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26th out of 34 books
—
24 voters
The Good Husband
by
Gail Godwin
"Mates are not always matches, and matches are not always mates, " pronounces Magda Danvers, the magnificent central figure in Gail Godwin's wise and affecting new novel. With The Good Husband, one of America's most gifted novelists creates a portrait of two marriages and four unforgettable characters that travels beyond the usual questions of love and domestic comfort to...more
468 pages
Published
2002
by Virago
(first published 1994)
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A re-read: I suddenly needed a break from the series mysteries I've been catching up with. So very good.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, coming out of a long hiatus from reading novels. It's an old-fashioned kind of book, with writers and university college professors as main characters, and lots of literary references. An opening quote hints at the main theme--"Mates are not always matches, and matches are not always mates"--but I was struck more, by its call for us to be open to unplanned-for connections and consequences in life of even the simplest choices, to live fully and exuberantly doing wh...more
Mar 26, 2013
Lobstergirl
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
D'Qwell Jackson
Shelves:
fiction
This was one of the books I came away with when I was at the library looking for ordinary novels. I wanted a bit of a rest from the classics, and from truly literary novels, which I think of as novels which are trying hard to use language well (sometimes succeeding, sometimes not). I wanted novels where plot and characters were strong, certainly not overwhelmed by language or literariness. The Good Husband was probably pretty close to precisely the kind of novel I was looking for, and it kind of...more
Godwin is the author of one of my favorite novels, Evensong.
This novel centers around 2 married couples in a small college town. One of the wives is dying from cancer as her devoted younger husband cares for her. The other wife, recovering emotionally from the loss of a baby, befriends the couple as a way to escape from her own loss and crumbling marriage.
I didn't fall in love with this book the way I did with Evensong, but it was an engaging read.
This novel centers around 2 married couples in a small college town. One of the wives is dying from cancer as her devoted younger husband cares for her. The other wife, recovering emotionally from the loss of a baby, befriends the couple as a way to escape from her own loss and crumbling marriage.
I didn't fall in love with this book the way I did with Evensong, but it was an engaging read.
It is said there are only seven great themes; I can only think of two: birth and death, love and loss. In "The Good Husband" these themes become Gail Godwin's canvas.
Magda Danvers is dying of cancer. Magda is a writer, a brilliant academician (think: Joseph Campbell) a great acerbic wit, and the author of a perennially re-printed work on the transcendent in literature.
Hugo Henry is a complicated, fifty-ish novelist, married to the lovely Alice; the couple have just lost their first child in a ho...more
Magda Danvers is dying of cancer. Magda is a writer, a brilliant academician (think: Joseph Campbell) a great acerbic wit, and the author of a perennially re-printed work on the transcendent in literature.
Hugo Henry is a complicated, fifty-ish novelist, married to the lovely Alice; the couple have just lost their first child in a ho...more
This book was epiphany for me. I have admired, enjoyed, and followed the writing career of Gail Godwin now for, oh, roughly forty years. The style of this, the clarity, the wallop this prose packs is not the only reason why I love this novel. Nope. It's the people in this book, so real, so true to themselves and to life, who struggle so, especially with their own beloveds' deaths. And the central character whose slow dying precipitates all these marvelous designs is hooting, howlingly, excruciat...more
At the beginning, the author sets this up to be a melancholy book - one of the main characters is dying from cancer. Her husband is taking care of her while she goes through the (sometimes gruesome) process of death. The two other main characters are recovering from their own set of sad circumstances - a stillborn baby and a broken marriage.
So, yes, this is not an adventure tale or one that provides many lighthearted moments, but I still enjoyed it for its depth and character development. It's d...more
So, yes, this is not an adventure tale or one that provides many lighthearted moments, but I still enjoyed it for its depth and character development. It's d...more
Magda Danvers, professor of English at a private college, is dying of cancer in what she calls her "final examination." Her husband, Francis, is the "good husband" who cares for her tenderly through her ordeal. When Alice, the wife of Magda's fellow professor begins to visit Magda and Francis, she is drawn to them and their relationship, mainly because her own marriage is floundering in the aftermath of the death of her stillborn son. Through flashbacks and the story line of the two couples, the...more
I loved this book, mostly because it digs deeply into the relationships and motivations of two married couples. The main characters are very distinct. In the first half of the book Magda, a highly regarded and rather eccentric academician, is in the process of dying, which draws her husband and the other couple into a closer relationship. Each has dealt with tragedy or loss in the past. The ways in which they can and sometimes can't support each other are very familiar in real life. Another of t...more
I'm not exactly sure what I liked about this book. It's the type of book I think I would typically find rather dull, and while I still can't say it was one of those hard-to-put-down books, I was definitely immersed in the story and the characters. There wasn't really much of a story line, or maybe I should say the story line was very realistic and believable. Not a lot of drama or action. But it left me with a good feeling.
