Wellness
Ratings52
Average rating4.1
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • The New York Times best-selling author of The Nix is back with a poignant and witty novel about a modern marriage and the bonds that keep people together. Mining the absurdities of contemporary society, Wellness reimagines the love story with a healthy dose of insight, irony, and heart. "A stunning novel about the stories that we tell about our lives and our loves, and how we sustain relationships throughout time—it's beyond remarkable, both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page.” —NPR When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the gritty '90s Chicago art scene, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in the thriving underground scene with an appreciative kindred spirit. Fast-forward twenty years to suburban married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter the often-baffling pursuits of health and happiness from polyamorous would-be suitors to home-renovation hysteria. For the first time, Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize each other, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process, Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
Jack and Elizabeth meet and fall in love and marry and have a child and buy a home...and everything falls apart. Jack and Elizabeth explore their marriage and think about their childhoods and contemplate what they have learned from science and life.
I finished this book feeling satisfied. The relationships the author described, the characters he created, the situations he shared—all felt genuine, full of conflicts and resolve and all rooted in patterns from the past.
The book is quite ambitious and covers a lot of themes that I found incredibly interesting, ranging from psychology, pseudoscientific health treatments, conspiracy theorists, media literacy, social media algorithms, love, open marriages, parenthood, and more. However, there were times when I got lost in tangents that were too far off from the plot or lingered for too long. Despite that, the book ultimately came together wonderfully. Both Jack and Elizabeth's journeys in questioning their histories, identities, and their place in the relationship broke my heart more than a few times. Jack is a romantic artist with a tendency for people-pleasing, while Elizabeth is a scientist who struggles to accept love and success. I found the tone of the book to be overall cynical, yet hopeful.
I would have given this book five stars if it were shorter and if it didn't commit one of my least favorite book offenses: chapters with no names or numbers. But all in all, I still recommend it. If you find any of the themes mentioned intriguing, then you will most likely enjoy this book. It's lengthy, but it's worth the read.
