How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Not applicable
Advantages:
Amusing, escapist
Disadvantages:
Not funny enough, lacks substance, cliched, unrealistic
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
How To Kill Your Husband… Opens with Cassie, an Australian primary school teacher who's lost her orgasm, visiting her friend Jazz in prison. Jazz (short for Jasmine) is a 'domestic goddess' having given up cooking in restaurants to raise her son and look after her husband, Studz, who is a famous surgeon and who she is accused of murdering. The story as to how things wound up like this is told in one long flashback as Cassie gives Jazz's lawyer an account of what happened.
This is very much Literature Lite, which is obvious from the outset. It is full of supposedly-funny one-liners of the type that you find on fridge magnets: "Where there's a will… I want to be in it" and "The reason I never tell you when I'm having an orgasm is because you're never there". The kind of things you laugh at if read in moderation. Needless to say, this book thinks it's funnier than it actually is. These one-liners provide a large percentage of the humour and are very much over-used. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't heard several of them before.
The plot is like an extended mediocre sitcom - as Cassie, Jazz and their career-woman friend Hannah struggle through their marriages, there are moments of amusement, but nothing much to make you laugh out loud. Jazz is hit for six when she discovers that her husband, Studz, has a packet of Viagra: it's interesting, since they haven't had sex for several months. And the packet's half-empty. So she does what any upper-middle-class London housewife with more money than sense does: she pretends to go on holiday, but instead stays with Cassie and follows him around in a rental car. For several days.
Meanwhile, Cassie is going through domestic hell. She loves her husband, but why on Earth can't he help with the chores? She works full time, but is expected to do the housework and take care of the kids while he plays golf and practices air guitar. His neglect always makes her late, which is disastrous as she is applying for the Assistant Head position at school and her rival's main problem is deciding which au pair to take on holiday. Jazz thinks Cassie should divorce, while Hannah recommends couples' counseling - after all, it's worked with her hubby, Pascal, a man who married her on the condition that they would not have children.
The characters are fun, but often stereotypical and the plot runs away with itself. It's far-fetched and although some of the events do ring true, they are portrayed in an unrealistic and ridiculous way in a vain attempt at humour. I felt like Lette was trying too hard to be funny and sacrificing some elements of her story for that - it could've been more heartfelt and truthful. I suppose others might think this is a funny book, but it most of the jokes fell flat and it lacked the sharp social observation and wit of other comical fiction, such as Bridget Jones's Diary. It may provide you a few laughs on holiday, but I felt like I'd wasted my time reading it. Indeed, I only persevered because I wanted to write this review.
There are some very annoying aspects to this book too. It throws in 'high brow' references which add little (and often nothing) to the descriptions or depictions of thoughts and feelings. The word 'Dickensian' crops up a few times, as do unnecessary references to Shakespeare and it gives the impression of trying to appear intellectual when actually, these references are out-of-place and jar with the otherwise lighthearted style of writing which doesn't pretend to be serious or clever. I also detested the jokes relating to Sylvia Plath's suicide. I don't think it's funny to joke about 'doing a Sylvia Plath' and sticking your head in the oven because your husband's had an affair - even disregarding the fact that Plath had severe depression and her issues went a lot deeper than that. It's in extremely bad taste. There were also some rather graphic references/pseudo-jokes made about genitalia; I'm no prude (indeed, I find a lot of dirty jokes highly amusing), but after the fourth joke concerning labia, I found it wore thin. Again, this was a case of the book believing it was funnier than it actually is.
The ending is completely over the top and unrealistic, but at least it had original elements (especially when we discover the fate of Studz) and provides more laughs than the previous 10 chapters combined. There's also a darker undercurrent, which would have attracted me if it had run deeper. I only started to enjoy it a little once it was beginning to end, which isn't a good thing and even the ending isn't worth persevering for. Some parts are completely clichéd and even the more unique parts can't make up for it. I wasn't expecting much - just an average modern novel with a lot of comedy - but I didn't even get that. There's a quote from Janet Evanovich on the cover: "A hilarious novel". Really? Was she reading a different novel to the one I found encased in this cover? I feel cheated.
Avoid buying this book if you don't have the luxury of being able to waste several hours of your life. I suppose it may appeal to some people; it is harmless escapism, after all. I found that it didn't live up to my (already low) expectations. It could've been a good read if it hadn't sacrificed so much substance for cheap laughs and jokes that fall flat. I wasn't expecting great literature, but I was expecting more laughs than I got. I know sense of humour is a personal thing, but I usually find it easy to laugh and How To Kill Your Husband… didn't do it for me. It's a lot like reading 300 pages of those one-liners you find on cards or fridge magnets: some of them are funny at first, but it gets extremely tiring after a while. Serves me right for choosing a book because I liked the title.
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