What do you think?
Rate this book
Sometimes Marriage is a Real Crime
“Sometimes Marriage is a Real Crime” is a nostalgic novel demonstrating how all our beliefs, traditions and tragedies occurring while we are young, transform us into the people we ultimately become.
Smart, spunky, tomboyish Katie LeVay is a seven year old “Daddy's girl”, thriving in a typical 1950s family environment until life becomes complicated after her father abandons the family. Divorce is rare in the early '60s, but small town gossip is not. Comfort food becomes Kate's antidote.
Through personal sacrifice, her mother Vicky, strives to keep her family together and off welfare. This work ethic is incomprehensible to a young girl who simply wants a mom at home. She buries that loneliness with food. Vicky, dismayed at Kate's eating habits, takes her to a doctor and ultimately a downward spiral of diet plans.
While her mom discovers her feminist voice, circumstances eventually thrust Kate into the necessity of teenage independence.
Falling for one of her brother's charming fraternity friends, Richard Madison, Kate vows to win him as her own. Be careful what you wish for, her mother warns. But with stars in her eyes Kate dismisses her warning.
After attending The Fashion Institute of NY, and with a promising career on the horizon , Kate and Rich, now a television intern, meet again and begin dating. When a tragic turn of events forces Kate to return home, Rich proposes. Marriage only confirms that Vicky had been right. Knowing about infidelity but still loving the person is painful and Kate once again covers her loneliness with food as she tries harder to be the perfect wife.
She visits a Nutritional Counselor who forces her to see herself as she truly is. Only by rediscovering herself can she discern the true reason behind her out-of-control eating and effectively change her self-destructing habits.
Upon the birth of a daughter, Kate believes now she'll have someone who won't abandon her. However on a trip to New York, five year old Cassie is abducted and although this tragedy at first draws Kate and Rich closer, she secretly blames his carelessness for their loss. She, just as her mother did, dedicates herself to work to hide from the pain and gossip. Several years later to escape her childhood home, she accepts a public relations position in Boston. Rich reluctantly resigns his television anchor position to support her.
Even this new start cannot change Rich's womanizing. How many betrayals can one person endure? With years of nutritional education now behind her, Kate embarks methodically on a mission of revenge. Determined to extract her justice in this game as easily as she plays chess, will she prevail? She knows which moves to play.
Smart, spunky, tomboyish Katie LeVay is a seven year old “Daddy's girl”, thriving in a typical 1950s family environment until life becomes complicated after her father abandons the family. Divorce is rare in the early '60s, but small town gossip is not. Comfort food becomes Kate's antidote.
Through personal sacrifice, her mother Vicky, strives to keep her family together and off welfare. This work ethic is incomprehensible to a young girl who simply wants a mom at home. She buries that loneliness with food. Vicky, dismayed at Kate's eating habits, takes her to a doctor and ultimately a downward spiral of diet plans.
While her mom discovers her feminist voice, circumstances eventually thrust Kate into the necessity of teenage independence.
Falling for one of her brother's charming fraternity friends, Richard Madison, Kate vows to win him as her own. Be careful what you wish for, her mother warns. But with stars in her eyes Kate dismisses her warning.
After attending The Fashion Institute of NY, and with a promising career on the horizon , Kate and Rich, now a television intern, meet again and begin dating. When a tragic turn of events forces Kate to return home, Rich proposes. Marriage only confirms that Vicky had been right. Knowing about infidelity but still loving the person is painful and Kate once again covers her loneliness with food as she tries harder to be the perfect wife.
She visits a Nutritional Counselor who forces her to see herself as she truly is. Only by rediscovering herself can she discern the true reason behind her out-of-control eating and effectively change her self-destructing habits.
Upon the birth of a daughter, Kate believes now she'll have someone who won't abandon her. However on a trip to New York, five year old Cassie is abducted and although this tragedy at first draws Kate and Rich closer, she secretly blames his carelessness for their loss. She, just as her mother did, dedicates herself to work to hide from the pain and gossip. Several years later to escape her childhood home, she accepts a public relations position in Boston. Rich reluctantly resigns his television anchor position to support her.
