I guess this is one way to try a spouse on for size. Certainly was an entertaining one.
I’ve been happily married for nearly 33 years, so it’s been a very long while since I was mixing with the dating scene. Holly Gramazio’s debut effort, “The Husbands” was a fantasy ticket of sorts to consider the “What ifs” around relationships when you are seemingly able to skip to the end and commit without getting to know the ins and outs and curveballs of a partner.
London singleton Lauren Strickland comes home one autumn evening from a night out celebrating her friend Elena’s impending nuptials only to discover a stranger — her husband — in her flat. Of course, Michael, the first of many, many husbands does not know he is a stranger. No one does.
Lauren is on this journey by herself, having discovered that every time her strange visitor aka husband goes up into the attic a new one re-emerges. Once the panic subsides, Lauren is able to take advantage of her attic’s version of a really wacky party trick and try on any number of men, and as a result, her altered realities, as a potential life partner and lifestyle.
Without giving up too much of the plot, I’ll say this — even if you could skip past some of the messiness that comes along with meeting someone new, getting on, becoming comfortable, adapting to another being — it doesn’t make relationships any less fraught with emotion, heartache, and/or danger. And at the end of the day, the only thing you ever had control of is the same thing you always did: yourself.
How much of another person’s idiosyncrasies will you put up with for love? How much of yourself are you willing to change for another? Are you willing to settle? Should you settle? What are you willing to give and what are you wiling to receive? All questions that while posed in a fictional setting are entirely applicable in real life.
I didn’t really date for very long to say I don’t miss those days, but I think I dodged a bullet or ten having found “the one” fairly quickly. I love the idea of a magic attic, though. Maybe a magic cubicle so I could have tried on a bunch of different professions. Maybe I *would* have been a fantastic dolphin trainer or panda keeper.
The power of the daydream …
Should you read this? Only if you like entertaining storytelling without a long time commitment involved. At Just under 340 pages I was able to read this in about a week. Also a perfect read for book club discussion. Everyone is going to have an opinion.
LitzyDitz 
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