Split-Level by Sande Bortiz Berger is about Alex and Donny Pearl, a young couple in the 1970's. The story is told from Alex's point of view, as she grapples with the thought that there has to be more to marriage. In an effort to change things, her husband Donny suggests they go to a couples retreat. While at the retreat, Donny is given a book on wife swapping, which he suggests they try. As the story unfolds, the reader not only sees how Alex's self worth and image is changed, but also how her view of those around her changes.

This book was difficult to get into and to finish. I found the characters hard to relate to and unlikable. I also did not grow up in the 1970s, and the nostalgia aspect was not there for me. I wanted to yell at Alex many times to dump her husband and take more responsibility over her children. This book needed a little more of a concrete problem, climax, and resolution to speed things along.

The writing style of this book was great. I found that it flowed well, I just didn't love Alex's thoughts and the amount of time the reader was in her head.

I appreciate the opportunity from NetGalley to read and review!

This was a story where at first the main character infuriated me because I wanted so much more for her. Alex has two sweet young girls, but is married to the immature and selfish Donny. Alex feels lost and trapped in her marriage and tries for reconciliation with her husband. Her husband does not take her communication efforts seriously, but what her husband instead pushes is for an open relationship with another couple. The problem is, is that Alex never consents to this arrangement. Alex does not feel like she has any agency to say she feels uncomfortable or to share what she needs regardless of her actual attraction to her pairing with Charlie. The chaos of their life is due to her and Donny’s complete and utter lack of communication and trust. Alex is going through the motions in her life and marriage. I appreciate how Alex grows as a character, and though I spent the majority of the book frustrated I also was rooting for her to find her own strength and voice. This is certainly a book outside of what I normally read, but I was interested in the relationships between Alex and the other characters. I received Split-Level from Netgalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

This was refreshing, in that it did not fall into a formula, but followed a different story line. Was it my favorite book that I've read this month? No. I felt it dragged on way longer than it needed to in the middle. Lots of sitting and waiting at tables... and I love novels and movies that aren't filled with dialogue. It felt almost empty. I thought the end left a lot unresolved as well.

Alex and Donny Pearl are a young couple in the 1970s. Can this couple have an open marriage and still survive the consequences? Alex will come into her own over the course of the story.

This book follows two couples in the seventies as they explore their relationships. I did not enjoy this book because I found it hard to like any of the characters. They all seemed quite selfish.

When you’re going through life on autopilot and wake up to what you have, instead of what you had actually wanted, it can be a bit jarring. This journey from a bored, lonely and loveless marriage through a maelstrom of emotions eventually start to reveal a life wanted.
The characters are well developed, Alex’s voice is so Jersey and relatable, and the plot is everything but predictable!

The 70’s setting of this story intrigued me because it is the era in which I grew up. Small town suburbia in the 70’s. I was not really sure what to expect of this story so perhaps that is why I was disappointed. This story focuses on the sad suburban housewife and her failing marriage with some weed smoking, drinking, and infidelity thrown in for good measure. Alex and her husband meet another similar couple and proceed to palm their kids off on sitters so that they may have affairs with each other. Of course, things get weird and then combust. It was difficult for me to relate or even have sympathy for these pathetic human beings. However, I felt most for the four children involved: each couple had two children. The end of this story was fairly predictable.

Alex’s marriage appears to be in trouble. Despite having a loving husband, two children and a home in the suburbs, Alex can feel herself drifting away from her husband Donny. They attend a marriage retreat and then enter into an open marriage where each spouse hooks up with another.
Despite living through the 70’s, I had a difficult time connecting with the characters. Open marriages, smoking pot, being unfaithful were hard for me to identify with.

Alex is living her idea of a perfect life, loving husband, two kids, and a beautiful home but lately her marriage is showing some cracks. In an attempt to rebuild the strength of her vows, they attend a marriage retreat which starts the couple down a new path. Can Alex and her marriage survive inviting another couple in?

Split-Level had the potential to be a great book but ultimately left me feeling disappointed. Many times in the book I wanted more from Alex, more honesty with herself and her husband and for her to stand up for herself. I was unable to connect with this character and it made the book difficult to enjoy and reading it felt like a chore.

Thank you Netgalley and She Writes Press for the eARC.

Split-Level by Sande Boritz Berger is set in the 1970s and is told from the POV of our protagonist, Alexandra (Alex) Pearl. She is married to Donny Pearl. The first bit of drama that we receive in this novel is when their babysitter's mother calls and says that her daughter can no longer go over there because Donny crossed the line. After that it is a slow-burning book.

The book poses the question of whether a marriage can survive an open marriage or not. Alex does not seem thrilled about this at all and it is far from empowering or liberating. It seems like she is trapped. Her and her husband meet this couple, The Bells, and this is who they decide to let into their marriage. When the two couples decide to actually hook up with each other's spouses, the book is about 50% done.

Personal feelings aside, I think this book needed more. I wanted Alexandra to have a winning moment so bad, but that never came for me. I'm giving this book three stars because it was definitely something different from what I am used to reading, but I feel like Alexandra should've experienced some kind of growth.

I'm still reviewing and re-reading parts of Split-level, mainly because I was a child in the early 1970s and so much of how this books reads reminds me of it. It is oddly comforting. I especially appreciate main character mom and wife Alex's steady way of continuing her life as a mom and wife in the midst of the most decidedly un-sexual revolution that the 1970s suburban housewife outside of trendy or wealthy Hollywood sets or celebrities lived. Her husband has supposedly cheated on her (won't spoil it to tell you who with).

