Young Wives [Paperback]

Olivia Goldsmith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2000

The battle of the sexes hasn't ended -- it's just moved to suburbia. Now Olivia Goldsmith returns to the trenches in a new novel as unforgettable as The First Wives Club. Michelle has a perfect marriage, a perfect house and a perfect life in middle-class Westchester -- until she finds out how her husband has been paying for it all. Her friend Jada has worked too hard to become the first black woman bank manager in their town, as well as a wonderful mother and homemaker, to let her lay-about husband take it all away from her. But can she stop him? Angie is their lawyer -- and she knows exactly what they're going through. Married just a year ago, she's been shell-shocked to find out about her wealthy, Ivy League husband's extra-marital activities. Can she help herself, as well as helping her friends? Let down by their men and by the law -- now all they have is each other. Moving, funny and angry, this is the story of how a friendship formed in adversity helps Michelle, Jada and Angie fight back.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Three young wives discover what they should have known all along: that their husbands are rotten. Optioned for film, of course.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Acclaim for Olivia Goldsmith: 'One of our most acute observers of modern marriage and betrayal' Good Housekeeping 'Goldsmith's characters are wilful, robust, amusing and delightfully credible' Mail on Sunday

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Pb (November 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006510531
• ISBN-13: 978-0006510536
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,193,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical Goldsmith -- high high quality mind candy, July 14, 2000

By 

Marcy L. Thompson (Sammamish, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Young Wives: A Novel (Hardcover)

I read this book in one (very LATE) evening. This is what always happens to me when I buy an Olivia Goldsmith book. Why? Well, she is a fluent writer, with a fine sense of pacing. She has a devious mind, with which she plays out every revenge fantasy you ever had.

Now, it is certainly true that Goldsmith chooses the landscape between men and women as the venue for her most outrageous revenge escapades, and thus men in her books fall into three categories:

(1) complete slime balls who deserve far worse than ever happens to them in these books

(2) wonderful gentle perfect men who turn out to be the ideal love interest for the women who were treated badly by men of type #1

(3) supporting characters, who, when they do not fall into categories #1 and #2, always turn out to be gay

This book is no exception. Bad men, loving women who were done wrong, revenge which tosses the men farther down than they tossed their women, and lots of emotional catharsis.

The three main characters had the usual Goldsmith adventures and all ended up significantly better off than they had been at the beginning of the book. (And at the beginning of the book, two of them thought they had great marriages.)

You don't have to believe all men are pigs to enjoy this fiction, but you do have to be willing to believe that smart women frequently choose men who turn out to be pigs. Put aside what you know about real men, and their complex combinations of good and bad qualities, and wallow in the rollicking story provided for your spare-time enjoyment.

What can I say? It was great fun.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suburban sisterhood, February 6, 2000

By 

Kathleen Hughes (Pawleys Island, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Young Wives: A Novel (Hardcover)

From the first witty chapter heading, Olivia Goldsmith dismantles the perfect suburban lives of attorney Angela, bank manager Jada and housewife Michelle. Then, with her characteristic wit, irony and laugh-aloud humor, she weaves their lives together and with not-so-surprising plot twists, gives them the strength to triumph over incredible (read man related) adversity.

While I read, I was sure I'd met Angela, Jada and Michelle before. I loved watching them develop new powers and talents as their friendship deepened. And, now that I've finished Young Wives, I miss them. I'd love to read a sequel.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Come on - this is fiction for women!, April 14, 2000

By 

"j_w_b" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Young Wives: A Novel (Hardcover)

OK, first I have to comment on Mr. Mallory's review. Yawn? I'd expect a man to yawn through this book. I, for one, can't keep my eyes opened when the plot of a book is based around the workings of a submarine.

The purpose of this book is not to capture the male reader - as a matter of fact, if anything, it is meant to tick them off. And, for what it is - AND IT IS A "GIRL" BOOK - "Young Wives" is very good. It manages to successfully follow the lives of three different women without getting too bogged down in senseless details. The writing is very good, the plot is thought out and executed in a very consistent manner. It's easy reading fiction that walks an almost comical line of outrage that only a woman could understand. So, if you have a problem with this book, it is probably because you basically do not like this type of literary entertainment.

If you're looking for a court drama, read John Grisham. If you're looking for good psycho-drama, read Dean Koontz. If you're looking for god-awful, horrible fiction, read Jackie Collins, Danielle Steel or Barbara Taylor-Bradford. But, if you want half-way decent fiction for women (and I stress the words fiction and women!), read Olivia Goldsmith. She's one of the best of her genre.

And - if you're a guy, go read Tom Clancy. Or, Zane Grey. You'll be much happier because you'll be reading a book that many a woman will put down after a few chapters rather than yawn through it.