THE CONVENTION OF WIVES

A debut novel about family dynamics and the complexities of longtime relationships.

Green’s work—set in the 1970s, ’80s, and 2000s, and in many cities and countries all over the world—chronicles the complicated friendship of Americans Dina Aharoni Wasserman and Julia Cawley Kinsella, two women who’ve devoted the better part of their adult lives to raising their children and accommodating their husbands’ demanding medical careers. But as Dina notes to Julia early on, they lack ways to vent their frustrations: “God forbid I complain. I’m a ‘doctor’s wife’, what else could I possibly want?” Although the pair come from very different backgrounds—Dina’s ancestry is Sephardic Jewish, and Julia’s is Irish Catholic—they are similar in one key way: They both want to feel a sense of purpose and passion beyond their domestic roles: Dina has “wanted to write stories for as long as she could remember,” while Julia longs for “sexual energy or interest” from a man other than her husband. As the novel progresses, Green shifts between the two narratives, devoting chapters to other members of Dina’s or Julia’s extended families, which gives the story greater scope. Readers learn, for example, about the men and women who became the grandparents and parents of Dina, Julia, and their husbands, and about the children of both couples. As these interconnected narratives unfold, readers begin to understand that there’s been a falling out between Dina and Julia—one that leads to serious consequences. Clues are effectively revealed through revelations regarding family relationships and genetics, which results in a rather complicated narrative. Green is a strong writer, especially when it comes to descriptions of marital tension; at one point, for instance, she notes that Dina’s husband’s “tardiness was just another minor skirmish in the war of their marriage, a war they both needed to win.” However, the overabundance of voices causes the narrative to feel excessively detailed, which pulls the focus away from one of the novel’s most salient themes: the connection that Dina and Julia form over their resentment of the limits on their lives.

A novel with realistic portrayals of marriage and friendship, weighed down by unnecessary characterization.