn't been able to get their abrasive encounter out of his head and the next time he has a layover in Salt Lake City, he turns up to see her and figure out what the deal is. From there these two unlikely characters become the very best of friends. Talk on the phone daily, stay up all night long talking, drop everything to jet off to New York at a moment's notice kind of BFFs. As you might expect, a whole host of factors get in the way of their "friendship," including at times concerned/jealous spouses, their different faiths (or rather Becky's strict one and Felix's utter lack of one), their diametrically opposed lifestyles, etc. Self-proclaimed platonic lovers, these two weather the small and large storms of life as their friendship and story stretches out over a decade and more.

I'll preface my comments by saying I have read all of Shannon Hale's YA books. I love her The Books of Bayern Box Set, Books 1-3 and thought her first adult novel Austenland: A Novel was a fun, light romp for Austen fans. I expected to like this book just fine. I knew it would be quirky and different and fun. I certainly didn't go in expecting a happy ending because, well, given the subject matter who would? I laughed my way through the first 100 pages because any scene Becky and Felix share sparkles. I even cried. Once. At a scene about 80 pages in or so that was just so real (and a little close to home) it struck me in the gut. However, I felt that the next 250 pages were an uneven roller coaster ride of conflicting emotions, increasingly hard-to-swallow turns of event, and very inconsistent characterizations. Every aspect of the story felt so deliberate and pre-planned that it got in the way of my reading experience. It was strangely a prime example of too much telling and not enough showing. The narrator and Becky herself told me over and over (and over again) how much she was in love with her solid-as-a-brick-wall husband, how little Felix meant to her compared to Mike, how she would never do anything to jeopardize her marriage, etc. Her actions spoke differently. The actual depiction of her marriage was lukewarm at best. The rock Mike was too vague an image to grasp onto. Next to Felix he was a mere smudge. Felix clearly meant an inexplicable amount to Becky. And vice versa. These two cannot function properly without each other. They will always be returning to each other. The crystal clear, most evocative, and resonant depictions were of Becky and Felix. And it was simply too difficult for me to buy everything Becky was saying in the face of what she was showing me page after page. THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE is an exploration of whether or not married men and women can be friends and just friends. The answer is, of course, yes. But that is not what Becky and Felix are. I know that's what they're supposed to be. But they're not. They are intimates. They are soulmates. That is the way every encounter, ever glance, every touch is characterized. The intent seemed to be some sort of Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman-Paul Henreid triangle a la Casablanca. The result was a Rock Hudson-Doris Day-Tony Randall anti-triangle a la Pillow Talk. And by the time the overwrought, rushed ending arrived I felt so completely jerked around I was unable to deal with the melodrama a moment longer.

I'm really sorry it ended this way, THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE. I know you've gotten a lot of positive reviews and it's quite possible it's me and not you. Fortunately, each reader can decide for herself. And I hope they do. As for you and me, I think it's time we start seeing other people.

It's a "good read" when one is sad to see the book come to an end. Shannon Hale's recent novel, The Actor and the Housewife did not disappoint. It seems the reviews have been either love or hate. Hale touches on a sensitive, but not at all inappropriate topic of friendship with the opposite sex while being happily married. Is it possible? Becky Jack has the unique opportunity of meeting her favorite actor & heart throb Felix Callahan merely by chance (or is it) in L.A. A friendship formed. Can it last? You'll have to read it to find out.... Plot description aside, I laughed--not a chuckle, not a silent snicker, or even a tee-hee but a full out howl in laughter (much to my family's chagrin) numerous times. The dialogue between Becky & her husband and Becky & Felix was amusing, witty, clever, & scintillating! Hale's first novel to include her religion Mormonism, it is neither preachy nor doctrinal but gives an illuminating glimpse at the every day life of and the values of a Mormon mother & wife. I found myself in Becky. A Mormon mother of four, happily married and filling my life with these 5 jewels. I am content. Just one of the many parts in the book that I found myself saying, "....that's how I feel, too!" For example: "The calendar clung to September, but Becky was still in mourning for the wide open weeks of summer, a full and noisy house, outgoings to the zoo and pools and canyons. Becky didn't see autumn as a glorious and exciting time of change, wind peeling away layers, alternating breathing chill on your neck and cuddling you in bright bursts of warmth. No. She saw autumn as Not Summer." Beautiful imagery, isn't it? Creative dialogue, delicious imagery, witty expressions, reverence for that which is sacred, and tender relationships can be found in its pages. While this book may not be for everyone (what book is?) I closed the book last night with a sigh of sadness. Sorry to see it end. Well done (again) Shannon Hale!

picked up this book on morning when I had a little waiting time. Once I started reading, I didn't want to stop. I finished before I went to bed that night, in spite of a packed day. I can't remember the last time I was sneaking in a few pages while my husband was driving.

