Although she has everything the world tells her she should want (a successful husband, two friendly children, a nice house in the suburbs), this wife is not content, but paranoid, because her husband leaving would mean her own end: There is no personality she can hold on to, because she has replaced it by the accumulation of expectations what a wife is supposed to be. Even in her job as an English teacher, she somehow manages to make the assignments relate to her husband, and as a literary translator, she sees herself as a vessel that occupies other writers' voices, thus once more obliterating her own. And at the end of the day, this is not even about loving her husband, as the text points out again and again - and the husband seems to know that, because to love somebody, you have to be somebody. What truly captivated me about this book was the protagonist's strangely appealing internal monologue. It was a quirky and detached style, and it gave me strong neurodivergent vibes. Her thoughts and reflections felt both familiar and unique, and as an unreliable narrator, kept me hooked until the very end. I worried that her over-analyzation would’ve become old after a certain point, but each day of the week brought up something new and different, which kept me intrigued up until the very end. It’s a short read. The mounting anticipation was wonderful. The twist was as sour and sweet as a clementine. What a wonderfully tense, obsessive, enveloping novel—almost like a feminist, introspective spin on Fatal Attraction! Ventura’s deftly spun debut is a sharply observed dissection of marriage that will haunt you for days.”— Virginia Feito, author of Mrs. March Ventura's cleverly constructed, one-sided portrait of a marriage delivers a breathtaking conclusion that is as unexpected as it is deviously brilliant.” - Shelf Awareness

As he emerges gently from his sleep, my husband moves closer to me, but I turn around in time to escape his grasp. That’s the rule. Last night, he went to sleep without wishing me good night, so he doesn’t get any cuddles from me now. It’s out of the question for me to give in.” That's why I never feel guilty for being unfaithful: How could I when I do it out of love for my husband? Plus, I know how to set limits: I've never cheated on my husband on any day other than Thursday." She doesn’t feel the need to spend time with friends, her parents or her CHILDREN-she only needs to spend time with her husband. The book was published in France in 2021, selling nearly 100,000 copies and winning the Prix du Premier Roman Over analyzing everything that HE says and does, she will punish him in both passive aggressive ways when appropriate, and in ways more unforgivable and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was like this when the two married, or if had perhaps been a slow descent into madness over the fifteen years of their union.Over the course of one week, a nameless female Parisian wife and mother psychoanalyzes her 15 year marriage to her husband. Love is her hobby of choice, as she is a desperate romantic. Or is she just neurotic, paranoid, and jealous? At forty years old, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she's never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated. After all, would a truly infatuated man ever let go of his wife's hand when they're sitting on the couch together? Irrémédiablement attirée par cette couverture qui présente une sorte de Bree Van De Kamp, j'ai lu ce roman presque d'un coup (en deux jours en réalité), totalement happée par un récit qui n'a absolument rien d'une "irrésistible drôlerie" comme le dit la quatrième de couverture... Throughout the book, she talks very highly of her husband but her insecurities and unhealthy obsession slowly unravels the farther I progressed through the book. She would never refer to her husband by his name, she only referred to him as “my husband” which treads into the territory of iconizing and objectifying him. After a certain time, I feel that her husband begins to lose the feeling of him being an actual individual and more of an entity of her imagination. The main character is captivated with the idea of being the only person for her husband and detests having to spend time with friends or family because she sees her husband to be enough for her but takes offense when her husband wants to spend time with their mutual friends. This form of obsession even affects her ability to parent, she doesn’t have the motherly instinct many mothers would have towards their children. She states that she would be fine without them and that’s telling of how dependent she is on her husband’s every move. I really enjoyed the themes and flow of the story, it progressed smoothly and I didn’t feel like anything should’ve been added or omitted. Maud Ventura excellently showcased a story where one individual with obsessive and controlling thoughts did things that she shouldn’t have done. The hypocrisy and justification of the character’s actions was wild to say the least but added to the character and story development.

One of the most daring, provocative, unnervingly intimate thrillers I've read in years. Few writers besides Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith can evoke domestic unease with such sangfroid; fewer still can make it such delirious fun' A. J. Finn, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Woman in the Window He must be tested. He must follow her (unspoken) rules or there will be (extreme passive-aggressive) consequences. She’ loves Mondays. People have told her that loving Mondays is a brainiac thing— that only nerds are happy when the weekend is over. Our unnamed Parisian housewife is madly in love with her husband. She even resents the children from taking his attention away from her. She will do anything for him. She orbits him like the earth orbits the sun. She thinks he is the most charismatic and charming man. With vigor and zest she proudly worships the ground he walks on. Yet, she's filled with anxiety that he will leave her someday and that thought is utterly dreadful to her.

The author's choice to present the story from a first-person point of view, without revealing the names of the characters, was a stroke of genius. It allowed me to immerse myself fully in the protagonist's perspective, experiencing her joys, insecurities, and struggles firsthand. This narrative technique added an air of mystery and intrigue, keeping me engaged throughout. As I read more and more of this book it reminded me of those men youtubers/tiktokers that say women should live for men. These are the women they want. Well sans the cheating. I loved that the author is nameless. That it's all about the husband. She only exists for him and his needs.

As relayed by her husband, the adjectives that best describe her are very beautiful, cold, in love, and observant. Fifteen years ago, Jiang Ning was thrown out from one of the country’s wealthiest families, roaming the streets after his mother passed away from an illness. At his lowest point, he met a kind girl, Lin Yuzhen, who gave him a sweet. She told him that as long as he ate this sweet, his life would get sweeter and sweeter. After that, Jiang Ning was taken away by a mysterious person and went through grueling training and fights! Fifteen years later, he had risen to become the ultimate God of War in the East, with incomparable wealth and power. He has returned as a king! But her father’s legs had been crippled in a car accident, and her mother was weak and gentle. Growing up in a family that favored boys over girls and infighting over the family’s assets, the family eventually found a man to marry into her family by force. He was willing to become a son-in-law that married into his wife’s family, only because of that favor he owed the little girl who gave him that sweet.

It's a wild read with some inventive prose and turns of phrases that left my Kindle copy absolutely marked up from all the highlighting I was doing. Especially the sex scenes and the descriptions of sex are absolutely unique and profound, and singular to Maud Ventura and the compelling, tension filled voice she created with My Husband. Rewind a week…and the story begins, told in the first person POV of the WIFE, over the course of one week, one COLORFUL day at a time… Ventura very cleverly explores themes of paranoia, class, and, above all, obsessive love through the couple’s everyday neuroses, building their significance (and their darkness) to keep readers in suspense. The translation by Ramadan adeptly conveys both the setting and the growing tension. Fans of Caroline Kepnes' You (2014) or Gillian Flynn will find My Husband to be a new, satisfying, and unnerving take on the relationship-suspense genre.”— Booklist (starred review)

Irresistible. . . . Thrilling. . . . Ramadan's exacting translation holds the reader in her grip. . . . A bold and memorable first outing.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review) While I tend to be more obsessed with my husband’s exes than my husband himself, this book had me reeling, laughing and re-examining my life choices. I loved every minute.”— Jenny Mollen Biggs, New York Times bestselling author of City of Likes If you obsessively reread (or, let’s be real, rewatched) Gone Girl, then this darkly comic French novel about a woman so deeply besotted with her picture-perfect husband that she goes to some truly crazy lengths to keep him within her clutches is almost sure to resonate with you.”— Vogue

Staff Picks

SHE* . . . is OBSESSED……with love for her husband….[yet is also obsessed with worry if her husband is in love with her]….