BOOK OF THE WEEK
Autopsy of a Boring Wife by Marie-Renée Lavoie
Reviewed by Elizabeth Tham, Port Moody Public Library
Diane is two years shy of 50 and on the cusp of her 25th wedding anniversary when her husband, Jacques, declares he is leaving for a younger woman. She is blindsided.
Her life as she knows it in a tailspin, a distraught Diane decides to sign up for her very first Facebook account. After sending friend requests to everyone she can think of, she then announces the end of her marriage in her first and only status update: “I flung the news out like a bloody carcass to a pack of hungry dogs.”
To help her move on, colleague and best friend Claudine suggests Diane foster her crush on J.P., “The Tom Brady of Accounting” (J.P. is married, by the way). In the meantime, Diane has taken a sledgehammer to her couch and thrown the cushions out on the lawn, much to the chagrin of her neighbours. Oh, and Jacques’ new girlfriend wants to meet Diane for a chat. What could possibly go wrong?
Described as a Québécois Bridget Jones’s Diary, Marie-Renee Lavoie’s Autopsy of a Boring Wife is absurd yet relatable and invites us to see the humour in life’s not-so-funny moments.
