We Would Never by Tova Mirvis

We Would Never Tova Mirvis

Tova Mirvis was first published way back in 1999, and has published several novels as well as a memoir, The Book of Separation. Her most recent book, We Would Never, came out in February of 2025 and deals with bullying, terminal illness, vomit, grief, gun violence, murder, abandonment, and the death of a parent.

Hailey Gelman fell in love with her husband Jonah when she was in college and could not wait to introduce him to her family. The meeting did not go as well as she'd hoped, with Jonah coming away happier than ever to live across the country from Hailey's family, who reside in Miami. Fast forward a few years and Hailey is living in southern New York state for Jonah's job, in a town she does not like and does not feel comfortable in, when Jonah declares he wants a divorce. Suddenly, the distance between Hailey and her family seems larger than ever in a time when she could really use their support. The divorce becomes contentious, primarily due to a custody battle over their only child, and all Hailey's family wants is to see Hailey happy again. Then after months of fighting, a stranger guns Jonah down in his home. Probably just coincidence, right?

They would never? I'll tell you who should have never... me. The most interesting part of this book was that it was based on a true story but even that could not hold my interest for long. In all honesty, the first half of the book was okay. But the second half was pure drudgery. The first half of the book has characters who seem realistic, while the second half has characters who have become a caricature of themselves. The mother cares only about being liked by everyone but says she just wants to protect her family. The brother suddenly loses any semblance of a backbone. The dad is barely a part of the story at all. The first part had real potential but I almost didn't make it through the second half. It felt monotonous, repetitive, tedious, and any number of other synonyms you can think of, just circling around the same drain for what felt like forever.

I'm giving We Would Never by Tova Mirvis 2.25 stars out of 5. I did manage to finish it and the writing was fairly well done. And I thought how the author described the divorce proceedings and the gradual dissolution of any show of geniality felt real, but I did not like the rest of it and I thought the ending was absolutely unbelievable.

For more from the author, check out https://www.tovamirvis.com/

Pairs well with butternut squash soup and taking a good long swim.

Best quote, in my opinion: "People liked to make all kinds of proclamations about what they would never do. But people did all sorts of things, and never was a very long time, and in his experience, people who said things like that lacked imagination. All it meant was that they hadn't yet found themselves in a situation where they might."