Heart of the Matter
Emily Giffin, 2010
St. Martin's Press
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312554170
Summary
Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother's warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life.
Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie—a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance—and even to some degree, friendships—believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.
Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined.
In alternating, pitch-perfect points of view, Emily Giffin creates a moving, luminous story of good people caught in untenable circumstances. Each being tested in ways they never thought possible. Each questioning everything they once believed. And each ultimately discovering what truly matters most. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 20, 1979
• Where—Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Raised—Naperville, Illinois
• Education—B.A., Wake Forest University; J.D., University of Virginia
• Currenbtly—lives in Atlanta, Georgia
Emily Giffin is the bestselling American author of eight novels commonly categorized as "chick lit." More specifically, Giffin writes stories about relationships and the full array of emotions experienced within them.
Giffin earned her undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University, where she also served as manager of the basketball team, the Demon Deacons. She then attended law school at the University of Virginia. After graduating in 1997, she moved to Manhattan and worked in the litigation department of Winston & Strawn. But Giffin soon determined to seriously pursue her writing.
In 2001, she moved to London and began writing full time. Her first young adult novel, Lily Holding True, was rejected by eight publishers, but Giffin was undaunted. She began a new novel, then titled Rolling the Dice, which became the bestselling novel Something Borrowed.
2002 was a big year for Emily Giffin. She married, found an agent, and signed a two-book deal with St. Martin's Press. While doing revisions on Something Borrowed, she found the inspiration for a sequel, Something Blue.
In 2003, Giffin and her husband left England for Atlanta, Georgia. A few months later, on New Year's Eve, she gave birth to identical twin boys, Edward and George.
Something Borrowed was released spring 2004. It received unanimously positive reviews and made the extended New York Times bestsellers list. Something Blue followed in 2005, and in 2006, her third, Baby Proof, made its debut. No new hardcover accompanied the paperback release of in 2007. Instead, Giffin spent the year finishing her fourth novel and enlarging her family. Her daughter, Harriet, was born May 24, 2007.
More novels:
2008 - Love the One You're With
2010 - Heart of the Matter
2012 - Where We Belong
2014 - The One & Only
2016 - First Comes Love
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia.)
Visit the author's website.
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Book Reviews
Amid all the angst, Giffin displays her trademark ability to capture the complexities of human emotions while telling a rip-roaring tale. She maintains a will-they/won't-they tension and supplies enough clucking friends and relatives to keep it spicy.
Kristi Lanier - Washington Post
Giffin excels at creating complex characters and stories that ask us to explore what we really want from our lives.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the popular Giffin's latest, Nick Russo is a pediatric plastic surgeon; his wife, Tessa (sister of Dex, from Something Borrowed), is a professor turned stay-at-home mom living a cushy life in Boston. Nick is called in to care for a six-year-old burn victim, and Nick's devotion to his work is soon tangled up in his attraction to the boy's mother, Valerie, a single attorney. Narrated in turn by Tessa and Valerie, the action centers around—will they or won't they, and, if they do, will Tessa forgive him? While unclear what Nick finds so unsatisfying in his marriage, adultery is always tempting and Tessa and Valerie both have their charms. Longtime fans will enjoy the cameos, but for the best of Giffin, don't miss her earlier works.
Publishers Weekly
Tessa Russo is a Boston stay-at-home mother of two young children. Her husband, Nick, is a busy pediatric surgeon. Valerie Anderson is a single mom of six-year-old Charlie. Their lives intersect when Charlie is badly burned at a sleepover party, and Nick becomes his doctor. Much to Nick's chagrin, Tessa is on the fast track to joining the inner circle of a clique of uptight and wealthy suburban moms; meanwhile, he increasingly devotes himself to Charlie and Valerie. His relationship with Valerie builds gradually as they fool themselves into believing that they are just friends. That is, until Tessa goes out of town. Verdict: Best-selling author Giffin's fifth novel is fast paced and well written; readers will be eager to find out how the relationships evolve and how the characters deal with the messy reality of adultery. Sure to be in demand by fans of women's fiction. —Karen Core, Detroit P.L.
Library Journal
The [story's] premise is a familiar one, but Giffin injects freshness by getting inside both Tessa’s and Valerie’s heads and by making both sympathetic, fleshed-out characters. Giffin’s talent lies in making her characters believable and relatable, and readers will be enthralled by this layered, absorbing novel. —Kristine Huntley
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the opening lines of the novel: "Whenever I hear of someone else's tragedy… I find myself reconstructing those final, ordinary moments. Moments that make up our lives. Moments that were blissfully taken for granted—and that likely would have been forgotten altogether but for what followed. The before snapshots." Have you had an event in your life with a clear before and after? What were those snapshots for you?
2. Heart of the Matter is told from two points of view, Tessa's and Valerie's. How does this technique affect our view of the characters and their actions?
3. In what ways are Valerie and Tessa different? In what ways are they similar? With whom do you sympathize and identify more? Did you find yourself taking sides as their stories unfolded?
4. We never hear Nick’s point of view, other than what he shares with Tessa and Valerie. What do you think of him as a person? A husband and father? A surgeon? Do you think your feelings would have changed had he been given a voice?
5. Valerie has closed herself off from personal relationships, both casual and romantic, claiming to only have time for her son, Charlie, and to a lesser extent her career as an attorney. How does meeting Nick change her? Does it affirm what she's always suspected? What do you think she’ll be like moving forward?
6. In contrast to Valerie, Tessa seems to fit in perfectly in their social circle. Yet she, too, grapples with some of the social issues. In what ways is she different from the women around her?
7. How do money and materialism play a part in this novel? Social standing? Education?
8. What did you think of Romy Croft? Of April? Do you know similar people? Do you think their actions were misunderstood? How would you have reacted to Romy had you been in Valerie’s shoes?
9. Do you think Tessa made the right decision to give up her career to become a stay-at-home-mother? Do you think the decision contributed to problems in her marriage? If so, why?
10. Are her mother’s misgivings about Tessa’s decision founded? How are her mother’s views colored by her own past?
11. How was Tessa's reaction to Nick's transgressions shaped by the experience of her mother? Her friends? Her brother's seemingly perfect marriage? Who do you think has the more enviable life—Tessa or Cate?
12. Why did Nick have an affair? Do you believe it was specific to Valerie or was there something missing in his marriage? Do you believe he was in love with Valerie? Was he telling the truth in the final chapter of the book? Do you subscribe to the notion “once a cheater, always a cheater”?
13. Do you think Valerie is a good mother? How much do you think Charlie factored into her decisions in this story? How much does she let Lion, and her past, influence her decisions?
14. Compare and contrast the mother-daughter relationships in this book. What makes these relationships so complex?
15. Why do you think women judge each other so much when it comes to personal decisions about work, motherhood, relationships?
16. At the end of the book, Tessa has a decision to make. Do you feel she made the right one? What would you have done? What do you see as the “heart of the matter” in this story? How is trust distinct from forgiveness? Do you think Tessa will forgive Nick? If so, will she learn to trust him?
17. Fast forward ten years. What do you see happening to each of these characters? Do you think they are happy? Why or why not? How will Nick and Valerie’s affair continue to affect the lives of all three characters?
(Questions issued by publisher.)