Book Review: "The Husbands" by Holly Gramazio

One night, Lauren gets home from a party and discovers that there’s a man in her flat. But he’s not a burglar or a stranger; apparently he’s her husband, Michael. The problem is, she doesn’t remember being married and she’s utterly confused. However, her flat is furnished better and everyone seems to like him.

But just as she’s settling into the whole idea of a husband and being married, Michael goes up into the attic and a different man comes down. With the arrival of a different husband, many aspects of her life have changed, like her job or her family’s lives. Armed with this knowledge, she invents an excuse for this husband to go into the attic, and, presto: a new husband appears.

Lauren starts to become slightly addicted to sending her husbands into the attic so they can be replaced. And then one day, she meets someone she actually wishes she were really married to, and they’re stay together for a short while, until he inadvertently goes up to the attic. Damn.

“You can’t stay married to someone for ever just because they climb out of your attic one afternoon.”

I loved how unique The Husbands was. Parts of the book were funny, parts were emotional, and parts definitely made me think. I definitely wondered how Holly Gramazio would tie everything up. I felt as if the story dragged a little bit in the middle—so many husbands come and go that it gets repetitive after a while—but I couldn’t get enough.

What a fantastic debut. I can’t wait to see what Gramazio does next!!