Very Cold People was one of my books of 2022. Written in spare, crisp prose, it’s a bleak novella about an abusive childhood, extraordinarily powerful. Liars is the equally bleak story of a dysfunctional marriage told from the perspective of the wife.
Jane and John meet in their thirties, their relationship growing out of a powerful physical attraction. He suggests they both apply for a year’s residency in Athens but while she is awarded the prize for writing he fails to win the art prize, joining her after a few months, unable to contain his jealousy of her success, flirting outrageously and sulking, setting a pattern for their future together. Neither had planned to have children, but a few years into their marriage Jane becomes pregnant with their son. Her successful writing career stalls in the face of childcaring, homemaking and hauling John out of various scrapes, her financial dependence forcing her to trail after him as he moves from one job to another. After fourteen years of telling herself she should be grateful for her happy family, the financial security John has somehow delivered and the resurrection of her career, she’s faced with the truth of her marriage’s dysfunction.
Manguso unfolds her fragmented narrative in stark, striking prose. We have only one side of the story and there are occasional hints that John may not be the only liar, not least from the title, but Jane’s lies appear to be to herself, convincing herself that her marriage is all that it should be. A tale of bad behaviour, manipulation, and misery, there’s a feeling of autofiction about it, borne out by a little internet research, although to what extent isn’t clear.

In Liars, Sarah Manguso deftly captures, in heartbreaking detail, the slow decay of a dying marriage. This novel makes for uncomfortable reading, but I mean that as a positive. I was deeply emotionally engaged with Liars, Jane and John's flawed relationship unlocking painful memories of my own failed relationships.

I found it an incredibly realistic portrayal of a woman so deep in her own lies that it's only near the end that she gains clarity and can see how her husband has also lied... not just to her, but to friends and family.

LIARS is a searing portrait of a marriage, from beginning to disastrous end, told in vignettes and devastating sentences. I could not put this down!! This is in conversation with books like WE ARE TOO MANY and FATES AND FURIES, so if you loved those, don't miss LIARS. Manguso's writing is outstanding; I will be going back to read VERY COLD PEOPLE as soon as possible!

This is the worst bookish cliché but I promise you that finishing Liars by Sarah Manguso felt like letting go of a breath I didn't realise that I was holding. This is a female rage, good for her, fast-paced literary read about a marriage on fire.

Liars is about Jane, an aspiring writer, who meets a filmmaker, John. He is very charming and she believes everything that she could want in a life partner. As they begin their relationship and we watch it blossom, we begin to pick up on some red flags that John is waving. As many people do, Jane finds a way to excuse this behaviour and moves on from it. They eventually get married and have a child and as their relationship goes through the years we see more and more how John & their marriage strips Jane of her identity as an artist, who happens to also be a wife and mother, and reduces her down to only being a wife and mother.

This isn't a thriller book but it's absolutely paced like one. Not only is it an extremely tightly wound and claustrophobic feeling story that had me breathlessly turning the pages but also Manguso formats her work in vignettes which I find keeps the pacing quick. If you have a day with nothing to do where you can commit yourself to read all day, this is a book that you could read in one sitting.

There is so much bitterness in these pages, it's the kind of book that makes you frustrated and angry as you read it. It’s a book about reducing a woman to her most basic stereotypes, it's about all the invisible work that a lot wives and mothers do, and it also felt like a good reminder to not accept mediocrity in our relationships and to pay attention to red flags. Reading this really made me so thankful to have a partner who is helpful and supportive in all of the things that I do.

Liars is a brutally honest representation of how marriages can end up. I'm not somebody who is often drawn to books that explore romantic relationships like this but I genuinely couldn't look away from this book. I think Sarah Manguso has such a knack for writing about the motions of life and without a doubt I will continue to pick up anything else that she releases.

I am completely in love with this book! A rallying cry to all women who feel that they have put their entire lives on hold to support their husbands and families only to be dumped on from a great height!

