What do readers think of The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene? Write your own review.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did - probably based on positive commentary from the likes of Wally Lamb and Richard Russo. But I finished the novel with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. Greene's writing seemed skillful enough and he creates some deft sketches of private school life, but his two main characters, the headmaster and his wife, never reached that redeeming spot of "flawed but likeable." I never emotionally connected with them and it felt as if I was reading distant narratives of a middle-aged couple's intimate thoughts. The story lacked a cohesion to let some of its themes shine through - the trials of aging, the grief of losing a child.

This book was a pretty easy, fast read. I'm glad I finished it. When it began I was very inclined to stop reading. I didn't like where the story was headed. I found it repugnant actually. But I sensed there was more to it so I kept on. I'm glad I did as the second half explained the realities of the first half. That being said, I thought the book was a bit unbelievable and shallow. Wrapped up all tidy. It wasn't a horrible book but I don't know how I would recommend it without giving away the first part to convince reader to read last part.

What started out as a strange novel ended up also being a sad and depressing one. Arthur Winthrop, the 50-something headmaster of a Vermont prep school, has just been arrested for running naked in Central Park in the middle of a snowy winter's evening. In the police station, he begins to unravel his story. Bored with the job that he virtually inherited from his father and with his increasingly distant wife, Arthur has begun to drink heavily--and to obsess about one of his students. He confesses to having done some creepy and horrible things, putting his job on the line--and now this.

Halfway through the book, I began to wonder why it was titled The Headmaster's WIFE--and then the author drops a bomb that totally turns the plot around, devoting the second half of the book to Elizabeth Winthrop's story. I won't reveal what changes the reader's perspective, in case anyone wants to read the book, but suffice it to say that it's one of those revelations that is truly surprising and that also kind of makes you groan because you should have figured it out. Although Greene tries to conclude on a hopeful note, I found the sadness overwhelming. Perhaps that is because, as Greene notes in the afterward, he started writing it during the six months that his now-deceased daughter spent in a neo-natal ICU; he dedicates the book to her.

Written in short chapters and a relatively spare style, The Headmaster's Wife is a quick read with some compelling (if creepy) moments. It ended up being quite different from the publishers' blurb. Someone who enjoys psychological studies might enjoy it more than I did.

I tried hard to like The Headmaster's Wife but found it to be a nicely written cliche with not much to pull the reader in but rather a book to put down and forget.

The Headmasters Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene is a very sad novel and I would use caution when recommending it. I was ready to put it down because I could not sympathize with many of the characters and I didn't like the way the story was unfolding, but the author tricked me with a major plot twist so I did read it to the end. Not one of my favorites.

I tend to gravitate to novels with college settings and this one sounded remarkable: combining a psychological mystery with a close look at a family and events spiraling out of control. However, I found the prose to be somewhat self-conscious and serviceable. I never felt immersed in the story and certain plot twists seemed implausible. Didn't quite make it for me.

Was this a love story? A coming of "old age" novel? A story about the results of grief unshared? I felt like it could have been a good story about any of these topics but that the author couldn't really decide which one of them to handle well, so he handled them all somewhat poorly.
The way the story was written in two very different parts was interesting and done well. The clues given in the first part which indicated all was not as it seemed kept me reading into the second part. Without those intriguing morsels I probably wouldn't have continued with the book.
The second half was predictable, the timeline was somewhat unclear at times, and the characters were predictable and trite - an affair with a "queasy" tennis pro, a suicide attempt, an introduction to a rebellious teenager son who later died in the war, and the ending was all too easy…

My review seems to be in contrast to the majority - I just didn't get it. The book is narrated for the first 120 pages or so by the Headteacher who it seems is suffering somewhat from a midlife crisis and has an affair with a student. I found it particularly uncomfortable to read and didn't really enjoy the way the narrative was set out.

120 pages in it gets GOOD - for a page or so. But from then on I am afraid the story, while moving ahead swiftly, doesn't seem to go anywhere. I left the story at the end feeling like I hadn't really been on a journey anywhere in particular and don't see why the ending was as abrupt as it was.

Overall a disappointing read which makes me sad, as I hate to write a poor review, especially as the author has obviously gone to great lengths to write an engrossing and personal story.