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    Sweet Ruin
    Sweet Ruin
    Sweet Ruin
    Audiobook11 hours

    Sweet Ruin

    Written by Cathi Hanauer

    Narrated by Ellen Archer

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Since editing the New York Times bestseller The Bitch in the House, Cathi Hanauer has become the unofficial spokeswoman for the contemporary married woman. Now, in Sweet Ruin, she gives us a story of marital crisis and sexual tension featuring a character close to her heart-and recognizable to us all.

    Thirty-seven-year-old Elayna Leopold used to be a New York magazine editor, until she and her young family moved to suburban New Jersey. Two years ago, the death of an infant son sent her into a deep depression-a darkness that begins to lift in the company of a handsome, unattached neighbor. As she fights yearnings that could destroy everything that gives her life shape, a threat to her young daughter's welfare emerges from an unlikely source, throwing Elayna's questionable morality into stark relief-and forcing her to make choices she never dreamed she would have to make.

    Smart and gripping, Elayna's story raises heartrendering questions about the challenges of ordinary life-marriage, career, independence, and sexuality-that have no easy answers. Sweet Ruin is a triumph of contemporary fiction from a writer known for her candor and wisdom.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 30, 2006
    ISBN9781400172429
    Sweet Ruin
    Author

    Cathi Hanauer

    Cathi Hanauer is the author of three novels—My Sister’s Bones, Sweet Ruin, and Gone—and is the editor of the New York Times bestselling essay collection The Bitch in the House. A former columnist for Glamour, Mademoiselle, and Seventeen, she has written for The New York Times, Elle, Self, Real Simple, and other magazines. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband, New York Times “Modern Love” editor Daniel Jones, and their daughter and son.

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    Reviews for Sweet Ruin

    3/5

    40 ratings3 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I didn't like this book but finished it just to see what would happen. I felt little sympathy for the wife, I wanted to smack the husband, the grandfather made ME feel dirty and I felt like the six year old manner of speaking was more like a 12 year old. And the 20-something neighbor I kept picturing as Kevin Connolly on Entourage don't ask me why. I was glad when it was over.
    • 2/5
      I really enjoyed this book until close to the end. I feared that it was going to turn into a morality tale, and was right. This mid-30's mother is in a slump for many reasons and the "boy" across the street's attention starts to bring her back to life. She resists because she is "happily" married and adores her daughter. When she finally does give in, something happens to her daughter that wouldn't have if she had been where she felt she "should" have been, but was too preoccupied with cutie pie across the street. Now she has to try to repair the damage she has done.Don't get me wrong. I don't applaud adultery. I don't think that anyone walks around thinking that adultery is a good life decision. However, life happens and it can get messy. Things aren't always black and white. I don't think that someone or their child should necessarily be punished for making a choice. That being said, the ending of the book just bothered me. Blech.
    • 1/5
      I didn't like this book but finished it just to see what would happen. I felt little sympathy for the wife, I wanted to smack the husband, the grandfather made ME feel dirty and I felt like the six year old manner of speaking was more like a 12 year old. And the 20-something neighbor I kept picturing as Kevin Connolly on Entourage don't ask me why. I was glad when it was over.