This book is about a middle aged woman's midlife crisis and her consequential struggles with her husband and children. Eva, a middle aged housewife in modern England, is dissatisfied with the way her life has turned out. Her ungrateful children have left for college, making her an empty-nester, and her cheating husband has little sympathy for her emotional and mental distresses.
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On a sudden impulse, Eva decides that the best course of action under the circumstances is to go to bed and not get up. She abandons all her previous duties, from cooking for her husband to cleaning the house, and cloisters herself in the bedroom to pout, and feel sorry for herself.
After a while, she decides that staying in bed for a long, long time might be the exact remedy she's seeking. She bans her husband from sleeping in their bedroom, and he is exiled to the garden workshed which he turns into a little apartment, and lets his girlfriend move in.
Various characters, including her mother and sometimes even her husband, enable her in her somewhat mad plan, bringing her food and drinks, and seeing that she is taken care of despite her apparent selfish need to do nothing whatsoever to care for herself.
She employs a handyman to do some odd jobs for her as well, such as removing all the furniture from the bedroom because she has decided she doesn't like it anymore. This characteristically kind and compassionate man ends up falling in love with her in spite of her odd ways.
Best part of story, including ending:
I loved the idea of someone going to bed for an entire year. I didn't like the way the story panned out, however, as it was rather dull, and the characters were not likeable.
Best scene in story:
Probably when Poppy came to visit, because although she was an annoying brat, I find chronic liars fascinating.
Opinion about the main character:
I disliked that she seemed to have no drive or aim. Yes, she was fed up and having a midlife crisis, but she went to bed and did nothing. The reader doesn't even detect a main goal for her internal struggle to contend with.
