An immensely talented writer whose work has been described as “incandescent” (Kirkus) and “poetic” (Booklist), Thomas Christopher Greene pens a haunting and deeply affecting portrait of one couple at their best and worst.
Inspired by a personal loss, Greene explores the way that tragedy and time assail one man’s memories of his life and loves. Like his father before him, Arthur Winthrop is the Headmaster of Vermont’s elite Lancaster School. It is the place he feels has given him his life, but is also the site of his undoing as events spiral out of his control. Found wandering naked in Central Park, he begins to tell his story to the police, but his memories collide into one another, and the true nature of things, a narrative of love, of marriage, of family and of a tragedy Arthur does not know how to address emerges. Luminous and atmospheric, bringing to life the tight-knit enclave of a quintessential New England boarding school, the novel is part mystery, part love story and an exploration of the ties of place and family. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, The Headmaster’s Wife stands as a moving elegy to the power of love as an antidote to grief.
"A truly remarkable novel, I read the second half of The Headmaster’s Wife with my mouth open, my jaw having dropped at the end of the first half. Thomas Christopher Greene knows how to hook a reader and land him." --Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls
"An accomplished and artful storyteller, Greene has surprises in store as he unspools a plot that becomes as poignant as it is unpredictable." --Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed
"Greene’s genre-bending novel of madness and despair evokes both the predatory lasciviousness of Nabokov’s classic, Lolita, and the anxious ambiguity of Gillian Flynn’s contemporary thriller, Gone Girl (2012)." --Booklist
Goodreads Summary
Those of you who have dealt with grief or are currently dealing with a tough situation in life will definitely find a deep connection to this story. Greene tells a three part story here from two different points of view. The first part is called Acrimony and it is told from the point of view of the headmaster, and the second two parts Expectations and After are told from a different point of view. The first part leaves you thinking a lot and the second and third parts help you make sense and figure out the events that unfolded. Overall the story is very well written and explores the aspects of the good and bad points of the relationships we encounter in life.
The aspect of this book that really makes it shine is its mastery of weaving the multiple points of view into a great story. You are left thinking a certain way for a good part of the first half of the book and then you are hit with a curve ball that leaves you baffled. This book really gets you thinking in all the right ways and is truly hard to put down once you start. The character Arthur and the circumstances that lead to the person that he became are sad but so interesting at the same time. You want to get to the bottom of the purpose behind his actions because of how messed up his head seems initially. "The Headmaster's Wife," is definitely an intruiguing and artistic story that is worth checking out.
4 Stars
*Reviewed by Chris*
GIVEAWAY:
a Rafflecopter giveaway This product or book may have been distributed for review, this in no way affects my opinions or reviews. COPYRIGHT © 2014 LIVE TO READ
Posts
I like how the story line is not a cookie cutter one.