The Husbands: A Novel

“He will take out the trash later. Do the dishes later. Clear the table later. She waits, she bides time, she goes with the flow, and her world goes kablooey. It’s happened before. And before and before and before.”

The narrator’s varied syntax highlights Nora’s disappointment in Hayden’s pattern of broken promises. The full stops after the first three sentences—two of which are incomplete because they lack a subject (and refer, instead, to the subject of the first sentence)—slow the lines’ pace, making them feel more predictable, and this is compounded by the lack of commas or conjunctions that would connect them in a typical sentence. The monotony of the pattern and Nora’s certainty that it will continue is maintained by the next series. The short, unemotional, and nondescript fifth sentence conveys her resignation. The polysyndeton created by the repeated use of “and” in the final, also incomplete, sentence extends this monotony and resignation.

“Hayden looks to Nora. She used to like that, the way he defers to her, always waiting for her to take the lead. It seemed so modern of him.”

Nora used to think that Hayden’s deference to her when answering questions about their schedule or household was his way of privileging her response. She realizes that he actually does it because he doesn’t know the family schedule or do the household work, so he cannot confidently answer questions about them. Hayden expects Nora to answer such questions because he—unconsciously or not—thinks of certain tasks as her responsibility.