Mrs. Kimble: A Novel

There are three Mrs. Kimbles who are at the core of this story. Mr. Kimble is not a polygamist, but a serial husband. And, to put it bluntly, he's a selfish jerk. His character is developed, and tolerated, because of the focus on his likeable, albeit tragic three wives and, to a lesser degree, his elder son Charlie. Each Mrs. Kimble is introduced at a different point of the relationship: #1: After he left #2: How they meet, the courtship, the marriage #3: The reunion, of sorts, well into their marriage Each section of this trilogy--if you will--allows the reader to fall in love with the current Mrs. Kimble, and from the onset, one finds it easy to detest Mr. Kimble. This good vs. bad quality makes for a true page-turner, especially because the writing is smooth and the detail wonderful. Overall, a well-told tale. One note: The third Mrs. Kimble, Dinah, recalls the treatment she received from her high school peers, who relentlessly mocked her for a state of Minnesota-shaped birthmark she had covering a good portion of her face. The depth of the feeling the writer evoked brought me to tears. Fine writing such as this makes Mrs. Kimble absolutely worth the time. Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

I enjoyed this book. Not the standard story. I enjoyed reading something different.

This book starts out with a brief story about a man who had a heart attack and died in his car while waiting for a drawbridge to go down. He had half a million dollars in the bank. No one came to claim the body. "Mrs. Kimble" is a book about three women, Birdie, Joan, and Dinah, who all married a man named Ken Kimble. And it's about a self-entered, amoral chameleon named Ken Kimble. Birdie met Reverend Ken Kimble in the early '60's during her first year at Bible college, where he was the choir director. She was eighteen and he in his early thirties when she became pregnant and they got married. Birdie couldn't help but be secretly overjoyed, knowing all the other female students were envious of her. Fast forward seven years. Birdie now has two young children, no money, no job, and no husband. Ken Kimble ran off with one of his students, and Birdie has no idea how to take care of herself, let alone her children. She finds solace in a wine bottle. Her six year old son is more mature and responsible then she is. Fast forward to the early '70's. Joan, a successful career woman who has had an exciting life and a succession of lovers, had never felt the need to settle down. But now she's nearing forty. She's a wealthy woman, but has no husband and no children, and an ugly scar where one of her breasts used to be. She wonders what man could possibly want her now. Then an aging hippy named Ken Kimble comes into her life. He tells her he's Jewish (because Joan is). Ken cuts his hair, shaves his beard, starts dressing in expensive suits, and pretty soon is running the real estate business started by Joan's father and uncle. She feels so fortunate to have met Ken Kimble, so when he asks her to marry him, of course she accepts. After the marriage, Joan doesn't feel so fortunate. Fast forward to the late '70's. Dinah, who went to culinary school, works in a restaurant. She would be a beautiful young woman if it wasn't for the big red birthmark on one side of her face that looks like a map of Minnesota. Her life changes when a man named Ken Kimble runs into her (literally). Fast forward to 1994. Dinah is attending yet another black tie dinner to honor her husband for the charitable foundation he set up to help low-income people buy homes. Dinah has been married to Ken Kimble for 15 years. She didn't know that after he paid for plastic surgery to remove her birthmark, she would become his trophy wife. She also didn't know that there is nothing "cheritable" about Ken Kimble. The only other thing I'll say about Dinah is that her life is about to get better. Ken Kimble is about to leave wife No. 3. I loved this book. It's not for everybody, but it's a perfect example of a perfect book for me to get lost in. I devoured it, and I can't wait to read something else by this author. However, I do take issue with something author Jennifer Haight wrote in the Author's Notes, indicating that Ken Kimble isn't such a bad guy. In her own words, "He is, in fact, a very ordinary man; he simply takes what is given to him." I would like to ask Ms. Haight, "When did the bar for men get that low?" Five stars for the book. Another five stars for the book cover. And a minus five stars for "ordinary men" like Ken Kimble.

I'm not much for romance stories and anticipated this book to bring the twists and turns as suggested. It started off intriguing, mysterious even. I adored the family, the building of the characters, the children. One could feel the sadness and mourned for what should be. I was anxiously turning pages to find out more and more about the elusive husband. Unfortunately, nothing more in depth was added to this character which I found quite disappointing. By the end, I was aching for the big reveal and then... suddenly it ended rather abruptly. Loved the start but found the last wife character to be less developed and more pages filled with more fluff and not enough purpose. Extremely disappointed about the end. The Mr of the story, the reason the three wives stories are told, just vanishes from the book. Bummer

This is a complexly plotted story of the three women who were married to Ken Kimble, the antagonist. Birdie is the first. She was the daughter of a lawyer and was attending Hambley Bible College when she has an affair with the Reverend Ken Kimble, gets pregnant and they marry. The second Mrs. Kimble is Joan Cohen, a career journalist writing for Newsweek, who has had a mastectomy. The third Mrs. Kimble is an assistant chef at Emile's, a Washington DC restaurant. The characterization is fairly well developed, and the book is a fast read. Secrets and deceit create a great deal of the plot tension. It's an engaging book. Some of the characters are better developed than others.

It is an exciting and thrilling story. But at most it is about the different personalities of three women and how they treat with a narcissist. Very good written! The best story I read about this topic.

What a cliff hanger. I am sure there are females out there who will find their own lives resonate with these ladies. Tragic is some cases but a very good read.

Der Einfluss eines nie ganz fassbaren Mannes auf das Leben dreier Frauen (und den aus den Beziehungen resultierenden Kindern) ist in diesem Buch exzellent beschrieben. Die erste Geschichte hinterlässt beim Leser ein sehr beklemmendes Gefühl, die 2. zeigt die Verzweiflung, die 3. schliesslich scheint am Fröhlichsten zu sein, nur um dann wieder im Verderben zu enden. Die Geschichte ist fesselnd geschrieben, nie langweilig, oft atemberaubend, aber nie vorhersehbar oder oberflächlich. Sehr lesenswert.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and very happy to have found myself a "new" author.

Loved this book of the three wives of a lying cheating rake