Retirement is the real test for a marriage

Synopsis

When retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…

Meena Fisher is a middle-aged medical secretary with a husband, two grandchildren, a house to run, and more hobbies than you can shake a stick at. She is perfectly happy with her life just the way it is.

Her husband, Oscar, is a middle-aged workaholic who spends his days either in the office or on the golf course. With his wife looking after both him and the house, he gets on with the business of making money. He is also perfectly happy with his life just the way it is.

They share a house, and they sometimes eat dinner together if they can both manage to be in the same place at the same time. Aside from that, their paths rarely cross. The arrangement suits them both.

But when Oscar is forced to take early retirement and decides it’s only fair that he takes over the running of the house, both their previously happy lives are turned upside down.

The question is, can they find a way to live together with the new status quo? And, more importantly, do they want to?

My review

Meena Fisher could have an easy life. Now that she could take it easy, and look forward to her retirement, she is doing the total opposite. Not only is she a medical secretary, she makes also sure that you could eat from the floor in the house, and each evening has been booked for one of her many hobbies.
On the other hand, we have her husband Oscar, workaholic and golf – lover. With a wife like Meena, looking after everything, life couldn’t be easier for him. That is, until Oscar is forced to take early retirement. It’s only fair that Oscar now steps in the domestic chores.
But with Meena’s high standards and realizing that their lives were not that in sync with each other, will a compromise be found, and more importantly, are they both ready to lower their swords? 

Liz Davies always manages to write compelling stories that are a some far – off thing in my own future.
But she writes about characters that I can sympathize with, and understand the way they are acting. 

I have to admit, Meena was not always as easy to like. Of course, we know from the start where she is coming from, and how her past has made her into the woman she is now.
So I understood why she acted the way she did, but sometimes it was also utterly frustrating…
Nobody can keep her high standards, but even when things aren’t done the way she likes, I found that sometimes she should appreciate the efforts Oscar was making.

Okay, it’s true that Oscar very often was blind and did not see that he was causing more damage than doing good, but it’s also true that a helping hand, and patience could work miracles.

And I found it very confusing how Meena would expect Oscar to do everything now, while she would just continue her life just like before, not taking in account that in a marriage there are two people, and marriage is still a teamwork, with equal shares in it. 

But that is also the beauty of this book. Because whenever there is a marriage not working, it’s not just one party doing wrongly…
Meena is too focused on the cleanness, but Oscar too is not taking his wife’s feelings in account, and sees his tasks more as a side – activity than his main focus. Instead of making things easier for Meena, he often is making things terribly worse… 

I have to be honest, this may not be my favourite book of this author, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy reading it.
Often in a book, marriage and relationships are overly romanticized, that once at a certain age, everything is just working perfectly.
But Liz Davies manages to show us that no matter your age or how long you are together with your partner, you have to keep working on the partnership, keep communicating and not take things just for granted.

And this book grasps perfectly all the booby-traps in a marriage, but also shows that with patience and communication great things can be accomplished.

And even the most unexpected guest at a house, like sweet, heart – warming Lulu, can be the cherry on top of a cake!