博客來 《紐約時報》暢銷作家Melanie Gideon首部小說佳作
平凡單調的婚姻生活，是時候上網來點刺激？
經過二十年的婚姻，愛麗絲與先生已經進入相敬如「冰」的老夫老妻模式。沮喪之際，她收到一個研究機構傳來的婚姻滿意度調查郵件，於是她化名為「22號人妻」，開始在「101號調查員」的引導下回答問題。
自此，愛麗絲與101號調查員無所不談，除了婚姻、愛情，她也將自己的夢想全盤托出。漸漸的，愛麗絲便沉迷於與調查員交談的時光，甚至註冊了秘密臉書帳號與他互動。當她越陷越深，101號調查員說：「22號人妻，我們見面吧……」
「22號人妻」這個代號出自小說《第22條軍規》，第22條軍規說：「如果飛行員自認精神異常時，可以停飛；但既然還能夠想出藉口，就表示神智清楚，還是必須執行任務。」作者以這條自相牴觸的軍規比喻婚姻的矛盾：二十年前另一半吸引你的條件，可能在二十年後讓你抓狂。
(文/博客來編譯)
Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.
But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).
And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.
7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.
61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.
67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have.
32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.
Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.
But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.
As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.
