Cree LeFavour's Private Means was much shorter than anticipated, even though the story spans an entire summer. An entire summer in the lives of unhappy, middle-aged, empty-nester married couple Alice and Peter Nutting.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
They go on weekend trips to the Cape or wherever rich New Yorkers vacation with their equally rich friends. But this summer is different because their twin daughters are interning in California and the family dog Maebelle has run away from the hired dogwalker. So Alice is depressed and seeks solace from a lost dog support group, which leads to a one-night stand with George. And Peter is annoyed at his wife's obsession over the dog and fantasizes about one of his therapy patients.
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About halfway through the book, George ends up as one of Peter's patients, and I thought, "Okay, NOW something is going to happen. Worlds colliding!"
But nothing did. Alice and Peter go on being angry at each other with no resolution at all. Nor do they find out what the other is doing behind their backs. They do get into a physical fight at one point, which I thought might take the edge off, but it didn't.
Oh, and the dog returns.
As someone who is not a 50-something Upper East Sider, I found it hard to relate to these characters, what with all the designer clothing name dropping and fancy food and wine they drink. Those references were over my head. And it sort of made me think, why should I care about these two? Some people have real problems!
There's nothing special about Peter and Alice. It just wasn't interesting to read about them. The whole book just had a negative, depressing vibe that gets transferred to the reader, which is not what I wanted to feel while reading.
Private Means is published by Grove Press and is on bookstore shelves today. I received a free e-ARC in exchange for a review.
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