Title: Evidence of The Affair
Author(s) Name(s): Taylor Jenkins Reid
Published in:
Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy
- multiple perspectives,
- emotionally rich stories,
- bittersweet thoughts and feelings, and
- finding hope during tough times.
Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike
- extra-marital affairs, or
- betrayal,
- broken trust, or
- loss of love.
Have you watched “You’ve Got Mail”, the old romance movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? That movie where the two cheat on their partners, as they communicate with each other through mail, hiding their true identitites? Did that movie get you tot hink what it would be like if two people who are being cheated on by their partners connected with each other through mail or letters and developed a connection, of course revealing their true identities because the reason to initiate and maintain contact itself is that they are hurt by their partners’ actions?
Yes, “Evidence of The Affair” by Taylor Jenkins Reid is one such book. Carrie Allsop, the wife of Ken Allsop, has figured out that Ken has been cheating on her with a woman named Janet Mayer. While still not having confronted Ken about it, she writes to Janet’s husband David Mayer, informing him of what she has found out, saying that there are letters her husband has been receiving from Janet, letters that clearly reveal that the relationship between Janet and Ken is sexual in nature, while also requesting David to share any letters her husband Ken might have written to his wife. Initially, David does not respond, but when she sends a follow-up mail, David sadly acknowledges that Carrie is right.
Both Carrie and David admit to each other that they have been hoping that their spouses have not been unfaithful to them, yet they can’t deny the truth because there is evidence supporting their affair. Somehow, it feels warm from the very beginning, as though it is not fiction but letters exchanged by two loyal, loving people in real-life who would have never expected this to happen. Carrie writes to David saying that if he wants to talk to someone after reading copies of his wife’s letters to her husband, she is always available to listen because for her right now, there is nobody else to speak with, she definitely feels hurt and upset, and David is the only other person who knows about her husband’s affair. A trusting, platonic connection slowly develops between the two, where they interact only through letters but everything they say to each other is true.
Interesting Quote: “It is funny the crazy things our brains make up to save us from the truth.” In the context of this story about love and hurt, these words feel truly meaningful.
But it’s not just the perspectives of David and Carrie, the story, through copies of the letters sent earlier, also shows us the perspectives of Janet and Ken(?). Janet writes to Ken, the man she had an affair with, saying how her life until then was just the life of yet another family woman, where like most others, she felt weighed down by everything, but after meeting Ken, she feels suddenly sexy and rejeuvenated. But what Janet says – that nothing she does ata home is ever for herself, so how could she possibly feel pleasure, when her mind and body work only to satisfy the needs of her husband, children, and the in-laws? She says that the sex they had with each other is a kind of experience she never had with anyone else, and not in all those years, with David. They meet each other more than a few times to make love to each other. These letters reveal the details of how Janet and Ken fall in love with each other. Like all romantic stories, this one is beautiful, too.
David, though, feels just as hurt and upset as Carrie had felt when he reads the copies of his wife’s letters to her husband. David confesses his pain to Carrie, saying how he has never hurt anyone or anything, not even spiders, how he has never engaged in violence, but now, learning that his wife got intimate with another man and also enjoys that makes him truly furious. He reveals how he is worried about his children and what could happen to them if he confronted her and they got into a nasty argument.
They each have their own problems. For Carrie, Ken wants them to have children, they have been trying, and she has still not become pregnant so far. For David, they have four children, and he explains that that can be quite expensive. Carrie wishes she could go back to school and start working, but Ken wants her to be a stay-at-home-wife and to focus only on having children and maintaining the house. David earns a decent pay as a high-school biology teacher but that income is not quite enough, and each time Janet offers to help him get a job offer, it hits him hard. Also, since their last two children, twins, were unplanned for, when the family has already not been doing so well financially, there has been little intimacy between the two. They pour out their insecurities to each other, and they also comfort and console each other, and they decide to meet each other finally, of course without the knowledge of Janet or Ken. Surprisingly, instead of it being awkward, the two only feel more comfortable and empathetic towards each other after they meet.
Soon, David finds Ken’s letters to Janet in their kitchen, then asks Carrie if she wants to read them because reading someone else writing about the intercourse they had with your spouse and the love they feel for each other can be excruciating. Carrie understandably wants to read those letters, and when she does read those, she is heartbroken. As they talk on the phone and meet again, the bond between the two grows stronger because they only trust each other, they share their truest feelings and insecurities only with each other, and they are all they have. They no longer seek each other just to talk about their misery, but they truly start enjoying each other’s company, enjoying how the other person makes them feel, as they freely share their tastes in books and music. David and Carrie slowly bring out the best in each other, and truly look forward to their next meeting.
This relationship grows into something truly warm, meaningful, and lovable – it is no longer just two desperate people talking about pain but two healthy adults, going through a tough time, holding each other’s hands and seeing the best sides of each other, which is how they find their own strength. Their emotional intimacy grows stronger, but what will happen next? Some might find the ending predictable and some others might find it a bit surprising, but either way, it is beautiful.
While the first half of the book “Evidence of The Affair” would bring out the sad and empathetic side in a reader, the second half reminds us that as grown adults dealing with life, we often forget to see the good side in ourselves. The second half is all about self-realization, difficult decisions, finding courage, gaining confidence, and more. This book is a lovely read, and I will gladly give this a 4.5-star rating. Even though it is only 80-90 pages long, it is a short story that is deep because of the intimate story-telling in the form of two different voices and the romantic narrative. Do give it a try if you please.
