The Headmaster's Wife: A Novel Hardcover – February 25, 2014

I really, really enjoyed this book. Divided into three parts, each with a different narrator, this book tells the story of a headmaster of an elite New England prep school who is found wandering naked in Central Park. The story unfolds from this event - how did he get there? What events led to this breakdown?The first part of the novel, entitled "Acrimony," is also the longest and one you will want to refer back throughout the subsequent two parts. Without giving anything away - and this would truly ruin the book - the second part ("Expectations") and the third ("After") provide framework and depth to the first part. The only thing that prevented me from giving this a five-star rating is the final part, "After." I thought it was too short and too "pat," especially in light of the complexities of the first two parts.Overall, I highly recommend this book. There's much to discuss, the characters are complex and developed, and the plot line is unpredictable without being far-fetched. I will be looking for more books by this author.

I picked up this book after finishing Gone Girl. Flipping through the first chapter, I thought, Oh no! Not another jackass character doing jackass-y things. I didn’t know if I had the stomach for it; but I had heard, on good word, that this was a worthwhile read, so I trudged on. As the hackneyed phrase goes, I’m glad I did.This is a masterfully crafted novel. The way the story unravels; how the reality of the first half of the novel is revealed in the second—all wonderfully done. Greene is able to hold the same poignant tone throughout. Any writer who wants to learn how to avoid passive voice should study it, and readers will recognize that they are in the hands of a skilled author.The Headmaster’s Wife does have similarities to Gone Girl in that things are not always as they seem and it’s a story about a husband and wife, but the similarities end there. Even though the characters in the former do and think things that exemplify less than our ideal image of human behavior, the reader is not left with the same I-need-to-take-a-hot-shower feeling after turning the last page, as many reviewers seem to have experienced after reading the latter.What makes this difference? I’m not quite sure. Perhaps it’s the same thing that distinguishes an excellent beach read from a piece of literary fiction—sometimes the variances are so nuanced they are hard to define. In both novels, we get a sense of how shallow, self-centered and indulgent we humans can be. But The Headmaster’s Wife is more. It’s a complex, nuanced and poignant look at love and marriage, life and grief; that what we do, or fail to do, early in our lives affects us until the end of our days."She considers the past. She measures it and weighs it and holds it in her hand like a plum…moments that happened years before. She turns them over and over in her mind, things she has not thought about in years, and she can see now how obvious it all is. Every small event begets another one, each one built off the other until you have a chain of events that all lead to…this…"What it all comes down to is the fact that there is no avoiding life. Even in the pampered world of the academic, it still intrudes:"Not to have to worry about shopping or meals or where they would live? All that would be taken care of. Teaching—even running a boarding school—is another form of arrested adolescence. Even in their responsibilities, they are all playing Peter Pan, the real world something that happens outside these ivy-covered walls. … A perfectly scripted life, in other words, with regimented days and seasons defined as much by the rhythms of school as by the weather."This makes one wonder if entrusting our children’s higher learning to lifelong academics is the right course to take. Part of an education should be how to live in the real word, but how can that be effectively taught by people who have never experienced its difficulties—or its own brand of rewards?As with any good novel, this one makes you think about things other than what’s happening in the forefront.But I digress.The title of this novel is misleading (just as in Gone Girl) because this novel is not all about the wife; the husband plays a major role also. In fact, the first part of the three parts (“Acrimony,” “Expectations,” and “After”) of this novel is his story, as told to the authorities who found him disoriented and wandering the park.In “Acrimony,” we learn that, like his father and his father’s father before him, Arthur Winthrop is the headmaster at Vermont’s elite Lancaster School. As he’s being questioned, Arthur’s story unravels, but what begins as one thing morphs into something quite different.In the second part, “Expectations,” we get his wife, Elizabeth’s, more reliable side of the story; and in the last (and much shorter) section, “After,” we see the sum—the aftermath—of the two other parts.Part love story, part mystery and part tragedy, this is a remarkably crafted novel. It is, ultimately, a poignant look at how we deal with grief.This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.(This review, and others, can be read on Booksquawk.)

