Friday, December 10, 2010

The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright


I consider myself to be a fast reader - that is, I can speed through most books at a decent pace while still comprehending what it is that I am reading. Rarely, if ever, have I made it through a book as quickly as I did The Wednesday Letters, which, at the very least, was a mercifully quick read. The speed at which I was able to read, however is indicative of the overall depth of both the story and characters.

The premise of this book is sweet and promising - a husband and wife pass away together, drawing their three grown children back home. As the children deal with the loss of their parents, they discover boxes and boxes of letters that their father wrote to their mother every - wait for it - Wednesday - during their life together. Together, the kids discover a family secret that none of them could have guessed. Amazingly, the plot surrounding the devastating revelations and sub-plots are all neatly wrapped up on one whirlwind weekend of mourning.

I do not want to include any spoilers in case anyone would like to give this book a try - to be fair, it did receive a positive review from Publishers Weekly, and lots of people on Amazon reviewed it glowingly as well. From my perspective, this book was offensive to women, overly didactic, and completely lacking in any sort of character development or logical plot evolution. I would be interested in hearing other reader's takes on this particular title, however, and am REALLY looking forward to our book club discussion on it!

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