This book made me feel so many things, from anger, frustration, relief and joy. I felt so much for Jane and was rooting for her so much.

Answering important questions like who is responsible for the breakdown of a relationship? Who are the liars and what lies do they tell? Whether to themselves or others.

I could not put this book down and highly recommend it.

I loved this book, really loved it. It detailed the motions and emotions the protagonist experienced during her long relationship with her partner/husband. A talented writer who put her work aside to appease her ‘jack of many trades, master of none’, emotionally manipulative husband, she tries to get through each day with her son while trying to save their marriage.

I thought this was brilliantly written - I loved the writing style and all the details. It was very real and kept me glued to the e-pages until the end.

On a sobering and intense tale of a marriage falling apart and what it does to a woman’s identity. I saw this book on a few lists and was thankful for this advanced reader copy. I think it’ll be one of the biggest works of fiction this summer.⁣
⁣
The story is centred around the story of Jane and her 14-year marriage to John. Jane is an aspiring writer who meets John Bridges, a filmmaker, who seems to want the same thing as her. Not long after, they’re married and have a child, and Jane finds her role reduced to being a wife and a mother. She tolerates her husband’s ego, manipulation and emotional abuse, and lies to herself along the way. That goes on until John comes home one day and asks for divorce.⁣
⁣
The book is filled with very detailed and astute observations of how a tumultuous relationship can fail a woman and do to the way she sees and believes in herself. At times, I thought I was reading a work of non-fiction. ⁣
⁣
“I was proud of our family and of John’s career, so when he played video games all night, spent weekends painting, or stayed out bodysurfing in deep water while the child and I waited, shivering, on the beach, I didn’t push back. I multitasked and made my own needs as small as possible because, I thought, I was just more capable than he was. I assumed that made me valuable. ⁣
⁣
I took three shits before breakfast and two tranquilizers before the mediation session. John said that he wasn’t to blame for the divorce but that his hand had been forced. He described me as volatile and unsafe for the child to be around. ⁣
⁣
I wrote the word LIAR on a sticky note and stuck it onto the computer screen. It covered John’s face.”⁣
⁣
Just what that could do to a woman? Anger, rage and so much more. The book is phenomenal.

Liars is an emotive read, I was sad, angry and despairing throughout. The story is addictive and enthralling. Following Jane through her relationships and health struggles is like wading through water. The writing is amazing and doesn’t feel like a piece of fiction. I loved the detached tone and haven’t read anything quite like this. It’s motherhood, marriage and being mortal all wrapped into one. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I am on my first re-read of this gut punch of a book which is currently color coded with my first read’s kindle highlights. To say I identify with our narrator, would be an understatement and to say every woman that is or plans to be a wife or mother should read this, is the understatement of the year. “I was in charge of everything and in control of nothing”. The story reads like a diary, but with impactful heart-stilling prose. Sarah Manguso writes beautifully and painfully, metaphorically and straight to the point. The story follows an artist, turned partner, turned wife turned mother and her desperately docile attempts to keep her own head above the water that is her husband/other. “ John didn’t just need to win the fight; he needed me to agree that it was my responsibility never to say anything that might make him feel as if he’d ever done anything wrong”. This is a book for any woman who has ever held the misunderstanding that she is not the main character. 10/10 no notes

Thank you netgalley and publisher for my free copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you also to the author for being brave and brilliant.

It's not so much the plot of this novel that's the stand-out here, because it is a plot that has been (and will be) explored again and again, but it's the narrative style - the way of telling it. Written in fragments (often overlapping and backtracking), this is a novel that, to me, was poignant and meaningful. There are so many one liners that demonstrated the intelligence and deepest feelings of the protagonist, Jane, in her (ultimately doomed) marriage to John. The fragmented style epitomised, quite literally, the ups and downs of a modern relationship and the intensely inward internal process of managing a relationship that is failing. Brilliant in every way. My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.