Review of Sterile by Isabella Jones

BOOK DESCRIPTION

‘I am his wife, he no longer respects, touches or loves me.’

Lisa cries to herself at night. After 15 years of marriage, she cannot accept their fate: a life with no children. She wallows in paranoia as Mark works late and continues his career as a travelling salesman. Her accusations of him cheating on her result in their first major fight which leads to a trail of events that spiral out of Lisa's control.

Will Lisa manage to keep her tenuous grip on her marriage, her life and ultimately reality?

A novel about one woman’s struggle to carry on when her worst nightmare turns into reality.

LINKS:
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THE REVIEW

When I first started reading this book, I felt for this poor woman.  I really did.  Her husband Mark is never home and is always on the road. Also, she believes he's having an affair.  She's miserable.  She loves him desperately, and when she confronts him about her fears, he calls her paranoid.  

At first she seems content living a childless life, but soon you realize she's not content with it all.  She's devastated by the fact that she can't have children, and knows that Mark somehow blames her for it.  She's so desperate for one that she somehow convinces herself to pull off a scheme that is doomed from the beginning.  

Because she is so depressed about the state of her marriage she makes a decision at work that almost costs her her freedom, her family and her marriage.  Mark proves he isn't the supportive husband that she wants him to be.  All she wants is for him to just hold her and be there for her, but he isn't.  He attempts to work out things with her, but it's clear to her he doesn't want to.  It makes her more depressed about the state of her life.  

I really felt sorry for her, because you could feel her desperation for a child.  She felt resentful of everyone around her having babies and her being the one who couldn't.  Her family is trying to be there for her, but she's making it hard for everyone.  

At first I thought this book was a bit confusing, but then realized the state of mind that Lisa was in was dwindling every second.  She's faced a cruel reality, and her mind has been broken because of it.  She's in severe denial, and constantly fights against that denial.  Her father opens up to her about something deeply personal that happened in their family, and she struggles to come to terms with the knowledge.

I really loved this story, once I realized that Lisa was slowly losing her hold on reality.  I would have loved to know more about Mark, just because she was so in love with him and desperate to be with him.  Her love for him was very real, and it was extremely sad to see her face a reality she's not ready to face.  

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