This month I will be reviewing You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
You Should Have Known is a story centered around Grace, a psychiatrist who specializes in couples counseling. She has written a book about it, also called "You Should Have Known" targeted for women in bad relationships and pointing out all the ways they missed the clues as to why they find themselves in bad and abusive relationships. Her book is about to be released and her publicist is booking her on shows like the Today show and The View and she's very excited about it.
Grace is married to a pediatric oncologist, Jonathan, who works at Sloan Kettering in New York. They have a son, Henry, who goes to a prestigious private school. Their life seems perfect.
That is until a mother of another student at the private school, who also served on a planning committee for a fundraiser, gets murdered after the fundraiser. Jonathan left after the fundraiser to go to a conference in Cleveland or Chicago - Grace can't remember exactly where and left his phone behind so Grace is unable to reach him to talk about what is going on.
But as details about the murder come out, Grace starts learning things about Jonathan that she never suspected. Turns out he was having an affair with the murdered mother and is a prime suspect. Suddenly she starts wondering about the book coming out and if she's really qualified to have written it if she's so in the dark about her own husband.
There's a lot of suspense and in depth detail about the relationship, how they met and things that Grace comes to realize as things are exposed about her husband. The ending is one that kind of leaves the "what happens next" up to the reader's imagination, in a satisfying way though.
Now, having said all that, You Should Have Known was the basis of the HBO series THE UNDOING. I watched the series, read the book and then watched the series again. So, here's the thing about the two "stories". The series doesn't mention anything about Grace's book. Also, the hospital Jonathan works at isn't Sloan Kettering. But the biggest change is that, aside from a couple of scenes, the entire book is covered in the first two episodes of the series. Episodes 3-6 come from the imagination of David E Kelley, who is great with this type of story. The series also ends on a note where the viewer gets to determine what happens next, also in a satisfying way, as well.
Both are good stories and worth the time and energy to watch and read - and I would recommend both. As a side note, Hugh Grant plays Jonathan in the HBO show and, in my opinion, it is - by far - his best work! Very compelling. Very unexpected. Excellent acting. If you have the opportunity, I recommend watching it, just to see what an amazing job he does in this role. Anyway . . .
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5 comments:
Love the juxtaposition of a martial counselor with a self-help book not realizing her husband is cheating. I wonder why they left it out of The Undoing. Anyway, both the book and the show sound great. Your description of the show made me think of The Handmaid's Tale. The first season is based on the novel. After that, it's all new territory. :) Thank you for reviewing! And two books this month!
Yes, Hugh Grant made the series for me because it was so hard to decide what he had done. He has become a great actor whereas once he was just a cute one.
Sometimes a thing happens and I wonder if I really know someone that I thought I did. - Margy
Oh, the irony in this book! It sounds wonderful. I will have to get it and then watch The Undoing. I think Hugh Grant has long been underrated as an actor simply because he has always been so darn cute!
Thanks for the great review.
Thanks for the book and tv series recommendations! I like how you compare and contrast the two. How strange that the series left out her marriage advice book! That would make the story more compelling.
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