This Secret Thing

This Secret Thing
By: Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

"Everyone was guilty of something. It didn't take a detective to figure that out."

A story with several POVs where everyone has their own secret they're dealing with. There is some mystery as you wonder what will happen with each storyline but I would say this is more of a character development/drama type of story. Or possibly a showcase of how everyone's life isn't what they wished it would be and they're all plagued by the what ifs. Quote, "She wondered if this was what adult life was going to be: a string of moments that leave you wondering what might've been." or "She often wondered if she should've been more selfish."

It probably resonates with a lot of people because we all have felt like we're missing out on something or sacrificing too much of ourselves for the sake of others. And man, what my life could have been! But I'm not really a fan of glorifying the self. This isn't going to be popular to say, but self-actualization isn't the pinnacle of human life. Entertaining and goading thoughts of "Do whatever it takes to achieve all your dreams because you deserve it" and living in might-have-been la la land isn't going to do anything but make you bitter or cause you to make impulsive poor choices that affect more than yourself.

Hold on. I'm not ready to get off my soap-box yet. Because I would also like to address good ole Norah. Um. Yeah. I'm just not going to be rooting for the women who ran a prostitution ring. Yes, they FELT it was their only option to create a living for their family or to get enough money to leave a bad marriage, but sorry, that doesn't make it noble and it doesn't make it okay. And it doesn't make up for all the other families and marriages that were most likely ruined by it. And whether or not it's between two consenting adults is irrelevant to the fact that it ABSOLUTELY creates/increases a market for and is intertwined with sex trafficking. I think the sex as a business is disturbing and harmful, and its effects are deeply dysfunctional and large-reaching.

At this point you might say, "But Brittany, that wasn't the point of the book. Of course we all think sex trafficking is bad!" And to that I would ask- what WAS the point of the book? That we're all messed up and we all have secrets and if we just opened up about them to each other we could form a close bond and it would mean our secrets aren't so bad now because we SHARED them and we all agree our motives were pure and/or justified? Or maybe, like a character says in the book, "Maybe we're all just supposed to save each other." And the point of the book is that we need to be in community with each other and help each other and be vulnerable with each other.

Okay. I agree: having secrets is no good for anyone and we SHOULD be in community where we are vulnerable and share our secrets to share our burdens, to get help and encourage. But frankly, the author does a wonderful job of sugar-coating Norah's decision of and operation of running a prostitution ring. That's not the main focus of the plot- it's being investigated of course, but we are not given much detail about it. It's just this pesky thing that has triggered these neighbors to all be involved with each other's lives at the moment. I don't know, man. I just really don't like the author's take on the whole thing. The culture's flippant attitude toward sex and its refusal to own the detrimental affects of sexual "freedom" is directly correlated to the supply and demand of pornography and sex trafficking and I don't believe the author made any headway in this book of opposing the culture's sexual mindset. And yeah, that works me up a bit. So sue me.

But you're right that making any sort of statement for or against running a prostitution ring wasn't the author's point of writing this book. It is a mystery/drama novel, not literary non-fiction. So I won’t tell you to not read it. But I will say it’s not the best book I’ve ever read.

I did not like any of the characters. I did not like the constant references to the huge pumpkin. [SPOILER!!] I kept thinking Norah hid the client list in the pumpkin and that that would justify all the references to this thing. But nope. Just some sort of symbolism I suppose [SPOILER OVER!!!] I did not like all the times the author used the word "albeit." I did not like that everyone believed a girl's last text before her mysterious death saying "Micah did this." Because someone who was just murdered by being served too much alcohol would definitely rather spite the murderer and type up a message then call 3 numbers to get help. I did not like how many of the characters handled their relationships. I did not like the beaucatcher thing.

I did like the poppy seed chicken recipe (making it this week). I did like the choice Violet made in the end. I did like the suspense of finding out how everything would resolve. I did like that even though there was some stupid stuff that there was still some reconciliation and some acknowledgement of some of the stupid stuff.

At this point, this may come as a surprise to you, but I did not hate reading this book. I did my fair-share of eye-rolling and talking to the characters in my head, but it wasn't a terrible read. I just couldn't write a review about it without judging the perceived 'pass' given to running prostitution ring. Oh and I just really wanted the pumpkin to be a thing.

[Profanity: 3 f-words, 7 s-words]