Book Review: The Husbands | Holly Gramazio
Lauren is in her early thirties, single, and living in flat in south London when she arrives home drunk after a hen party and discovers a man named Michael who she’s never seen before in her apartment. Lauren doesn’t know what to think—who is this man? And how did he get into her flat? Lauren ponders whether she’s drunk and single enough to hallucinate a man. But when she pulls out her phone to call the police, she notices that her lock screen on her phone has a picture of her and Michael together on a beach. She goes inside and sees her bathroom has two toothbrushes instead of one…
I know what you’re thinking… is this the beginning of a psychological thriller or some sort of domestic suspense novel that is relying on the well-worn trope of amnesia with a dash of gaslighting? Put that thought aside, because Holly Gramazio’s debut novel The Husbands is about to be on every must-read list for 2024, and it won’t be in the thriller category! This novel is refreshing and funny like a great contemporary fiction, while being thought-provoking and layered like literary fiction. You won’t be able to read this book without laughing and you’ll be thinking about it long after finishing.
What’s it really about
After Lauren gets through her shock at finding a strange husband in her flat, she’s in for more surprises. Michael goes up the attic ladder to change the lightbulb, and when he emerges back down from the attic, he’s a completely different man—a completely different husband. This husband is even more handsome than the first, but Lauren doesn’t understand who he is. She sends the handsome husband back up to the attic to look for Michael, and when he comes back down it is a third man and a totally different husband.
This continues to happen each time a husband goes up into the attic. When they return, another husband is in their place. The husbands range in looks, personality, and behavior. As the cycle continues, she experiences dozens of husbands—there’s the one who jiggles his member and makes magic fingers, the one who is an actor and likes swinging with the neighbors downstairs, the one who married her for citizenship in the UK, the one who is inexplicably one of her ex-boyfriends, and the one who is only interested in watching Mindhunter. And then there are ones who are quite nice but chew with their mouth open or some other minor offense, so she sends them back to the attic to exchange them.
Each time a new husband emerges from the attic, other things change in her life and her flat—Lauren realizes she is constantly being launched into a different parallel version of her life. Lauren arrives as a stranger in her own life, and each time she goes through steps to try and understand who her husband is and what has changed in her life. Watching Lauren navigate each new husband and life is full of funny moments. For instance, the time she walks through a mansion she’s living in with her finance husband and hates the décor (“Someone in this house has terrible taste, and she’s beginning to suspect it might be her”). Any time she finds something she doesn’t like about her life or a husband, she can trade it all in for a new one. This scenario makes Lauren’s life seem full of endless possibilities.
Why you’ll like the book
Watching Lauren try to find the husband and life that suits her is at first amusing, then quite fun, but eventually the reader (and Lauren) are looking for something more. At one point Lauren humorously realizes that with her friend’s wedding approaching, she needs to lock down a date.
“What she needs is not a husband for better or worse but rather a husband for next Saturday.”
This is when she gets a husband named Carter who she decides checks all of the boxes for a good wedding date. At one point, Lauren realizes she actually likes and can envision her life with Carter. This crashes quickly when he goes up to the attic before she can stop him, and then he is gone forever. Gramazio’s humorous portrayal of Lauren’s Groundhog’s Day of marriages has a deeper message, though. Lauren is able to switch up husband’s and lives at the smallest sticking point, but she never really gives many of the relationships a chance to see why a version of her chose to marry this husband. She loses the confidence in her relationships to navigate the ups and downs of life because she never goes through a period of building a foundation with them. She also realizes that though she can change her life whenever she wants, many of her memories (bad or good) are hers alone—her loved ones don’t remember them because they occurred in an alternate version of her life.
It’s hard for the reader to not see the satirical and glaring comparison to the current app-dating generation where singles are faced with a constant menu of dating options available on their phones. It’s hard to settle knowing a better option could be out there, and equally it’s hard to get to know anyone when everyone is constantly distracted by the possibility of other options. The access to endless romantic partners soon shows itself to be more of a curse than a blessing. In each version of Lauren’s life she has something that she doesn’t like. But there is no guarantee that trading it in will bring something better. And what’s more, she may never know what she has missed out on. Furthermore, she is left with memories that are hers alone with no one to share them with. She spends her life surrounded by loved ones yet she’s lonely.
The Husbands is funny, lively, and unique—it’s a story about learning to live with and appreciate the blessing it is to have the ups and downs of life with people you care about. There is a lesson to be learned from the journey that Lauren takes throughout the story and where she ends up. No one is perfect. Relationships are hard work. But if you trust in yourself and put in the work, you can find happiness each day.
What about that ending?
It’s early days since the book doesn’t publish until tomorrow, but I suspect that the ending may be polarizing. For some, the ending may be a let down after such a fun book. For others, it may seem like a perfect ending. And for others, it may surprise them, but after thinking about it they’ll come around to why it was the right way to end the story. I fell into the latter camp. I admit to thinking about this book for quite some time after finishing and it took me about two days to decide what my thoughts on the ending were. I won’t spoil what happens here, but I will say that the ending definitely wasn’t one of the ways I predicted the story to end. I’m so curious to hear others chime in about their thoughts on the ending! It’s a conversation starter, if nothing else.
Are you looking to find out what happens at the end of The Husbands? Click here for full spoilers
Audiobook Review
The audiobook for The Husbands is narrated by Miranda Raison and she brought Holly Gramazio’s book to life! She nails the British banter tone of Lauren’s character, as well as the accents of the various Husbands. If you’re an audiobook listener, you’ll want to grab a copy of this to listen to.
Thank you to Doubleday and Penguin Random House for my copy. Opinions are my own.
About the Author | Holly Gramazio
Holly Gramazio is a writer, curator and game designer, and her debut novel The Husbands publishes in early April. It’s a comedy about a woman whose attic starts creating an infinite supply of husbands. Check out Holly’s site and don’t forget to stop by her Husband Generator, which is such a fun game to play after reading this book!
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Sue
I just finished the book and I’m still processing it. It’s deeper than she ever goes with some of her relationships. Clever and shallow with depth, Lauren faces an existential crisis that asks us to think about the meaning of life, who sends these men to her, why has she suddenly started receiving these men? Is the attic a metaphor for heaven?
Anonymous
LOVED the book – best audiobook I’ve ‘read’. Miranda Raisin is absolutely brilliant and captures the accents, nuances and British humour at its best. Highly recommend.
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