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Jane is an aspiring writer and when she meets John, an artist, they hit it off instantly.

They get married, they buy a house, they have a baby boy.

John starts up a company, it fails, they move across country. John starts up another company, it fails, they move again. Over and Over. They move 5 times over the course of 7 years. Meanwhile, her writing is always on the back burner, simmering, just out of reach.

"John didn't just need to win the fight; he needed me to agree that it was my responsibility never to say anything that might make him feel as if he'd ever done anything wrong. Feeling that he'd done something wrong really threatened his sense of entitlement."

All the while Jane is left to do everything. Every domestic task. Everything for their son. All the logistics of keeping a family and household running on course. Correcting things her absentminded husband forgets time and time again.

"I was in charge of everything but in control of nothing."

When she finally gets frustrated enough to snap at him about helping out more, he always responds the same way. You're crazy.

"Calling a woman crazy is a man's last resort when he's failed to control her."

This is a story that has been written many times before yet I never grow tired of observing a disintegrating marriage. That probably makes me sound like quite the voyeur but in actuality it reminds me that the feelings I have had in the past are valid. Sometimes in the midst of an abusive relationship you can't see things with any clarity. Hence the title, Liars, that of the abusive and unfaithful and then those lies of the people unwilling to look and see the truth. The lies we tell ourselves to keep ourselves held together and sane. If I can just pretend I'm happy and everything is perfectly perfect it will eventually become true, right?

Manguso's astute observations on a marriage in decline were sharp as a razors edge. I could not look away from the page. My heart broke many times over but I am still so glad to have read this. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for my complimentary copy.