Here are some of the things I enjoyed about reading it:

1. It is a book truly different from anything else I've read. I can't think of any other books about platonic love at first site, and although I'm sure there are other books about someone ordinary meeting someone famous, I can't think of any that have crossed my path, certainly not recently.
2. It's all about the characters! I genuinely liked all of the major characters, and even the minor ones. There were no real bad guys here, and for the most part, everyone was on a journey, even if we didn't really see where they were going. The plot was in service to the characters, rather than the other way around.
3. It was fun and funny. There were some laugh out loud moments, even more chuckles, and a whole lot of smiles. There were also tears and more serious moments. I was genuinely engaged.
4. I even though I'm not (currently) religious, I liked seeing the LDS side of the book. I never felt preached at-- it was part of her life, but there wasn't an attempt to make it part of mine.
6. All in all, it was a nice book. There was conflict, and really bad things happened at points. Somehow the book remained nice through all of that. I realize for some people, this is a good reason not to come near it. Be warned!

I almost think this book was written on a bet:

"I bet you can't write a book plausibly refuting the central premise of When Harry Met Sally."

"I bet I can!"

Well, Shannon Hale has attempted just that, but I question whether it was worth the effort. The problem is what another reviewer described as the "Ick" Factor, the gnawing realization that however cute and funny this might be in a silly romantic comedy, in real life it tends to be a problem, even a tragedy.

Of course the whole thing is a silly fantasy: happily married Mormon mother of four sells a COUPLE of screenplays, on her first try, meets and becomes BFF with her screen heartthrob, and stars in a movie with him? Ridiculous, but requiring nothing more than the willing suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy most romantic comedies, and if the author had been content with that, IMHO it would have worked. The best part of this book is the too-clever-to-be-quite-believable snappy repartee when Becky and Felix are hitting on all cylinders.

However, that wouldn't be enough to win her the bet so the lighthearted fun is always being interrupted in order to deal with the Seriousness of the Issue. Thus, Becky Jack spends a considerable portion of the book thinking about it, worrying about it, praying about it, and defending herself against exactly what the reader is thinking, and when Becky isn't dwelling upon it herself, her friends are. When her friends aren't, her family is. When her family isn't, her church is. When her church isn't, total strangers are, and when total strangers aren't, her plaster saint of a husband is. Of course the intention of all of this wallowing in it is to convince the reader to stop wincing and just accept it, but I'd argue it actually has the OPPOSITE effect. IMHO most readers would have been willing to suspend disbelief if she'd just announced the premise and barreled on, but by trying so hard to convince us that Becky Jack is that one in a million who could handle it, all she succeeds in doing is to remind us of the 999,999 who could not, thus forcing us to face the "ick" factor over and over and over. Though I raced through the initial pages, I gradually got slower and slower, feeling ickier and ickier as I forced myself to finish it.

Frankly, this is the squeaky-cleanest book that has ever made me feel the need for a shower after reading it.

By around the halfway point Ms. Hale has bludgeoned the other characters into acceptance; then she tosses in a twist that raises the whole issue again! Interestingly, none of the usual suspects react to the heightened danger. Even Becky's husband only sees a problem in hindsight, which causes some momentary tension, but of course he's mistaken.

Meanwhile the reader feels the need of another shower, especially in light of Felix's ugly midlife crisis antics.

At the two-thirds point the author tosses in another twist, which offers to send the story spinning off in a wholly different direction. Now unlike a number of reviewers, I don't have a problem with the ending per se, except to grouse that she really must have liked it because she uses it TWICE! One could put together an entire list of good, sound reasons for this ending, but the author doesn't use any of them. Instead she offers the silliest, shallowest, most Hollywood reason of all, and if you are going with silly, shallow, and Hollywood, why not go all the way with a Hollywood Ending as well?

Because she CAN'T.

