about Tamar Cohen’s The Mistress’s Revenge

Worthwhile read but not a "can't-put-down" book.

This is the novel I just finished reading a few days ago. The book talks about obsession, deception, desire, and disturbing behaviors, but it was written with lots of humor making it a light read.

It’s about a mistress dumped by her married lover after 5 years of illicit and passionate affair. As part of her therapy, she was to journal her emotions and the book was supposed to be that journal.

Now her journal will make you laugh, creep you out, make you hate her, but in the end… she was just another woman who fell in love. And by the time you are almost through with the book, you will be 101% sure she is psycho, but… “after all, who doesn’t know an otherwise sane woman who has gone a little crazy when her heart was broken?”*

Anybody whose heart was broken before will for sure be able to relate to some if not most (but hopefully not all!) of the things the mistress went through. And whether you are somebody’s mistress or somebody’s wife, this book will for sure crack you up bitterly (you know like it's really funny but at the same, you find it so true even with you, that it's kinda sad too, well that way).

Here are some entries in the book:

““I’d leave Susan for you, you know? I never thought I’d ever say that. But I want you to be in no doubt about how strongly I feel about you. I’ve never felt like this before.”

Until that moment I hadn’t been completely sure of my own feelings, but of course I was done for then. Not by the declaration of love, you understand, but by being put above all the others, above your wife. What woman could resist that?”

“But your voice when you replied contained no trace of a smile.“I’m just warning you to stay out of my life, that’s all.” That’s all. Just stay out of your life. A few short months ago, I was your life. How does that happen then?”

“Please don’t be alarmed, but I went to look at your house last night. I know what you’re thinking, that it sounds like something a stalker would do, but I was just passing. No, honestly. I was in the area having a wander around Regent’s Park.”

“I met Liam yesterday! Isn’t that the most bizarre thing? Remember how you always said you’d love me to meet your son one day because you thought we’d get on so well? You were so, so right.”

“People move on. I accept that. But what if they’ve promised to love you forever? What if they’ve told you they’ll never leave you? What if they’ve lied and lied and lied again? Shouldn’t people be held to account for that?”

“I wanted to take a wire wool scouring pad to the rosy glow on Susan’s cheeks and rub and rub until it was gone.

Now don’t start getting all puffed up and protective. It was just a momentary impulse and of course I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I sat, and smiled nicely, and once I swallowed down on the bile with a spoonful of crème brulee, I told her how delighted I was for her and what a romantic thing it was to do after twenty-six years of marriage. Which of course it is.”

“I thought I knew you, but I didn’t know you. I thought you wouldn’t hurt me, but you hurt me. None of us really knows the truth about each other. We’re all just fumbling about in the dark.”

“The more I thought about the phrase, the more impressed I was. I’ve got to hand it to you, Clive. That “I said nothing I didn’t mean. At the time.” is sheer genius. It gives you carte blanche to say exactly what you want, knowing that you can backtrack at any time in the future with your integrity intact. I really must remember it.

The problem is, of course, that other people might not quite get how it works. Other people might take you seriously. Other people might start to plan their lives around the things you’ve said. Other people might be left free-falling.

Did you think about that? Did you? Did you?”

*Tamar Cohen. The Mistress's Revenge (summary at the back of the book cover).