A few pages into this book I became concerned that it was nothing more than a stereotypical story about a middle aged man having an affair with a much younger woman. But this could not be further from the truth due to a surprising twist at the end of the first part of the book. I will not go into details as I do not want to spoil it for you.This book is written in a beautiful and poetic manner that handles the issue of grief gently and sensitively. The book was inspired by the author's experiences and this brings a sense of honesty and real emotion to the text. The book is also about time and how it passes by so quickly - before we have had a chance to appreciate or even understand the past and how it has shaped us.Despite its heavy subject matter the book is a quick and short read which left me feeling slightly unsatisfied. The ending is forced and lacks the emotion and style of the first two parts. It seem the author no longer knew what to do with the characters and lost interest in his own story.

This was a lovely, intriguing, interesting read. I liked it a great deal. I think I'd have liked the wife's side of the story told first, though, as reading the husband's story first made me dislike him a great deal and I wouldn't have done if it was told the other way around. Hope I'm making sense as I know what I mean !!There were very few mistakes I noticed, too. Once born was used when I think borne should've been and there were a few missing words in sentences like the/be then eighteenth was used and it should be eighteen. That was a strange error. However, I was very impressed that these were all I happened upon. So rare these days.There were some very thought-provoking little phrases here and there I liked a lot. Some great sadness as well especially the parts referring to Ethan at times although some very funny little asides, too.He tells us of a graduation custom involving marbles which confused me so I looked on Google but couldn't find anything about it there, sadly. Something was lost in translation too when at the end he mentions a joke his brother made about The Principal's Wife....that sailed over my head so must be an Americanism !I'll certainly be looking on Amazon for more by this author.

Thomas Christopher Green is new to me and I am glad to have come across his work. He writes well and kept me engrossed from page one.Arthur is a straight arrow, ultra conservative headmaster of an exclusive Vermont boarding school. He appears to be happily married with an 18 year old son doing a job he loves so why is he wandering naked in the snow in Central Park. His explanation to the NYPD is the hanger on which hangs a fascinating story. I read it on holiday in 2 sessions and was carried along thinking I knew what was what until surprise I was on the wrong track altogether. We witness the mental disintegration of a good if somewhat boring man as reality and his imaginings become confused. There is sadness, drama , sex and a little humour making this an excellent read. Best enjoyed if read in big chunks at a time.

This novel deserves a huge audience. It's a masterclass in exposition with major surprises incredibly well crafted. Set in a private boarding school, it starts off with the story of Arthur, the headmaster, falling for student Betsy. Much of what is written in this section is acutely observed and tells us so much about the typical "middle-aged man falls for teenager" scenario. Except there's an awful lot more to this one! If you are searching for a compelling and beautifully written story, this is it. Greene also evokes the gentle vibe of his geographical location beautifully which was great for me, as I always enjoy these sorts of settings and love the area. Can't recommend highly enough.

I enjoyed the writing more than the story I think. The characters are so well drawn you really invest in their happiness and sadness. The writing is excellent in its detail and deeply thought out without being long winded or pretentious. I need to care about the protagonists in a novel and this novel certainly satisfied this need. The twist,if you can call it that,is surprising and intriguing and takes you in a new direction but provides more than the run of the mill psycho drama and is very moving on the subject of loss.

I can't quite decide how well I liked this book. It started well and engaged me. It then seemed to lose it's way half way through but picked up again at the end. The first half of the book concentrates on the headmaster and the second on the wife. It's a love story with two parts plus heartache from the loss of a son. It was certainly unusual and for that reason I have given it four stars. I also thought that the writer had experienced the feelings of the main characters and wrote with empathy. I also liked the fact that it was not 'twee', it had a bittersweet ending.