Becky explicitly gives the game away in a couple of places: if this alternate ending was possible now that the circumstances have changed, then it was possible earlier, and if it was possible earlier, then the entire premise of the novel collapses,...

and Shannon Hale fails to win her bet.

So instead she tantalizes, she teases, but she ends up finally at her inevitable conclusion, revealing the last act of the book for what it is:

cold, calculated manipulation, and I resented it.

If you are like me, when you first heard the title and the premise, you thought something like this, "No way, the disparity in wealth, power, and influence means that somebody is going to get taken advantage of, somebody is going to get used like a condom," and if you did, it turns out you were right. Shannon Hale pushes back so hard against this idea that she overdoes it. Someone DOES get taken advantage of; someone DOES get used like a condom,...

just not the person you were expecting.

The irony is that the premise of the movie When Harry Met Sally is every bit as ridiculous, even more so when you factor in the Hollywood ending, but it comes across as more believable because the filmmakers were content to just tell a story, not try to win an argument...

or a bet.

Mormons are back in the spotlight, or at least the topic of the new contemporary fiction novel by the New York Times Best-Selling author of Princess Academy. Only this isn't Big Love or the Osmonds, it's more a chapter out of Stephenie Meyer's life story than anything else.

Becky Jack is your average LDS housewife complete with a house full of kids, a loving husband and an obsession with baking pies. But she has a secret--she's really a screen writer hoping to hit it big with a script, and she just might pull it off with the help of Felix Callahan, the Hollywood hunk of the month who is charmed by a chance meeting with the seven-month pregnant soccer mom. Felix is a former womanizer and sometime drunk who needs a mother more than anything. So when Becky stumbles across his path and he is able to help her negotiate the contract for her first screen play, he plays along with the suburban lifestyle and the unlikely pair become friends, best friends.

That's where the plot goes a little crazy. Instead of a smooth story arc, you get a haphazard linear tale of Becky and Felix's friendship--the ups and downs of motherhood, the highs and lows of life in the lime-light, an unexpected battle with caner and a Hollywood divorce that goes just as you'd expect. While the characters are totally endearing, I spent half the novel battling a stomachache wondering how everything can play out that perfectly with too many characters performing an intricate dance along delicate moral lines that everyone conveniently avoids crossing. Yet this book's saving grace is the witty dialogue and amazing supporting cast of characters.

This book is not for Hale's YA readers--it is more reminiscent of Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Honey Moon than Book of a Thousand Days. It is not quite a romance novel (love and sex are not the focus of the relationship between the hero and heroine, though there is still plenty of sexuality) and not quite chick-lit either (Becky lacks the independence found in that contemporary genera). While I am sure it is meant to be more modern Jane Austin-esque than anything, it is a little too moral-driven and left me wondering if non-Mormons will even get it. So here's an extra star for writing something completely different and setting it in Salt Lake City (yes, Nielsen's Frozen Custard really is that good), but it lacked the solid storyline I expect from Hale and believability I'd expect from a novel of this kind.

I was very excited when I saw that this book was available for review. As a longtime fan of Shannon Hale's YA novels (Goose Girl, Enna Burning, Princess Academy, etc.), I figured this would be a great read too.

Now that it's over, I'm not so sure.

"The Actor and the Housewife" follows the long term friendship of Becky Jack (the Housewife) and Felix Callahan (the Actor). A chance meeting between the two leads to sarcastic sparks... and an eventual friendship. Over the course of their unconventional relationship, they deal with divorce, illness, and gossip, among many other things, all while trying to deal with the unspoken question: can a man and a woman be "just friends"?

I give Hale credit for an interesting premise and a mostly interesting delivery. There are some really witty exchanges between Becky and Felix that made me laugh out loud. But overall the book feels disjointed - I know that the author chooses to focus the majority of the narrative on "Becky and Felix" instead of "how Felix fits into Becky's world", and that sort of makes the reader feel like Becky and Felix are "meant to be" - which makes the ending a real letdown. I also found it hard to relate to the characters - Becky is a little too naive and lucky in life - selling not one, but two, screenplays without an agent, and her kids and husband just all fall in line with Becky's strange friendship with a famous Hollywood actor. I guess I figured there would be more tension involved between Mike and Becky regarding Felix, but every time it was introduced, it just kept getting neatly wrapped up.

