This was a slog! And kind of the last thing I expected from Anita Shreve, when I ~loved~ The Weight of Water so much. I don't necessarily hate a male protag, but I had a super hard time liking or connecting or engaging with a male protag who cares only about himself and not about his wife's like, happiness. And then to throw everyone in his life under the bus for a job? Ew, gross. I was already done with him before the fucking

sexual assault and the making your child lie about being assaulted.

I felt a little more kindly toward Etna, who could have a comparison to Daisy in The Great Gatsby, since she was really just trying to live a fulfilling life with a husband that she didn't love. I probably would have rated this book lower, but I liked the epistolary section and then things got more intense after that. I don't know what book the blurb-writers on the back cover read, but it surely didn't seem like this one.