Customer Reviews

Wife in the North

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was nothing like I thought it would be. I was expecting a light-hearted memoir, but instead got a moving, poignant tale of motherhood.

This author has a writing style unlike anything I've read before, and it took me awhile to get used to the cadence and tone of her writing. I struggled with it at first. But once I got attuned to her style, it became a much easier read.

Yes, there are moments of hilarity. But there are also many more moments of despair, love, sadness, fear, happiness, belonging. As a mother of 3 boys very near in ages to the author's children, I could completely relate to the author's feelings of frustration, hopelessness, tiredness and yet deep, unending love for her children. The shock near the end was heart-wrenching (despite the fact that it had been hinted at, and I was half-expecting it), and I had real tears falling as I read it. I was quite moved.

The descriptions of the northern English countryside and way of life were also very entertaining. I love British books, but so often they are set in London, and so I had never really read about this part of the country. It was a refreshing change.

If you are looking for a fluffy, light read, this is not it. But this book is so definitely worth reading - especially if you are a mother - do give it a try. :)

I should start by confessing that after reading several "blog-to-books", I've decided I don't care for the genre overall. Anecdotes that I might find funny, quirky and insightful in a day-to-day or weekly format don't seem to translate well into books. I find they often come off as too self-absorbed (how could they not?), too whiny and just plain trying too hard to pull a story out of an everyday, non-linear life. What works in small doses becomes hard to swallow in a tome.

After reading about a third of Wife in the North, I'd resigned myself to the same experience with this book. It seemed like it was going to be a combination of two themes: first, "long suffering wife gives up high power, glamorous career to raise children while husband keeps his career"; and second, "city girl unwillingly uproots herself to the country and through her own determination and fortitude, learns to appreciate the charms of its bumpkin people and character".

Of course, the book does cover that ground, as the author, her husband and three children move from London to the far northern English countryside of Northumberland. Having lived in England for two years, I concur that the two places are worlds apart culturally. O'Reilly's chronicles of her angst and foibles trying to craft a new life for herself and her family in a rural setting are funny without being condescending toward her new neighbors and village folk.

What really surprised me about the book, however, and why I gave it four stars, was O'Reilly's ability to capture the emotional highs and extreme lows of motherhood, and the fierce, unrelenting love of a mother for her children. As we learn more about her, she reveals a depth that I didn't expect based on the beginning of the book. Her writing is sumptuous -- in turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, and very, very accurate when it comes to describing the complexity of everyday life and the precarious balancing act required to keep self, marriage and children intact when much of the time, one or another (or all) are teetering on the brink.

O'Reilly has a talent for bringing forth emotion in small moments through descriptive passages, such as the one recounting her relationship with the view of the lighthouse from her bedroom window and another when she notices the birdsong heralding the onset of spring. I cried a face full of tears at the end over an unexpected revelation (I won't hint, so as not to create a spoiler). After that, I understood her story and felt like I'd bonded with her at last.

Gorgeous book.

RATING: 4.5 of 5

The subtitle of this book is three young children, two aging parents, and one absentee husband 350 miles from home, but it should end with `one very funny woman'.

As I started reading this book, I got out my little sticky tabs because there were so many funny, sarcastic sometimes but very funny, comments. After a while the edge of my book looked like it had been sprinkled with a heavy dose of confetti.

The honest feelings, sometimes bordering on blatant, that Ms. O'Reilly uses to describe her life as it unfolds during her transplant from London to Northumberland can resonate with many women. Every time you think she has run out of expressions or comparisons up pops another one. Her definition of a "health visitor" and then soon to follow the description of her body in a surfing wet suit had me practically rolling on the floor.

However, the book has a touching side to it as well. There were times when I wanted to pick up the phone and call her husband and tell him that he would later regret it if he did not go home and help his wife with their children during such a trying time and for Gosh sakes, at least pump the petrol. For someone who wanted to have his family raised in such a rural location, he was spending way too much time in London.

But when I came to the August 4, 2007 entry, and she described what the loss of child meant for her new friend, The Yorkshire Mother, I was very surprised that she was able to see it so clearly. I lost my only son and I have only found a kinship in that pain with other women that have lost a child. No matter what anyone says, it is loss very different from the loss of a parent, spouse, or sibling. And so it is.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs to appreciate their present station in life, anyone who wants to laugh their way through a book for a change, and to let them know that the best part is once you finish the book, you can continue the story by visiting her blog, [...]. I have waited until I finished the book to make my first visit, so I would not read any spoilers. :>)

Judith O'Reilly and her husband and children were living in London. Her husband has always dreamed of living in the country, so they move three and a half hours away to Northumberland. Judith agreed to a two year trial period and Wife in The North is her diary of that period.

At the beginning of the book, I found myself wondering why he wanted to move to the country when he still worked in London, and Judith ended up living as a single mother during the week. As the book progressed, I wondered why she agreed to the move when she loved London so much. Judith came across as very negative to me - she ran out of gas five times and always blamed her husband, even though he was in London. She was overwhelmed by her children, even though she had a "Girl Friday" come in to help her.

This book was just okay for me. There was really no plot and little character development - none of the characters had names beyond things like the "London Diva" and "the four-year-old". Judith does have a dry sense of humor, so there were a few humorous moments in the book.

This blog to book chronicles the story of a mother-wife as she moved from London to the north of England, along with her 2 boys and another baby on the way. One thing that I liked about this book is that the story built on itself, and I could find out what happened next without waiting for the next post. This story is about a challenging year for anyone, and while many of the stories were funny, there were times when I grew tired of the story.

This was a fantastic book that I want to read over and over. I found her blog chapter style refreshing and so easy to pick up and put down when I only had a few minutes to devote. I related to this author on so many levels and was wanting for more when it was all over. It's a book of sacrafice, joy, displacement and sadness. I have laughed and cried while reading this book and hope Judith O'Reilly writes another one to compliment.