"The Actor and the Housewife" is not as compelling as Hale's previous works, and it doesn't grab you and hold you. If you must read this, check this one out from the library or borrow it from a friend, but there are better books in the chick lit genre that are more worth your time than this one.

Bloomsbury USA was kind enough to send me a review copy of Hale's second book for adults (after Austenland, a fun Jane Austen-infused bit of chick lit), The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale. Hale takes a chick-lit premise (housewife meets her celebrity crush) and turns it on its head. Becky Jack is a happily married mother of three and seven months pregnant when she meets Colin Firth, I mean Felix Callahan. She insults Callahan with such wit that he invites her to dinner. They become fast friends, calling, e-mailing, and visiting when possible, though Callahan is no fan of children and views her Mormonism with amusement. The premise is completely unrealistic, of course, and Hale even points out the unlikelihood of the two meeting (they meet when Becky flies out to Hollywood because she's sold a screenplay with no effort whatsoever and then stars opposite Callahan in the film), but the friendship and Becky's balance between Callahan and her family are the center of the story.

I found this mostly enjoyable and more thought-provoking than chick lit, if overlong (at 352 pages). An omniscient narrator pops in and out with commentary that makes the book seem like a fairy tale and the repartee between Becky and Callahan really sparkles. However, there are issues that other non-Mormons may run into. I found Becky to be naive at times, in contrast to her intelligence and wit, and her relationship with her "perfect" husband sometimes grated. Apparently, Mormon women simply aren't friends with men, so Becky's family and bishop counsel her to drop the friendship, to "avoid the very appearance of evil." Even though her friendship with Callahan enriches her life, Becky is prepared to drop it if her husband objects. I found this to be both frustrating and interesting because my inner feminist yelled, "Are you kidding me?" when Becky considers giving up this part of her life when her husband is jealous, but at the same time, it's a complicated question since marriage is all about compromise and I can see putting family first. But (I know, another 'but') Becky really ranks herself third after her husband's wishes and her children's needs, and I can't relate to that. She gushes and gushes about how perfect and wonderful her husband is, but when he finds the house a mess after work, he scolds her like an errant child, and I gritted my teeth through those parts of the book. At least Becky doesn't submit easily; she responds passive-aggressively to his criticism by asking him to clean up while she finishes her phone call with Callahan. But this doesn't seem like a marriage of equals. I'm not sure if that's typical of LDS marriages, but a little more equal partnership would have been nice. Becky seems smarter, wittier, and more fun than her husband, so his de facto tyranny was especially annoying.

Hale has done an excellent job making a chaste relationship story entertaining and offering a complicated alternative to the usual chick lit formula. This would be a good choice for book clubs, as there are plenty of issues to discuss, and different people are sure to react differently to the relationships in the book. For those mystified by Mormonism, The Actor and the Housewife sheds a bit of light on the community, and groups can discuss the questions presented by the book and how they would have answered them.

"The Actor and the Housewife" was my introduction to Shannon Hale's work, and I think I will be a fan forever.

The unlikely friendship between Becky, a Mormom housewife who is pregnant with her 4th child while selling her 1st screenplay to Hollywood, and Felix, an English actor who despises children and drinks and swears, seems to work only because Hale has crafted its likeliness within the storyline. These are the things that "could" happen between a man and a woman who appreciate each other's friendship, without crossing the line of male/female friendships.

As with any friendship, they weather good and bad times together, but this is no chick lit. We see the evolution of their friendship over almost 12 years and what happens with each of their families. We see their ups and downs and some very real sides of humanity. Although these two seem determined to be the best of friends, they do seem more like soul mates. Although this initially bothers Mike, Becky's husband, he is a human being who only ever seems to be kind, compassionate, and loving. And so the friendship goes on...

When Hale prefaced the book with her love of Colin Firth, I really tried to picture Colin as Felix (the initials used are the same, if inverted...C.F. vs. F.C.?? hmmm...). But really, this character is all Hugh Grant. His kind of stand-offish personality gives way to smart aleck responses and even goofiness that makes him funny and lovable. (I do hope they make a movie of this book!)

My advice would be to get this book, reserve some "Me" time and enjoy the way the story wraps around you, sometimes making you laugh out loud and sometimes making you cry. It's a story that can be real life because we never know where our lives will lead, and it's a story that can be a bit of escapism because we all need to know that we are appreciated and loved by another...if only living vicariously through Felix and Becky's friendship.