A woman discovers her marriage is built on an illusion in this harrowing and ultimately inspiring memoir.“Be forewarned: You won’t sleep until you finish the last page.”—Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful WorldOne night. One email. Two realities…Before: Jen Waite has met the partner of her dreams. A handsome, loving man who becomes part of her family, evolving into her husband, her … becomes part of her family, evolving into her husband, her best friend, and the father of her infant daughter.
After: A disturbing email sparks suspicion, leading to an investigation of who this man really is and what was really happening in their marriage.
In alternating Before and After chapters, Waite obsessively analyzes her relationship, trying to find a single moment form the past five years that isn’t part of the long con of lies and manipulation. Instead, she finds more lies, infidelity, and betrayal than she could have imagined. With the pacing and twists of a psychological thriller, A Beautiful, Terrible Thing looks at how a fairy tale can become a nightmare and what happens when “it could never happen to me” actually does.
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Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. It was like a tragedy you see, but you just can’t look away. At first I was concerned about the alternating chapters going back and forth through time; afraid while I was reading that I would get confused as to whether I was in the past or the present, but that did not happen. It was so compelling, I totally forgot this was not fiction!
Well written and the authors surprise at her discoveries comes through as honest surprise. I suppose I’ve just encountered so many sociopaths in my careers (an RN and then an SVU Prosecutor) that I’m the person you don’t want reading the book. I find it hard to understand how people don’t realize they’re dealing with a sociopath within a very swift amount of interaction with them. I’m also not the type of woman who is at all swayed by flattery or intense attention from a guy. That type of behavior sends me running immediately…because it’s abnormal.
I do think the book will be helpful for any other women who haven’t experienced the sociopathic personality so the author has done a brave and good thing in writing her most devastating experiences/realizations in this relationship.
This book was not what I expected – and not in a good way. Based on the blurb, we’re led to believe A Beautiful, Terrible Thing will be something shocking, out of the ordinary, unbelievable. But what we get is…none of those things. Yes, Waite’s husband is a liar, a cheater, a seemingly remorseless jerk who’s constantly trading in his girl for a younger model…but, guess what? So are a lot of other people. As sad and hurtful as those behaviors are, they are not that extraordinary. And while I get that this experience was traumatic and painful for Waite, I’m not sure it warrants publishing a memoir.
Much of the book reads like diary entries of Waite chronicling the rise and fall of her relationship – and as you’d expect from a “dear diary” entry, it’s flowery and not particularly well-written and ultimately a bit adolescent (the incessant use of “babe” and “baby” as a term of endearment (?) and the actual printing of the phrase “bro-code” in a serious usage as two glaring examples).
Then we follow her down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out WHY WHY WHY everything happened, and are treated to scenes of her researching sociopathy on internet message boards and Wikipedia (these sources aren’t reliable enough to be used for a school paper, let alone an actual published book!). But wait! Lest we think the entire premise of this book was based on Waite amateurly-diagnosing her husband with an actual personality disorder thanks to the internet, she magically finds validation in a real, live therapist. I find it INCREDIBLY hard to believe that a therapist would provide even a guess at a diagnosis for someone they’ve never even spoken to, and that said therapist would use that as the focus for Waite’s visits.
In a nutshell, unless you like rubbernecking at car accidents or find fascination in other people’s suffering, skip this one. There’s no big reveal, no revelation, nothing even really educational in this memoir except for the reminder that rose-colored glasses are never the best lenses through which to view your world.
This book was amazing. This book was written as a memoir but does not read anything at all like that…. it’s a psychological thriller/literary fiction that I kept having to remind myself was real. This was powerful and I feel like this book can really help a lot of women. So well done! Thank you to First to Read for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Jen met the love of her life — or so she thought — when they were both trainees at a restaurant. She, as a waitress and he, as a bartender. Marco was exotic, handsome, sexy, charismatic, and charming. She was intoxicated, swept off her feet. He charmed everyone. Everyone loved him. That’s how psychopaths are. Until they are found out. Or they are no longer getting what they need. Then they move on to their next target with no regrets or remorse, leaving destruction in their wake.
This book, narrated by Jen, is a memoir of her relationship with Marco. It is divided into chapters alternating between “Before” and “After.” Before and after the dreaded email that exposed Marco and destroyed Jen.
It was a just ok read — wordy, slow, and not nearly as compelling as anticipated. No doubt, Marco was far from an ideal husband and father, but labelling him as a psychopath was not justified. And the author uses “sociopath” and “psychopath” without distinction, claiming she read that they can be used interchangeably. Although similar in that they are both anti-social personality disorders, they are not identical.
This book should be a must-read for young women before they start dating with intent to marry…. one cannot judge a book by its cover, that goes for men too!
I can’t recommend this book. I didn’t enjoy it although I pressed on and finished it.
Normally I don’t care for the back and forth in time stories but this captured my interest immediately. Such a struggle for a new mom. Can’t help but feel some hope for them to work things out but trust is a hard one to win back, if ever. Not finished yet so don’t know what the future holds.
I honestly didn’t like either person in this relationship.
This book was readable but the main character was pretty stupid. It was kind of a waste of time.
Did not find very interesting.
Enjoyed this book. Very well written.
it was okay. not great
A painful but ultimately uplifting look into the life of a woman whose husband betrayed her at every turn.
This book was only OK. I suppose it was realistic in that personal relationships usually are either pretty good or really bad. You kinda know what’s going to happen.
I found this book especially fascinating since i have known women who have fallen for these alluring men. It’s heartbreaking because they are in “love” and will not listen to logic, hear what many others notice or don’t want to known to be told what to do. It is also easy to see how easy it is to fall into the trap set by these manipulators. I wanted to read about one of these women and really needed to learn about how she got out of the snare. I still am unsure if this is a learned skill or if sociopaths or born that way. It is a truly scary thought that there are people out there that live this type of lifestyle. I could not put this book down and have a better idea of how to react to these situations.
This book is very amateurishly written by a woman who has a big axe to grind. Hard to believe because according to her she was married to the worst man in the world
Boring boring boring!
Not worth the time.
Very repetitive and self-absorbed aithor