Indiscretion - Charles Dubow

“Pain is transient.  But love is eternal.”

When I started reading this book I never thought I could finish it because I felt that it was too long and that the writing has too much details and descriptions. However, the more I read the story the more I liked it and all the more that I could not put it down. And because of all the details and descriptions, it made the book more interesting, unique and thrilling. Also, since the words used were fairly formal, I thought it was a historical genre at first. The way it was written exudes class and sophistication. There is also an erotic feel to the writing. Thrilling and arousing. It was fitting for a story about rich people.

The author’s depiction of the different seasons with the different phases of the story was brilliant. It was inspiring and poignant how the seasons were used to separate and represent parts of the story. Summer represents the smoke and fire building the betrayal. Fall represents the weakness of the characters and how and why they fell for it. Winter represents the day the betrayal blows up. The day Maddy's heart became numb. The day her love and commitment turned cold and the numbness of her heart. Winter is the pain and the heartbreak of the Harry, Maddy and Claire and the knowledge of the double betrayal. Spring represents the realization that love is still alive and that love means forgiveness. It also means acceptance of what is really not meant to be.

This book is a story of marriage of Harry and Maddy, the perfect couple and how it was ruined by weakness and temptation. Their story is narrated by Walter, their close family friend.

This is a story of how a young woman, Claire, fell for the sexy older man. Harry is sexy, mature, successful and stable. I couldn’t really blame Claire for falling in love with him as I also loved Harry as a reader. Claire really did everything to tempt him and she succeeded. I also thought that she is manipulative and conniving. I eventually forgave Claire and realized that she was indeed young, but not blameless, but she also paid the price of her actions.

Maddy is the perfect wife, domesticated, submissive, supportive, and takes care of herself. I can't really grasp why Harry would be tempted at first. He has the perfect life. But he is human and he fell for his weakness and allowed it to consume him. If he was only strong enough to resist Claire's constant pushing.

One of my most hated parts was when Claire convinced Harry to go to the Hamptons home he shared with his wife because Claire wanted to try and imitate Maddy and see for herself if she could easily replace her. It was twisted. It concerned me how the husband could be so calloused to allow such thing. How can he defile their sacred place, their sanctuary as a couple? And the nerve to waste money, money that's not his, money owned by his wife. I am enraged! And after all blows up they still continued the betrayal.

After all this I realized that Harry really fell in love and it was all the more painful to fathom. He lost his friends, money, stability because of the affair but he was willing to forego it all for the mistress. He continued to be weak and move forward with the relationship. I’m just glad that he redeemed himself in the end and realized what’s important to him.

My heart broke for Maddy for what happened. Life sure throws her the ultimate pain. I can't say that she is unlucky because every step of her life her trusted friend Walter is around. I cannot think of a better friend than Walter. His life sure seems lonely but it was enough for him.

Though the ending left me devastated, it was really heart breaking, but it left us with lessons that we can apply in our lives. One of the crux of marriage problems, the passion dying, where the passion turns into a working relationship. This is the struggle of long term relationships. While I had hoped for the other ending, it was still beautiful and worth reading. Highly recommended.