I got the book for my mother (in large print!) but read it myself. A college professor is dying of cancer and has a (duh) good husband. Lots of academic talk and references which I enjoyed == an easy read, but not a very gripping story. A pretty good main character though.
The story of 2 married couples, Francis and Magda, who is dying of cancer which she calls her gargoyle, and Hugo and Alice, who are recovering from the death of their baby. The characters are so complex and real that I feel as if I know these people. I liked and cared about all four of them. Hugo is an author and Magda is an author and professor. Godwin uses these characters to describe a great deal of the writing process. Her novel is a treatise on the virtues and foibles of all of us. I think...more
What a great book! Love her characters. She has just a touch of Southern Goth to her writing. I'm about two-thirds finished with it and had to leave it in the kitchen last night when I went to bed or I would have finished it (undoubtedly at some ungodly hour of the morning) before sleeping.
Read this so, so long ago but enjoyed it tremendously. It's about couples. Two couples. It is depressing a little more than sometimes and hard to read for that reason but it had me sucked in and held me there.
Her writing makes me draw in my breath over and over again. It's simply stunning. I loved this book for many reasons not the least of which is that the central character is who I'd like to be.
This is a story of dying. Magna Deavers is married to Francis, an almost Priest. It tells of different couples in his academic setting. A very good book. I really like Gail Godwin.
It had its moments, but the characters seemed very one-dimensional. Brittle Alice, gruff Hugo, brilliant Magda, and gentle Francis were like caricatures more than fully developed people.
The characters are, as always in Godwin's books, wonderfully drawn in all their complexities, and the theme of how we die is a good one, but the relationships don't work as well for me in this one as in Godwin's other books.
Nov 01, 2012
Jennifer Hornbuckle
added it
Excellent book, beautifully written. This is a story of what it means to love, not only romantically, but love, period.
Nov 18, 2010
Brian
added it
very good book about a devoted husband of academic wife. Husband photographs misericords. He cares for wife as she is dying.
Overall, I guess I liked this book. That said, it was WAY too long. The writing just dragged in the last half to third of the book, but I was determined to finish it. The characters and story are interesting to a point, but after about 300 pages or so, it just got on my nerves. Like cut to the chase and wrap this thing up already!! It's better than a 2 star rating, but not by a lot!
I've heard good things about Godwin's writing, but The Goood Husband didn't prove that to me! I'll be looking into...more
I've heard good things about Godwin's writing, but The Goood Husband didn't prove that to me! I'll be looking into...more
Does a mate need to be a match? This is a question that this book prompted me to think more deeply about.
A brilliant woman, a professor, has a fatal illness. Her husband is a gentle man who has always lived in her shadow. A story about life and dying.
Enjoyed the complex characters.
Tedious and pretentious.
2003
Just couldn't get into this so gave up with it.
Absolutely brilliant. Ironically, it was one of the few novels by Gail Godwin not to make the bestseller list. Do we shy away from death and cancer as the subject matter of our popular fiction? Yes, it's a dark novel, but not because of terminal disease -- it's the personalities of the characters that are most troubling, an ongoing problem that is at best only superficially and temporarily resolved by the last page. But isn't that just like life at its realest?
I read this many long years ago - probably at least 10 - it was my first introduction to Gail Godwin and I remember thinking it was really, really well-written. She has disappointed me with some of her other books, but this one I really enjoyed. A very thorough examination of what makes a "good" marriage - provocative, lots of good thinking engendered by reading this.
If I could, I'd give this 3.5 stars. The only reason it's not 4 is that it's not my favorite Gail Godwin book. I enjoyed the academic community that forms the setting as well as the relationship dynamics between the two couples in the book. It's more than a beach read, less than a classic, but definitely worth reading!
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Gail Kathleen Godwin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has published one non-fiction work, two collections of short stories, and eleven novels, three of which have been nominated for the National Book Award and five of which have made the New York Times Bestseller List.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fe...more
More about Gail Godwin...
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fe...more
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25. Januar, 07:59 Uhr