Suburban America was still a slow-paced and labor- and sex-divided place for women in the 1970s. Fewer women worked, maternity leave and divorce law were new, and child support laws, no-fault divorce and so many other changes that would improve women's lives hadn't happened yet. So Alex is that housewife peeking over the fence at her rage and confusion, and it is a good Saturday afternoon read to find out how it feels for Alex to be burgeoning into a new life without knowing it. She literally accidentally tries a version of marriage therapy like Esalen or other Southern California 1970s self-help therapies, but why she does this is just as interesting as what she actually does. The interior life of the housewife and mother may be slower paced in storyline in Berger's overall narrative, but you can learn how the suburban housewife felt and lived reading this novel, and Berger's treatment of the ethos is spot on. Glenn Campbell's "Everyday Housewife" tune was a hit in rural "red state" America at this time...Sande Boritz Berger does a solid job showing us just why that was.

The book was a bit slower-paced than I expected in some ways, while also moving a bit too rapidly in others. It was well-written, however, with the internal conflict of the wife clearly communicated, and her husband's complete lack of caring unmistakable. I wished there would have been more about the impact on the family as a whole (the kids, the in-laws).

Overall, it was a good book and the time I spent reading it was not wasted.

Remember that short lived show Swing Town? Anyone? Just me? Okay that tracks. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t very good but I loved it. Anyway, It was a tv show set in the 70’s about a couple’s introduction into the world of swinging. Like couple swapping, not playing on a playground. Just so we’re on the same page.

Split Level gave me major Swing Town vibes.

It’s the story of Alex and her husband Donny. They have a perfectly normal, 70’s suburban life: 2 kids, a great social life, and a seemingly perfect marriage. When Alex learns that Donny has made some inappropriate advances to the babysitter, she insists they attend a marriage retreat. While there, Donny becomes obsessed with the idea that an open marriage is the key to happiness, sending everything downhill from there.

Now, I’m pretty progressive so I think whatever works for you, works. It’s all good if you’re happy and no one is getting hurt. I loved that Alex found some of what she was missing when she met Charlie, but the whole thing still felt.....icky. Donny orchestrated the entire thing based on what he wanted; Alex had no agency. Very anti-feminist.

I still really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more from this author.

This book was mildly entertaining. The plot was slow and the characters were predictable. I did finish the book but it wasn’t on the top of my tbr pile by any means

I couldn't get past the first chapter or two. The book was boring and too slow paced. The writing was nothing exciting.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this Arc. However I just couldn’t get into it. It’s not my normal type of read but I wanted to branch out and I’m disappointed that I didn’t enjoy it.. i know it’s about a different time a whole different socioeconomic period but I just couldn’t relate. The main character I found annoying and a little maybe paranoid Also just a bit submissive and dumb. The writing was ok and the flow of the story was good but I just couldn’t connect and after about 55% threw I just felt like if I didn’t finish it would be even more disappointing. So it’s a good story just not for me.

This is the story of Alex Pearl-A 1970's stay-at-home mom whose husband works for his father and has a wandering eye. She is pulled into the world of open marriages when she and her husband decide to swap partners with another couple. I was definitely emotionally invested in the plot in the sense that I felt kind of angsty reading it. It is not hard to imagine that this situation puts stress on the two marriages. Alex's home life and relationships are well-constructed. I didn't agree with some of the decisions made but Alex of course experiences some internal growth over the course of the story.
Thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for the ARC in return for my honest review.

I couldn’t finish this book. The main character was not likeable and her thought process was disconnected and annoying. I found the book (what I read anyway) very depressing and I couldn’t see much hope of it getting any better. I didn’t like anyone in the book. They were all twits!

Split Level is a trip back to the seventies, but a reminder that relationships are relationships no matter what the era. Alex, a Mom with two young children, lives in New Jersey with a husband who unhappily works for his father. Alex, who devotes her life to her children, is insecure about her relationship with her husband, Donny, feeling jealous when he looks at other women, when he doesn’t behave the way she feels a devoted a husband should behave, and when he’s not emotionally available the way she needs. After what could best be described as questionable incident with Donny and the babysitter late at night, they attend a couples counseling retreat.
I’m a stickler for not giving spoilers. The story took a direction I did not expect, and though there’s something of a sagging middle, Berger’s writing sharpens towards the end and she finishes with clear, straight forward prose which I found fully engaging, drawing to a smart conclusion.

Sande Boritz Berger , Author of "Split-Level" has written a unique, thought-provoking and entertaining novel. The Genres for this Novel are Fiction and Women's Fiction. The timeline for this story is in the 1970s after Nixon was President. The story takes place mostly in an affluent community in New Jersey. The author describes her dysfunctional cast of characters as complex and complicated.

This is a Novel that questions what marriage should be. Alex Pearl will soon be thirty, has two young children, is very artistic, and seems to have it all. She has a family, a beautiful house, yet there are certain questions that are bothering her. Somehow, she has doubts about her husband Donny. After a certain incident, Alex insists that she and Donny go to a Marriage Encounter of sorts. It appears that Donny is obsessed with the idea of more of an open marriage. Alex is conflicted what she wants.

I appreciate that the author discusses the concept of marriage, communication, honesty. family, friends, love, and hope. The author also mentions the use of alcohol and drugs, which seems to play a part in decision-making. When is it time to grow up and take responsibility? What happens if you try to change tradition? I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy a though-provoking novel.