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My Only Wife
by
Jac Jemc (Goodreads Author)
Ten years ago the narrator unlocked the door of a wrecked apartment, empty of any trace of his wife. As stunning as her disappearance is his response. He freezes on the facts of her, haunting his recollections. This is the story of a man unable to free himself enough from the idea of a woman to try to find her.
Jac Jemc's work has appeared in the Denver Quarterly, Caketrain...more
Jac Jemc's work has appeared in the Denver Quarterly, Caketrain...more
Paperback, 194 pages
Published
May 8th 2012
by Dzanc Books
(first published April 10th 2012)
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Jac Jemc dares to show the complexities of two people so much so that at times it's hard to not be really annoyed by them (judging by some of the reviews on here, this is a feeling people have when reading this novel sometimes, a feeling I, too, had).
It's worth reading on if you find yourself so exasperated with one of the characters you'd kind of like to throw the book across the room.
Jemc doesn't idealize people, even though her narrator, the husband, tends to do this for his wife at times....more
It's worth reading on if you find yourself so exasperated with one of the characters you'd kind of like to throw the book across the room.
Jemc doesn't idealize people, even though her narrator, the husband, tends to do this for his wife at times....more
This is a very strange book. I'm not sure if it was meant to be about how love can be a bad thing, but that's what it was for me. The protagonist (the book is told in the first person) rambles unendingly (page 1 to the end) about his one wife. She seemed a bit off to me - he might have thought she was quirky, I thought she was a self-indulgent spoiled brat. He loved her with only a very few moments of doubt. From my read, the whole marriage was unhealthy for both of them. Theirs was not a very n...more
This is the third book I've read in recent memory recounted by an unreliable narrator whose wife has fled the coop or been offed, but is nonetheless gone. I have tried but failed to remember if this construct has been employed utilizing an abandoned wife, but it seems the women are the ones who leave and are missed dearly. As with the others, the wedded life previous to the disappearance is idealized and the woman herself fetishized. This is a richer portrait of the unnamed wife, and the life de...more
view all 3 comments
I started out not liking this book. I was not into the prospect of reading about a mumblecore relationship gone awry, but the prose held me. Even though I was ready to abandon it several times, I felt the writing was superb.
After finishing it, I can't stop thinking about it. It's a slow burn. I think what I love about it is that it's the anti-Manic Pixie Dream Girl book. (in very simple terms): The titular wife shows up with all these eccentricities that the narrator finds endearing at first, b...more
After finishing it, I can't stop thinking about it. It's a slow burn. I think what I love about it is that it's the anti-Manic Pixie Dream Girl book. (in very simple terms): The titular wife shows up with all these eccentricities that the narrator finds endearing at first, b...more
This slim novel simply swept me away. I had the good fortune to pick it up at a reading Jemc gave in Portland, in the last of the famed Smalldoggies Press series, but I actually bought it before Jemc read. I am a man utterly devoted to my wife, so the title alone caught my eye; I am also a man happily married to my wife, so the short write-up on the inside flap -- "Ten years ago the narrator unlocked the door of a wrecked apartment, empty of any trace of his wife. As stunning as her disappearanc...more
I had a tough time with this novel. If it hadn't been so short, I probably wouldn't have finished it. It's one of several novels on my shelf right now using first-person, unreliable narrators to describe the vanishing of their wives. The language in this novel was interesting, but in many ways I felt like it kept the characters at arms length rather than making them accessible.
The story is told from the point of view of a many whose wife is gone. Over the course of the novel, we learn a lot abo...more
The story is told from the point of view of a many whose wife is gone. Over the course of the novel, we learn a lot abo...more
From publisher
Read 5/15/12 - 5/19/12
4.5 Stars - Highly Recommended to everyone. Period.
Pgs: 168
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Jac Jemc paints a devastating picture of what happens to the one who gets left behind in her debut novel My Only Wife .
First, a confession: By sheer coincidence, I read Jac's novel on the heels of Amelia Gray's Threats, and while I promise this review will not be spent dissecting how similar the two novels are to one another, there seems no better way to start than by making some...more
Read 5/15/12 - 5/19/12
4.5 Stars - Highly Recommended to everyone. Period.
Pgs: 168
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Jac Jemc paints a devastating picture of what happens to the one who gets left behind in her debut novel My Only Wife .
First, a confession: By sheer coincidence, I read Jac's novel on the heels of Amelia Gray's Threats, and while I promise this review will not be spent dissecting how similar the two novels are to one another, there seems no better way to start than by making some...more
My review from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/12I3bxc
--
This marks the first title I have read from indie publisher Dzanc Books, and the happy truth is that Jac Jemc's My Only Wife is an enjoyable, engaging, and well-written book. I read it in a single afternoon, and I firmly believe that if I am going to sit with a story that long, then then writer has done the part of her work that consists of writing good sentences very well.
The book'...more
--
This marks the first title I have read from indie publisher Dzanc Books, and the happy truth is that Jac Jemc's My Only Wife is an enjoyable, engaging, and well-written book. I read it in a single afternoon, and I firmly believe that if I am going to sit with a story that long, then then writer has done the part of her work that consists of writing good sentences very well.
The book'...more
THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT THE NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.
There is a sense of chaos involved in the act of falling in love, a lack of control, and quite possibly a hint of something tragic, a chance to be hurt. This applies to the slim but haunting novel My Only Wife (Dzanc Books) by Jac Jemc. In marriage there is the possibility of intimacy, a merging of spirit and life, but the reality can be a dense caryatid carved out of lies, mysteries, and selfish acts.
My Only Wife is about an unnamed...more
There is a sense of chaos involved in the act of falling in love, a lack of control, and quite possibly a hint of something tragic, a chance to be hurt. This applies to the slim but haunting novel My Only Wife (Dzanc Books) by Jac Jemc. In marriage there is the possibility of intimacy, a merging of spirit and life, but the reality can be a dense caryatid carved out of lies, mysteries, and selfish acts.
My Only Wife is about an unnamed...more
I love how ultimately intangible the characters in this book seemed to me. The narrator spends the entire book remembering his wife, who left him without a trace, but he seems utterly mystified about her. His own identity only seems to take shape juxtaposed against his memories of his wife, and I've already mentioned how ephemeral that turns out to be, so it's almost like a relative description without a referent. Skillfully done and a thrill to read, the overall effect of the book is absolutely...more
This is a highly original book about a very unoriginal subject: marriage. In very clear words a man evokes a beautiful image of his wife who left him after ten years of marriage. The stories about the wife are heartrending, funny and weird at the same time. She is quirky, intelligent, obsessed about telling the truth and she collects stories other people tell her. Her husband adores everything she says and does but after some time I began to wonder whether her quirkiness wasn't outright crazines...more
3.5 stars for this book. You should seriosuly go out & pick this book up. You'll be sucked in my language while your heartaches for the haunted narrator and his absent wife.
Really beautiful and sad. You find bits of yourself in the narrator and in his wife, and you aren't sure if you like what you find.
Sweeping, haunting, disjointed, jagged. Works better because it rambles so it is almost voyeuristic. A little bit of brilliant.
Goddamn, I liked this a lot. Will write more soon...
It's like a beautiful sad story. Charming, engrossing, disturbing... maybe even a bit inspiring. Jac Jemc is a wonderful writer, that's for sure.
A former classmate wrote this absolutely lovely and thoroughly absorbing character study. Please do read this!
I wish I had a physical copy of this book (I read it on Kindle) and lived in a high rise apartment in Chicago. I would neatly tear the pages out and send them soaring into the wind so others can find it. Words cannot express my love for this book, and I cannot find words for recommending it to people who might enjoy it. I tried to tell one friend, it came out wrong.
Refund please.
Very interesting. Quite different from my normal read but very enjoybable.
Hey Goodreads friends, I highly recomend this book, and not just because the author is someone I knew growing up. It is written in a style unlike anything I have ever read before, very fresh and unique. Please support this local author. You can get this book on Amazon.
I absolutely loved this book. The vignettes about the narrator's wife are poetic and enigmatic. They're engaging, sad, and inevitable. I highly recommend this book!
I also must mention that Jac is a college friend of mine and a wonderful writer :)
I also must mention that Jac is a college friend of mine and a wonderful writer :)
Crystal clear writing, but filled with mystery. So lovely and sad and . . . also it bothers me? But totally not in a bad way. Loved all the stories within the story!
This was a really great book. Compelling voice, intriguing plot. I loved every minute.
Gorgeous and unsettling. Absolutely worth reading.
Jac Jemc's prose is impeccable.
May 22, 2013
Rudra
marked it as to-read
May 21, 2013
Brynn
marked it as to-read
May 20, 2013
Yumna
marked it as to-read
May 17, 2013
Andrew Stone
marked it as to-read
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