Even this new start cannot change Rich's womanizing. How many betrayals can one person endure? With years of nutritional education now behind her, Kate embarks methodically on a mission of revenge. Determined to extract her justice in this game as easily as she plays chess, will she prevail? She knows which moves to play.
ebook
First published September 20, 2011
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 10, 2022
I was drawn to this book because of the content of the story being about a girl Kate, who struggled in her childhood because of her home environment, and subsequently, leading to her bad eating habits due to her need for comfort food. Although, the first while of this book gives us more insight into Kate’s mother Vicki, reasons why she married and how she became a workaholic mom and wasn’t home much to raise her kids, leaving Kate and her brother Gary home much of the time alone. Kate shares her thoughts and feelings about her father, her dreams of becoming a restauranter with her best friend Julie, her dreams of meeting her ‘prince’ one day, and her low self-esteem, which caused her many weight issues along her growing up and adult life, until she learned that food was her comfort that blanketed all her inner turmoil.
Kate was also naive, no surprise as she hadn’t much guidance growing up, something I could relate to and which probably drew me into this book. Kate spent most of her life on diets, crazy ones mostly and always felt she had to be sexy for her handsome womanizing husband, yet felt that her great cooking skills were essential to keeping her marriage together because Rich loved her cooking. Bad idea.
As the decades pass, we grow with Kate who had a kind heart, and her share of heartbreak and often, I found her a little bit too forgiving. Despite her weak traits, she had ambition and goals and her career in the fashion business that took her and us to some wonderful vacations where the author did a wonderful job of inviting us along with great descriptions and details of places Kate visited.
The book centered around food, weight concerns, self esteem issues, woven through the story line leading up to an ultimate revenge once Kate finally gets the message that her husband is a cheating bastard, and until that part later in the book, I didn’t feel this was a crime mystery story at all, rather a triumph of growth for Kate who finally learned how to take her power back.
Kate was also naive, no surprise as she hadn’t much guidance growing up, something I could relate to and which probably drew me into this book. Kate spent most of her life on diets, crazy ones mostly and always felt she had to be sexy for her handsome womanizing husband, yet felt that her great cooking skills were essential to keeping her marriage together because Rich loved her cooking. Bad idea.
As the decades pass, we grow with Kate who had a kind heart, and her share of heartbreak and often, I found her a little bit too forgiving. Despite her weak traits, she had ambition and goals and her career in the fashion business that took her and us to some wonderful vacations where the author did a wonderful job of inviting us along with great descriptions and details of places Kate visited.
The book centered around food, weight concerns, self esteem issues, woven through the story line leading up to an ultimate revenge once Kate finally gets the message that her husband is a cheating bastard, and until that part later in the book, I didn’t feel this was a crime mystery story at all, rather a triumph of growth for Kate who finally learned how to take her power back.
December 23, 2014
From the beginning of her life Kate Madison hasn’t had it easy – being abandoned and betrayed by those she loved, struggling with her weight, rejected by her high school friends and later in life having to go through a tragic loss and dealing with her handsome and successful womanizer husband. But Kate is strong and forgiving. She is the kind of character that you want to root for as she gets back on her feet and builds herself a career as a fashion designer.
The author smoothly takes us through five decades as she inserts into her novel fun details of the food, cars, fashion, hairstyles, toys of each decade. The setting takes us to Jonesboro, New Jersey, New York City, Boston, Rome, Florence, Tuscany. The host of characters, even the minor ones, are well drawn.
This is both a book with suspense and humor. Take this line from her prologue: “She had been prepared to end it once and for all, but not like this.”
Be prepared to be moved, to laugh and to be surprised as you read Sometimes Marriage is A Real Crime and Kate's perfect and clever revenge.
I read this book quickly - it was the type of book that made me anxious to go to bed so that I could keep reading it.
Ellie Marrandette has the gift of a story teller.
The author smoothly takes us through five decades as she inserts into her novel fun details of the food, cars, fashion, hairstyles, toys of each decade. The setting takes us to Jonesboro, New Jersey, New York City, Boston, Rome, Florence, Tuscany. The host of characters, even the minor ones, are well drawn.
This is both a book with suspense and humor. Take this line from her prologue: “She had been prepared to end it once and for all, but not like this.”
Be prepared to be moved, to laugh and to be surprised as you read Sometimes Marriage is A Real Crime and Kate's perfect and clever revenge.
I read this book quickly - it was the type of book that made me anxious to go to bed so that I could keep reading it.
Ellie Marrandette has the gift of a story teller.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews