CHARGE (What was the author trying to say?): A healthy relationship can’t be grounded in the placebo effect.
FACTS: The book opens with how Elizabeth and Jack met. This was my favorite part of the book, but the author didn’t spend much time here. Jack and Elizabeth are struggling with their 20-year relationship. The story does not develop in a linear chronology (which I prefer) but volleys back and forth between narrators and time periods. To me the story rang as false as the placebos Elizabeth offered through her business called Wellness. The book is very long. I skimmed over the part about social media algorithms. Much of the conversation achieved nothing and I definitely don’t like footnotes in a novel. As they endlessly contemplated their navels, their child was floundering. Jack and Elizabeth’s relationship is given a fresh start at the end, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope that they can overcome the years of fraud.
VERDICT (Was the author successful?): Gulity, as charged.
Book Court 