Nate’s and Alice’s relationship truly depicted all the things that are wrong with relationships in this day and age. It was like each one of them was looking for a better way to end the relationship. Both of them were very bad at expressing themselves. I couldn’t think of one meaningful conversation they have had. In the entire read, I realized there was such a big communication gap between Alice and Nate. She lied to herself when she thought her husband was having an affair. She lied when she got an IUD inserted without consenting her husband. She lied when she said she wanted children. She lied when she told her husband she was ready to move to the suburbs from the hustle and bustle of the city. She lied when she said she had started writing a novel. She lied about why she left her previous job. Alice was lying to her husband since the beginning. I believe ‘Trust and love go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other’. They got married within two years of meeting but when I went through the novel, I couldn’t help but despise their relationship. She lived a life solidarity after that, content and happy. Nellie started planning on how to leave Richard. Soon Richard started abusing Nellie, first emotionally and then physically. Nellie cooked for her husband and she had the hobby of gardening. Everything was rosy at first in their marriage. She married Richard, CEO of a gum making company. Her mother committed suicide when she was 12 years old. She just needed to realize her potential.
Nellie was a strong and independent woman. However, as the story progressed, I realized I liked Nellie more than Alice. I thought initially I would be able to understand Alice more as she is a career driven woman of this day and age.
Alice on the contrary is a modern-day woman, with a career of her own. Nellie is our typical 1950’s housewife whose entire life revolves around her husband. ‘Recipe for a perfect wife’ has two very strong female leads- Nellie and Alice. Maybe the harder someone worked to create a perfect union, the more power one gave to the institution of marriage, rather than the relationship itself, which is where the focus should be Perhaps marriage should be spontaneous, based more on feelings than on thinking.
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