Review: "The Wives" by Tarryn Fisher

This novel starts out by introducing the reader to the main character, Thursday. Her husband, Seth, has two other wives that live in a different city. Because of the days he visits them, they are Monday and Tuesday. Seth was married to Monday until she agreed to let him find another wife who could give him a child. This is where Thursday comes in. Tuesday becomes Seth's third wife after Thursday is also unable to deliver him a child.

As the novel progresses, details about Seth are revealed that makes one worry. Who is telling the truth and how can Thursday escape from a dangerous situation?

I want to begin my thoughts with this. As a practicer of ethical non-monogamy, villanizing a polyamorous relationship in the way that Fisher does is unacceptable to me. Ethical non-monogamy is a very valid way to live and love. Fisher writes "Maybe the lack of attention from my parents pushed me toward Seth, my desperation to be accepted trapping me in a relationship any normal person would think bizarre" (190).

While I understand that this is the narrator speaking, and not Fisher, putting these ideas into words is damning to the polyamorous community. While our narrator is unreliable and becomes an unstable character throughout the second half of the novel, it is, very honestly, dangerous to write ideas such as these towards a community that is trying very hard to just live their lives in peace amidst the hatred that already exists for them. This novel centers around this disgust for ethical non-monogamous relationships and would not exist without this central theme. That is offensive to me.

Aside from that, the novel is just fine. It is a compelling thriller that you can read in one sitting and get dragged into, but I cannot recommend a novel that is so hurtful towards a community of people. This thriller is engaging and interesting and surges the reader forward, but I cannot praise it because of the continued pain it may cause upon the polyamorous community. This community is underrepresented and vilified enough in our current society. This novel is just another way that it continues.

I cannot, in good conscious, give this novel more than 3 stars.