(AUDIO) BOOKS
A Critical Eye For Perceived Perfection
Book review: The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
I have always been a gullible person, believing what my eyes see or what my ears hear. Because I had made a fool of myself so many times because of that, I became more critical. I asked questions, wanted to know more, wanted to understand the mechanics behind things before just believing it to be true.
However, that was a slow process. It depended on who told me something. If it was someone I knew, I believed them without question, while I would question the words of a stranger. That’s gradually changing too. It’s not that I distrust people per se, but I now prefer to check all the facts before I just jump into (believing) something.
This feels like a healthier way to go about things, than having people take me for a ride or getting entangled in something that’s not good for me.
So what does all of this have to do with The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond? Read on…
About the author, Michelle Richmond
Growing up in Alabama as the middle of three sisters, Michelle Richmond studied at the University of Alabama where she got her BA degree in journalism and creative writing, and she has her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Miami. She taught at several universities and colleges, and besides being a publisher, she founded Fiction Attic Press and San Francisco Journal of Books.
Michelle has lived in Northern California since 1999, after being in the South for a while, and living in New York City for a couple of years. She had also lived in Beijing for a short while.
As a kid, Richmond wrote short pieces which she and her sisters performed for their parents. She had known she wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember.
Her book, The Year of Fog, was life-changing as she connected with her readers and it gave her the freedom to make writing her full-time job, a dream come true.
Her books are The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress (2001), Dream of the Blue Room (2003), The Year of Fog (2007), No One You Know (2008), Hum (2010), Golden State (2014), The Marriage Pact (2017), and The Wonder Test (2021).
You can read more about Michelle Richmond on her website.
Wanting to belong
Alice, once a singer in a band, is a successful lawyer, and Jake is a partner in a psychology practice. They are the perfect couple, and when they get married, receive a curious wedding gift from a prominent client of Alice.
As human beings, we all want to belong, especially when we feel they have selected us to be part of an exclusive and mysterious group. When Alice and Jake hear what The Pact is about, they wanted to go for it.
The Pact had one goal: to keep marriages happy and intact.
To reach that goal, they have rules that all make sense: answer the phone when your spouse calls, frequently exchange gifts, plan surprises for each other, and take trips together to keep your bond strong. Also… never mention The Pact to anyone.
Alice and Jake enjoy being part of this group until one of them breaks the rules. That’s when they discover The Pact will go to any length to enforce the rule that marriage is for life. This is the point where their marriage becomes their worst nightmare.
From making sense to bizarre
While listening to this book, I thought about my own ‘gullibleness’. There was a time in my life where I would’ve jumped at the chance to be part of The Pact, no questions asked. My current self would never have taken the step, would’ve asked all the critical questions and then steered way clear of it.
Getting married, we all want it to last forever. Otherwise, why get married in the first place? Even better when you belong to a group of like-minded people, right?
The book starts out making perfect sense, but the first question marks pop up when Alice and Jake have to say ‘yes’ to The Pact before they even knew what it’s about. Then the story turns bizarre…
Leave it to Alice and Jake to find out more and teach us about The Pact.
Happy reading!
