Gail Dologuin's Reviews > Heart of the Matter

This is exactly how I felt about the ending as well. His confession and proclamation of love for his wife at the end seemed completely phony.

During his final conversation with Valerie, Nick told her that he would always love her and that he was going to try and fix what he did at home. He even told Valerie that a part of him wanted to tell her to wait for him while he tried to fix things at home!!!!! Come on!

When Tessa asks him if he loved Valerie during the last conversation he doesn't even deny it. He says he doesn't know! Then tells her that Valerie never loved him?!?!

Another thing that bothered me is that Tessa said she wouldn't take him back if he told Valerie that he loved her. Valerie and Nick both lie to Tessa about this. How convenient.

The endind provided no real closure to the story.
Valerie is still alone and will now have an even harder time forming relationships.

Tessa is stuck with a man who fell in love and is more than likely STILL in love with another woman.

Nick.....who knows..

Shani wrote: "This is exactly how I felt about the ending as well. His confession and proclamation of love for his wife at the end seemed completely phony.

During his final conversation with Valerie, Nick told ..."

I am glad someone agrees with me...I have read comments on here and amazon...and they loved it. I don't question it was a good book, but infidelity is hard to swallow let alone read. I had reread the last 50 pages of the book to get a better sense of it because it is bothering me. Although everything from what Nick and Valerie had said/shared up to the point when Tessa came back from NY was sickening to read...I felt that he not contacting Valerie for ten days after Tessa confronted him. That maybe Nick had to pull himself out of the situation to see the bigger picture. Also when Tessa kicked him out and weeks had gone by he still did not contact Valerie was a sign of remorse. And when he said to her at the end...that he didn't realize his love for Tessa was more than what he was feeling for Valerie the minute he looked into her eyes and confessed. Maybe in his POV he loved Valerie but for the wrong reasons and his love for Tessa was lost but now has resurfaced knowing he could lose it all...especially when he said "maybe it can be better"...it would be great if the author did a follow up story like her other book with Valerie and finding her one and maybe then it could be closure for this book.

I so agree with you, I was left disappointed by the ending and disturbed with Valerie and husband. I can't say this was a great or even a good story.

Hi:
I just finished reading "Heart of the Matter". I knew what it was about even before I started, I even checked out some reviews here and stumbled upon yours and really liked that you had a balanced, rational yet passionate take on the book. You were very perceptive. I totally agree with you. I must say that I've never read Emily Giffin before though I have all her books and the theme of her books intrigue- the broad questions she asks. I do have this sort of perverse predilection for books about love triangles and especially infidelity - maybe it is all the news lately or just how easily to stereotype all parties or maybe. When well done and not stereotyped, the gray area is so much more compelling- so while easy to judge, it is hard to swallow even if one has never been touched or cursed with the infidelity bug.
I think even knowing how the book ends, it is the journey, the getting there that is important and Emily Giffin has an incredibility beautiful prose. She pulls you into the story and keeps you there even when you don't want to stay there. I've read that she wanted to make some characters and their choices unsympathetic, she wanted to extract emotional reactions from readers. I agree and like that readers have all these feelings- neg/posit- about the book bt here is the heart of the matter for me-LOL: You made a lot of sense in your analysis of how the story progressed to the end. Some other reviewers got that too. I sure hope that Emily plans a sequel and lets us know how everybody is doing. Not that I think that books need closure so much- it is nice to- bt too many questions remain unanswered. Here it is how she sort of lost me. I did root for Tessa bt had empathy for Valerie. I don't agree that Tessa was bland or shallow. I think that Valerie was bitter and had huge self-esteem issues. I did not like Nick at all, to the point of wondering what these intelligent, strong women see in him and why don't they just ditch him? Had Emily given him a chance to speak for himself or at least have more of a sense for his choices. She lost me bc, while I wanted him to pick Tessa, Emily went so out of her way to pound into our heads how in love Nick and Valerie were - even Tessa knew it and she is smart enough to figure out that his 'confession/love declaration" was not totally heartfelt. So, I wish that Emily had had the guts to put Nick and Valerie together. However, having said that, I also think that it is quite possible, that she did not on purpose and that it was her intention all along to make such a strong point so we could see- or some of us- that their love did not ring true- not to me. It sounded more like an infatuation/a response to a crisis- like a "Stockholm Syndrome' response type on Nick and Valerie's part due to how they got together.
Maybe if/when Nick and Valerie got together and went about their business of married life- or life together- all those insecurities would come about to haunt them. I think that Tessa would do quite well on her own, so Nick would realize that she too was strong and vulnerable.
Nick had such an idealized vision of Valerie and Charlie and their lives while he totally ignored and put down Tessa. While the affair was going on, he gave Tessa no opportunity, no chance to fix anything that was going wrong. He did not want to try. I guess he wanted her to take the leap and leave or kick him out as she did. So he was a major wuss.
What is so attractive about a man who admits to his mistress/himself/his wife that he violated medical ethics, that he ignored his kids at Halloween to be with someone else's kids, that says he fell in love with a woman only to go home and make love to his wife whom he just lied to, that he would make love to his mistress and call her in the morning while making breakfast to his kids and conjure up more sex, that would tell his mistress that he loves her and yet break up with her. Nick never ever took Tessa into account. He has to be reminded that Tessa is part of the equation of his choices- not just as a family-. Why would Valerie want to be with a man that behaved like that? They both put Charlie into a very dangerous situation. Yes, she had more morals bt like Nick, she had no problems doing just the opposite soon after acknowledging that they were being amoral: letting Nick spend the night, hearing him talk about sleeping with her while cooking for his kids and yet agreeing to meet with him.
Again, made Nick and Valerie idealize each other and yet did not make Nick be sympathetic or remorseful towards Tessa until the very end, even Tessa complains that he acceptance being kicked out too easily, that he did not try very hard to see here while he was gone- just a few phone calls- that makes the ending- that I had wanted- seem so phony and wrong. I think she should have made Nick leave and look for Valerie or have Tessa toss him out.
I've felt that maybe the whole point of the affair was to display more of a romantic/heady type of love, not the real thing, sort of an infatuation, bt yet Emily kept telling us over and over how much they both loved one another, so that totally lost me and made me angry about the ending. I felt manipulated. I had great empathy for Tessa and thought that maybe she settled too soon.
Anyway, just read the book, so it is still fresh on my mind and it did stir some emotions from me.