A Spy in the House of Love

This is a book I read years ago and decided to revisit this year.  It was on my bookshelf and I could not remember what it was about or whether or not I enjoyed it when I read it.  That should have been my clue to skip it because if there was anything memorable about the book I would have....um....remembered! The book is essentially about a young woman who is unhappy in her marriage and seeks happiness and fulfillment outside of the marriage.  With that being said, the book was written in the late 1950s so this was a very big deal and scandalous back then. As I read the book I found the overlying themes to be ennui, existentialism, repressed desire, and conformity.  The woman is basically bored because she never got to learn about who she was an individual and as a romantic woman.  She was married at age 18 or 19 and did not have an identity of her own.  She continuously searches for the one man who will make her feel whole, all the while fretting about how to keep these secrets from her husband.  I can see how it would be a scandal at the time the book came out, but as I was reading it in 2012 I was just feeling like "eh".  Probably because most women can do what they want to do now. So being married off at 19 doesn't really happen as the norm. Also, this is one of those books where the author employs a lot of introspection and lengthy descriptions of emotions.  So if you decide to pick it up, be prepared to read a description of fear, desire, anxiety, or any other emotion for at least a few paragraphs.