Heart of the Matter is a well-written book about the lives of two different women, Tessa and Valerie. Initially I was perplexed on how they are connected, but as the story moves along, I finally found the answer.
Tessa husband was engaged in an affair with Valerie.
As normal people would do, which is to frown upon the wicked, tempting mistress, I felt differently towards her. Perhaps because the novel moves forward by going back and forth from the lives of Tessa and Valerie, I got to know the reason behind whatever happened, which in Valerie's life isn't all rainbows and butterflies.
Valerie is a single mother who solely takes care of her kindergarten-levelled son, Charlie, with the help of her brother, Jason. She had Charlie when she was very young, and Charlie's father may not even know he existed, being the carefree, ignorant artist that he was.
while
Tessa is a typical housewife you can picture being included in Good Christian Bitches or Suburgatory. But Tessa, she may be a tad nicer than those women. Quitting his job to concentrate on her two children, she constantly struggle with matters like school snacks, household chores, and of course, the children.
So as the story goes back and forth between Tessa and Valerie, I can't help being a bit biased towards Tessa. I don't know why I felt some sort of pity with Valerie. Perhaps it's because Charlie never had a father, and Tessa's husband was playing the role perfectly that I wanted things to stay that way.
Too bad it didn't.
So in summary, it's a very engaging story, and being only my second book of Emily Giffin, i can say i kinda fell for her simple portrayal of complicated adults' matter.
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