Judith O'Reilly and her husband move from the city of London out to live in the country in the North. They have two young boys and Judith is pregnant. Its more her husband's idea to move so far away and Judith is trying hard to adapt to country life. Her husband continues to work in the city, while Judith stays home with the kids. She had a career going before she had the children, and now staying home with them is wearing on her.

Soon enough Judith gives birth to a daughter. Judith begins to blame her husband and dearly misses the city life. With her husband gone for weeks at a time, she is left home alone with the children more and more. He even misses the baby's first birthday party. As she tries to adjust to her new life, we get a glimpse of the struggles she faces as well as the happiness she encounters.

She goes through what so many mothers goes through. Her son is being bullied in school, her husband continues to let her car run out of gas and she is trying to make friends with the other mothers at school. Some accept her, others shun her. She even begins a blog, where she can vent and post her thoughts.

I found this book moving and funny. I like Judith's style of writing. The book is written like a diary. With entry titles like 'Just one of those days', 'Sex and chocolate cake' and 'Womb with a view' how could you not want to read it?

She made me laugh out loud during certain parts, and get teary eyed during others. I think most women can relate to Judith.
If you're looking for a sweet, funny and moving read, pick up a copy of Wife In the North.

I thought this was a really sweet and funny book in a journal format. The journal format works really successfully in this book, turning her memoir into a bunch of little stories and memories.

Throughout the whole book, the author longs for London and I can definitely understand that. I am a city person one million times over, I don't know how I would fare in the country. There is a great passage where the author encounters a double decker bus in the country and hopes it will take her back to London. I think she is only half joking!

The author also has a great sense of humor that is seen throughout the book in every type of situation! One of my favorite examples is where she leaves a note for her husband when she leaves for a trip. Talking about if her oldest son gets something, the younger son will want one too and that's it's best to get the baby one as well so she doesn't feel left out. I just love her sense of everyday humor. Another great example is the difference between a haircut in the country and one in London. The country haircut takes much much less time, why is that? The author has a great explanation for why that might be!

A lot of my favorite entries are the interactions between the author and her three children, lots of cute things the kids say and do. I also really felt for her while her son is being bullied at school and it will not stop. She wants her son to enjoy school but that's very hard when he gets knocked about all the time. You can definitely feel her pain and unhappiness during this time. Who doesn't want their children to be happy and enjoy school?

My only two hang-ups with the book were the fact that her husband made the family move from their beloved London but he got to spend a lot of his time there in London for work. Talk about unfair! It kind of seems if the family stayed in London and saw him when he was working and he stayed in Northumberland when he wasn't working they would have seen him more often! The other was the fact that she couldn't get her own gas and expected her husband to get it for her and ran out of it often. I see wanting to let her husband get it for her I guess, but after running out multiple times I think maybe she should have started getting it herself, it got a bit old after awhile. I was pretty much over these two things about halfway through the book though.

Overall this was a very delightful book about family and adjusting to a new environment!

Wife in the North is Judith O'Reilly's journey. Come along as Judith and her children are taken hostage to the North-Eastern part of England, especially Northumberland. Ok, so maybe Judith wasn't really taken hostage for real but it felt like it to her. Who in their right mind would want to move from the city of London to the North? The answer is no one, that's exactly what Judith is going to blame it on when she agreed to move...her mind. She blames it on her hormones due to the fact that she was pregnant with her and her husband's third child. Now Judith has to learn to adapt to farm life, mud, horses, and worst of all no friends.

This has got to be one of the funniest books I have enjoyed reading in a long time. The way Mrs. O'Reilly would describe things and events that took place were priceless. Each situation in the book had a title. These titles were one of the things that made this book so much fun. Another fact was Mrs. O'Reilly's children, especially her five-year old. Oh if the world could always see things through a five-year old's eyes, out problems would seem so much simpler. I felt like I got to know The O'Reilly family and I fell in love with them. For anyone who wants to escape their dull, boring lives then you have got to read Wife in the North. You won't be sorry you did.

This book is journalist Judith O'Reilly's account of her family's move from London to the Northumberland countryside. A devoted city girl, O'Reilly is married to a Northumberland man who dreams of going back, so she decided to grant his wish; she agreed to move north for two years. But for O'Reilly life in the north is hardly a dream. She misses her London life, lacks close friends in her new home, and finds that everything, from her neighbors's dress to local pastimes is a world apart from what she knew in London. Culture-shocked, O'Reilly begins writing a blog about her experiences. Those blog entries comprise this book. I'd never read a book comprised of blog entries, but I found that the format worked surprisingly well. Blog entries give the reader a sense that he or she is jumping into the middle of someone else's life, much more so than just about any other format could. And the reader does get a sense of the ins and outs of O'Reilly's life. We read about her relationship with her husband, her son's troubles at school, and O'Reilly's deepest fears about being a good parent. Lest this sound like too much of a downer, I assure you it is not. O'Reilly is humorous, and she's willing to bare her soul on her blog in a pleasantly self-deprecating fashion. Her story is interesting, and I couldn't wait to get to the end to see what they would decide to do at the end of two years (she won't tell you until the epilogue!) Ultimately, this book combines some of the best features of the memoir and the travel narrative, as O'Reilly clearly approaches Northumberland as an outsider, and it's interesting to see how she interprets her experience through the lens of place. The book offers an intimate picture of a family and a marriage, and shows the ways in which people define home. When I got to the epilogue the final decision was what I had anticipated, and it's interesting that O'Reilly's words illustrate the direction the family is headed, even if she could not see so at the time she was writing the blog. Overall, a very enjoyable read.