Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsIt’s bad, but I liked it
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2018
First off, I’m a guy. I get that I’m not exactly a part of Ms. Hilderbrand's target audience. But I decided to show some courage and post a review from a regular guy’s perspective. Whether that’s good or bad I’ll leave to you.
How’d I get into this? Well, I spend Summers on Nantucket, I was looking for something to read, and I was curious to see what all the excitement over the The Perfect Couple was about. (A starred Kirkus review? That’s pretty serious stuff). So this was an experiment of sorts. I think it was a successful one in that I finished the book. This in spite of the authors chronically pretentious and unnecessary name dropping of every trendy high end fashion brand known to man. (No, that’s not quite fair. I should have said every trendy high end fashion brand known to woman).
Is this great writing? No. But it’s not meant to be, is it? It’s not Hammett, it’s chick-lit. Still, I’m embarrassed to say, I really enjoyed the story. It was very easy to follow; and knowing a lot about the island made it fun. There were a lot of twists and turns and the characters were interesting; I think I recognized a few of them in real life. I’ve seen guys like the Benji character. Although a cynic may see him as a bit of a blind sucker, there was something noble about him that fostered sympathy. He could have murdered his best man and it would have been justifiable homicide in my book. But the focus of the story wasn’t really about the guys, was it? It was all about the girls. Most of it wasn’t flattering from where I was sitting. Maybe it was the overdose of fluff that came with every description of what they were wearing that did me in. Nevertheless, I was reasonably successful in separating the confection from the meat of the story, even though I complained and rolled my eyes all through it, right to the bitter end.
I know, it’s bad. Yet, here I am confessing that I wanted to read her book. I liked reading it, complaining about it, and I felt compelled to finish it. Apparently, Ms. Hilderbrand has an addictive formula that hooked this guy at a perfect moment in time. She deserves 5 stars for that alone.