A Reliable Wife

Sounds interesting....I just found it while searching wishlist books for something new to read.  I think I'm going to just buy it because there's 300 on the WL.

OMG, Monica! That does sound good! I'm afraid my finances require me to become one of the 300+ in the WL queue. *sigh*

TY for the heads-up!

Colleen

Thanks, this sounds good.  It goes on my list.

Jane

There's a large print edition that gets relased on the 26th - no WL: A Reliable Wife (Large Print Press)

ooh that does sound good!

Very interesting! I think I'll be buying that one, too.

Oh I read a review of this book a few months ago. I remember sitting in Panera Bread eating lunch and reading about this book in the Book Page which is a little newspaper by library always has.

I read somewhere that it was inspired by Wisconsin Death Trip, but I'm not sure if it's the book or the film being referred to.  I haven't seen the book (published in 1973) , but the film is sort of a quirky/weird "historical documentary" with a lot of morbid trivia about the town of Black River Falls, WI in the late 1890's - which is sort of how I indirectly heard about this book (in a review of that film).  Apparently the events recounted in the book & film were culled from newspaper stories from all over Wisconsin & not just Black River Falls though.  If you have Netflix, it's available in streaming video.  I can't recommend it.  It's long & boring; a series of "reinactment" style blips overlain with monotone narration - I think it's Ian Holm, reading the newspaper stories.  Anyhoo, this book seems really interesting.  I read the online excerpt, and I was thinking I'd buy it as soon as the softcover version is available at Borders - I think that's this Tuesday.

OMG Kim!  Thank you!  I'm number 8 for the next release!!

I've never heard of it, but can totally agree about being stuck in the prison of snowfall all winter. I don't need to read the descriptions of Wisconsin winters, unfortunately i experience them first hand. It's definitely like living in a dungeon for months!

That's basically the theme of Wisconsin Death Trip.  Newspaper accounts of diphtheria epidemics, deaths, murders & suicides, the populace generally going insane during the winter months and doing all kinds of crazy things during the last decade of the 1800's.  And all of it supposedly happening in & around Black River Falls, WI.  Which is a gross exaggeration apparently, in both the film & the Michael Lesy book it's based on.  Think about how rough and isolated the winter months are in northern rural areas, and then factor in living through the winters without electricity & modern convenience.  I'd probably go crazy too:P

Uh-oh... I've been reading more about this book; reviews, etc. and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth buying new.  It's looking like it borrows heavily from several other works that most of us are probably familiar with.  There's the Jane Eyre & Rebecca tie-in, and one thing I did notice when I read the first chapter on Google yesterday - it reminded me of the Antonio Banderas/Angelina Jolie film Original Sin, which is based on Cornell Woolrich's novel Waltz into Darkness.  There's apparently even a secondary character like the bad guy in Original Sin, and his name is...  wait for it... Antonio:P  I read some of the one & two star reviews at Amazon, & pretty much all of them mention these tie-ins, stopping short of outright calling the book plagiarism, but it's definitely implied.  The impression I got, like maybe Goolrick had ideas for something derivative of Original Sin, thought a Wisconsin Death Trip style setting might be intriguing, and then tossed some Rebecca & Jane Eyre into the mix:P  I hope that's wrong, because I did get sucked into the story in the first chapter & really want to read it.  Plus, for all that I thought Original Sin was a trainwreck of a movie, it was certainly torrid & very engrossing.  It definitely has all the makings of a great bodice ripper.

Kim, I read four chapters of this book online (just couldn't stop). and it sure sucked me in. Luckily my library has it, so if it bombs later, no biggie.  Plus I never saw Original Sin or read Waltz Into Darkness  so I'm clueless there. Anyway it sounds interesting enough to check out.

It does sound intriguing, but when almost 1/4 of 195 reviews are 1 star, I am wary.

It was staring me in the face at the register of Borders today.  Plus, it was 20% off.  Still....I couldn't do it because of all the bad reviews.  I'd rather wait on my WL or find it in the library maybe by summer time.