I just love it when a book has a premise that has me expecting to hate the main character, but I end up invested in their voice instead. Green Dot by Madeleine Gray follows the train wreck of life decisions made by Hera Stephens, unwilling 9-5’er and mistress to an older married man at her workplace.
Hera’s narrative voice carries the entire book so well, and it’s hard to find her unreliable, because she has a lot of these thoughts that have probably crossed our minds about the time we started our careers. There’s the disdain and hatred for the work life capitalism forces us to have, as well as the regular monologues about the boredom present in her job routine. There were definitely times when I wanted to whack her and ask her to slow down, because some of it is just how life works, and what worked wonderfully here is the narration in hindsight from older Hera, who clearly knows each and every mistake she made.
There’s a subtle sense of self-deprecation in her voice that hints at worse and worse choices she made, especially when the affair with her married coworker starts. You’ll think: oh, when does the mistress get the guy? She thinks he will really tell his wife and exit a relationship with that much history? Is she delusional? Why, yes she is, and she says as much. She definitely learns the hard way that being the mistress is not a fun experience, as the story progresses, and every decision she makes to keep him with her so that she can get him to work toward leaving his wife seriously gave me second-hand embarrassment. It’s not easy to write a book on this subject, particularly without coming off very heavy-handed, but I admire the author’s deft hand in lacing humor with the serious talking points about it to give us just a book of the right length.
I don’t want to talk too much about this book because it takes very little investment on your end to try it. It is written in a way that creates the “just one more chapter” effect, and ends in a bittersweet way that’s both believable and serves as a grim reminder of the reality of thinking things will be different. It was an unexpectedly big hit for me, and in my opinion, a worthy read for all contemporary fiction readers.
I received an ARC of this book from the author/publisher. Quotes, if any, are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
This title was published by Henry Holt on February 17th 2024 in the U.S. and by WN Books on February 27th 2024 in the U.K.
LINKS
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