Liars: A Novel

When Jane is four months pregnant, John accepts an offer of employment from the bank he used to work at in New York. He goes to New York, then to Alberta to visit Eve, whose chemotherapy is no longer working. Jane joins him in Alberta to spend time with Eve. During their last conversation, Eve tells Jane that her parents tried and failed to coerce her into not marrying John’s father. Jane is confused by Eve’s confession. Jane’s back seizes up from the stress of dealing with the couple’s finances, and John offers to rub her back but refuses to rub the spot where it hurts.

A few days before a planned trip to London for an award Jane has been nominated for, a stranger delivers a battered and drunken John to the apartment in the middle of the night. Rushing, Jane cleans up John’s vomit and calls 911. The next day, she reflects on the situation, cancels their London plans, and performs several domestic tasks. She also writes a thank you letter to the man who brought John home that night. While John’s nose is getting reset, Jane has Braxton-Hicks contractions in the waiting room, and the next day, she falls.

Eve’s health declines, and she is hospitalized. John takes a trip to Miami, but Jane, encouraged by her psychiatrist, asks him to return. Hannah comes to help Jane before John arrives, and he is upset to find Hannah helping Jane when he returns home—“I thought I was rescuing you. I wanted to stay one more day” (49).

Jane worries that John will get fired and that she will have to leave him to protect herself and her child from John’s financial problems. After a birthing class, John announces that he wants them to move to a different apartment, which upsets Jane. Eve dies while Jane is heavily pregnant with a cold and at risk of her autoimmune disease relapsing. John stays with Jane instead of visiting Eve, and after Eve dies, John says he needs to visit the ocean. Jane retells the story from another perspective, describing the more mundane aspects of the day. They enjoy their ocean trip, but when they get home, they find their apartment flooded.

Jane’s mother calls and tells her that it is important for John to get Eve’s jewelry before John’s father gives it to other women. When she comes to visit and meet the baby, Jane’s mother is clearly uncomfortable with the child and admits that Jane was cared for by a nanny for her first month of life. Jane’s mother then offers to drop off Jane’s dry cleaning at the cleaners’, saying Jane can pick it up later, which Jane points out is not helpful.

John rolls his eyes and complains when she doesn’t offer to get him tea, and Jane reminds him that he is supposed to be nicer to her. He sincerely apologizes. However, he continues to treat her rudely and assert he is working harder than her as she deals with sleep deprivation and caring for their newborn. Hannah commiserates with Jane, saying her husband also ignores her “invisible layer.” She says that she has had to become more patient to manage the issue.

On the plane to Alberta to attend Eve’s funeral, John gets drunk, but the baby behaves well. After the trip, John insists they need to move back to California, blaming New York and Jane for his depression. John sulks on Mother’s Day, missing his mother while ignoring the fact that Jane is a mother. He then decides to start another company, Polyglot, insisting they need to move to Los Angeles to support the company. John gives incorrect information to some of his friends, making them miss the start of his birthday party; he proceeds to drink too much and hurt himself by lifting the baby repeatedly. The next day, they fight after Jane accidentally bends the coffee pot lid.

Felix visits while Victoria remains in Calgary taking care of their kids. While talking, Felix asserts that parenting is a full-time job and Jane shouldn’t be trying to work at the same time. John chats with mothers at the playground, claiming they are drawn to him because he is calm. Meanwhile, Jane feels that she has lost her individuality to motherhood. John does not value Jane’s domestic labor, criticizing her for not working full-time. He also criticizes her for being angry. Getting a sitter, John and Jane go out for a $400 dinner, and Jane is upset by the expense while John is exhilarated. Taking care of the child takes all of Jane’s energy, leaving her unable to write. She takes charge of the housework out of necessity, then John complains that Jane is too controlling.

Jane feels “bereft” when John leaves for Calgary to meet with his business investors. He returns and continues to put in minimal effort in the home while Jane manages the household and raises the child. Jane has an orgasm while riding a train after flirting with a famous author. She continues to text and meet up with the famous author, and she feels the sexual tension building although she does not like the author’s new book. Then she realizes that she was ovulating—“That little egg was powerful” (70).

Both Jane and John get a massage one weekend, leaving Jane feeling refreshed. They spend the next day together at home sharing domestic responsibilities, and Jane says it was the best day she has had in a while. Jane wants to get a financial advisor, but she hasn’t done it yet; she is ashamed of John’s spending. The child watches Jane doing laundry and tries to help. Jane loves the child deeply and is patient with him, though impatient with John. She keeps the child on a strict routine, which John criticizes but which has positive results. Jane ovulates again, making her feel an intense attraction toward John, but he leaves for another trip to Calgary.

John returns from Calgary and makes Jane’s life harder. She starts experiencing symptoms of depression, including suicidal ideation, and she is stressed about their upcoming move across the county—“I took half a tranquilizer in the afternoon, worried about landing in California and John going to work twelve hours later and having no child care, no car, no internet, no ability to shower or buy food or interview babysitters” (75). After they move, John goes to Calgary again while Jane manages the task of establishing their new home in Los Angeles.

Jane and John have their worst fight, and instead of acknowledging that Jane is struggling, John keeps offering advice. Jane juggles multiple babysitters who keep showing up late or canceling, making it nearly impossible for Jane to get any writing done—“I feared that trying to stay a writer would render me unrecognizable, just burned to a husk by frustrated rage” (79).

Jane can’t attend a conference because John is in Calgary, and Jane does not have childcare. John returns from Calgary, and the couple then flies back to the Canadian province of Alberta together for John’s college reunion. When they arrive, John is denied entry because he didn’t pre-register. John wants Jane to hide her angry expression outside the event, but she doesn’t. After they return from Alberta, John takes a trip to South Korea, then goes back to Calgary.

John continues to emotionally abuse Jane, mocking her, calling her “crazy,” and laughing at her. Jane has a health concern and asks John to give her a rectal exam to check for tumors. He does, then he leaves for Calgary early the next day. Jane feels lucky when John returns home; however, she remarks that she now understands that she wasn’t feeling happiness, only a “temporary cessation of pain” (86).