I bought "Husbands And Other Sharp Objects" because the title was clever, the book cover was attractive and the premise - a woman about to be divorced whose husband wants her back and who has to arrange her daughter's wedding, seemed ripe with opportunities for humour.
I was hoping for something original and quirky, like "The Bette Davis Club".
The beginning showed promise. I liked this throwaway line:
"Gumption should be taught in every school. Gumption is more important that geography because, even if you can read the map, you're not going anywhere without gumption."
Humour is a very personal thing and is mercilessly binary: it's either funny or it's not. Some readers might describe this book slickly self-deprecating and sophisticated. I found it smug and superficial.
I found the main character to be shallow. There were too many descriptions of what everyone was wearing and whether or not they were attractive. The banter was a little stiff. The narrator over-emoted and read more slowly than I'd have liked.
I stuck it out for an hour and twenty minutes and then decided that this book just isn't my sort of thing.
Maybe it will be more to your taste than mine. Take a listen to the SoundCloud link below and see what you think.
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