Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive into my latest review – The War of the Roses by Warren Adler. I only discovered this book thanks to the recent film adaptation The Roses, and after loving the movie I knew I had to read the original novel. What I found was a vicious, darkly comic, and surprisingly unsettling tale of marital warfare — even more chaotic than its film counterparts.
It’s not often these days that I feel young. But apparently, I’m young (or uncultured enough) that I’d never heard of this book or its 1989 film adaptation. When I heard the term “War of the Roses” I immediately thought of the famous historical event between the Yorks and the Lancasters. It’s only thanks to the more recent adaptation, simply called The Roses and starring Olivia Colman alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, that I became aware of this novel by Warren Adler. Upon seeing the hilarious movie, I knew that I had to reach the novel. It is worth bearing in mind that both films are different to the novel. The general idea is the same, but the names and specifics are changed.
Our novel focuses on Jonathan and Barbara Rose. We are introduced to them at the very beginning where they are teenagers who happen to meet each other at an auction when bidding on the same item. The pair quickly fall in love and get married. The story then jumps to some time later where they have teenage children and a picturesque house in the Washington suburbs. They live a very affluent life, mostly through Jonathan’s career in corporate law while Barbara runs a catering business from the family home. They have a cat and a dog. Jonathan has a Ferrari and they employ an au pair to look after the house and the children.
Things take a turn when Jonathan suffers what he thinks is a heart attack. Barbara doesn’t come to visit Jonathan because she realises that she doesn’t care if he lives or dies. With that realisation comes the bombshell that Barbara visualises the rest of her life without Jonathan. She wants a divorce.
Now, you would think that what follows should be a straight forward process. The Roses divide their assets, work out shared custody of the children and go their separate ways. But, I suppose, if that was the case this would make for a boring book. While Jonathan sets out with the best intentions, Barbara isn’t interested in an equal split. She wants full ownership of the house. She wants Jonathan gone. Except Jonathan isn’t willing to let go of the house that easily. This can only mean one thing. War.
What follows is a messy and chaotic process where Barbara and Jonathan each try to force the other out of the house. And they are willing to stop at nothing. The only limit seems to be the author’s imagination when it comes to what the pair of them are willing to do to each other to keep the house. But the Roses are hardier than either can possibly imagine. And neither of them are prepared to just walk away so it’s going to take something extraordinary for one of them to get rid of the other. That’s if there’s anything left of the house to have in the end.
I don’t know why, but throughout this book I found the character of Barbary wholly unlikeable and unreasonable. Jonathan is the one with the successful job who made the big sums of money that enabled them to buy that house. Why should she be entitled to keep all of it? On top of all that, I don’t recall any suggestion of Jonathan deserving to be treated in the hostile manner in which she does. Then again, I suppose there would be no story if Barbara just agreed to sell the house and divide the money. The book would probably end around page twenty and not be much of a book at all. I think it’s also worth noting that I don’t feel the same way about Olivia Colman’s character in the recent film. As mentioned above, the story is slightly different and I think the film characters – while equally unreasonable – are still quite likeable, despite the film being quite absurd and slapstick.
My Goodreads rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)
