The Husbands by Holly Gramazio on April 2, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Magical Realism, Fiction / Multiple Timelines, Fiction / Women
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
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The Husbands is Gramazio’s debut and I thought this was such a great premise. This is one where you have to suspend your disbelief and just go with the story. But having one husband go into the attic and a different one return….now that grabbed my attention.
Lauren came home to her London flat late one night after a bachelorette party to discover she isn’t home alone. Her “husband” Michael greets her, but she’s a little confused because when she left for the party she wasn’t married.
As Lauren tries to figure out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and everything around her changes, from her decor to the contents of her fridge. Lauren sends these guys to the attic as they don’t fulfill her needs and gets new husbands each time.
Lauren is trying to adjust to her new life with each husband and uncover little facts about their life by looking through her phone for pictures and texts that appear with each new husband to see what this life is like. But she also realizes that with each time she sends husbands back, some of her memories of experiences with her friends and family have also been altered.
Lauren begins to question if she can stick to just one husband and be in a life that makes her happy and less lonely. With only a small amount of time to spend with each husband, does she really know them? Why is she married to them in this reality? What happens to these guys when they return to the attic? (this question was my favorite discovery)
This was such a funny take on a groundhog day! The premise was great. The continual husband switching did get to be a little much, but then, that was the point. I think this was a clever take on the current dating atmosphere where you can click on an app and find someone quickly, but how much do you really know about them?!?! You aren’t always going to find someone that doesn’t have one quirk that doesn’t annoy you and vice versa. Does the “perfect” man exist or is there a perfect for you man? Such a funny and clever perspective on dating and marriage. I was always rooting for Lauren and even for some of the husbands.