Review: Badgers, Cheatin' Husbands and the Road to Forgiveness
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
This is a book about infidelity,  not immediate, lost in the lust moment infidelity but the belated effects of an affair and it's consequences that took place almost 20 years earlier.  This is a book about how a woman who thought she had everything and perfect marriage with a perfect guy for her finds her happy life shattered and somehow has to find a way to move on.If you have no tolerance for infidelity, do not read this book.  If you have a curiosity to follow the journey to put a marriage back together from the viewpoint of the betrayed woman,  you will really like this book.This might be kinda spoilery so please read on with caution if you don't want to know .............................This book is only told in the heroine's pov.  Since she is the betrayed one and the one who has to ultimately decide to make the marriage work or divorce and move on,  the single pov is remarkably effective for moving through the plot of the story.  You can be convinced or doubt right along with the heroine and it makes a very riveting tale.  How many times have we all seen a marriage destroyed because of a thoughtless affair and unexpected child? What happens if the betrayed spouse chooses a different path and how do you get to forgiveness after such a devastating experience like having your husband involved in an affair with your best friend and the best friend has a child from it?What do badgers have to do with anything?  Actually, the badgers are a symbol of the roadblocks in front of the heroine preventing her from moving on in her life.  (Plus I had to put them in the review cause they are spectacled badgers and I like that.)  It is the underlying symbolism that once the heroine can find a solution for the badgers,  she can find a solution for her life choices. Fortunately with great compassion, a leap of faith and a humbling amount of forgiveness the heroine does manage to get her life and her choices going a positive direction.  She can never go back to the place she was but she has learned that with grace and kindness she can get to someplace better.That is ultimately the big message in this book,  that with love and a certain amount of mental meltdown, forgiveness is possible and even the biggest transgressions can be forgiven.  It all depends on how one views the situation and what one values.  This story is a journey about understanding and a travel guide to one way to get back to a happy marriage.  It isn't easy and not everyone agrees on the outcome or the methods but it is the beauty of this story.Betrayals happen everyday,  a lot of times with unpleasant reminders and permanent consequences,  it is so rare to find a funny and well written story that really plumbs the depths of what it takes to move on and rebuild a marriage that this book is a treasure and it is even better with badgers.