Eileen O' Malley is working in a department store in Charleston, where one day Paul Archer, a naval officer walks in and needs her help. Sparks fly over and they start dating. Later on, they marry and Paul is send over for his work to the small Italian island of La Maddalena in the Mediterranean sea, where Paul will work at a submarine tender, in the radiological controls department of the US naval base over there.
There she builds op her life with Paul, and also lands in the community of fellow Navy wives, who together try to make the island feel more like home and who do activities together and are a support network. Eileen has to learn the in and outs of the navy live though, as it comes with it's own set of specificic hierarchic rules, and she also has to start learning Italian. Being an American abroad comes also with difficulties, as not every Italian on the island is happy with the American navy being there. There are many protests from the right, and they want the navy gone, as there is worry that the nuclear activity from the navy is causing health dangers in the area and for the water. There are several children being born with deformities, and the community on the island is pointing to the navy as a cause.
And soon, when Paul is away for work often, and when he is home too, things are not going well for their marriage. Especially when she gets more knowing of what the US navy is doing on the island and when she meets Teo, a local journalist who is critically writing about this and where she gets an affair with. She has to choose to stay in her unhappy marriage with Paul, or a new life with Teo, and between going back to the USA or follow her heart and stay in Italy..
The Half Life is a book that takes you back to the 1970's. Eileen finds herself in a completely different world in Italy and in the Navy wife live. The storyline is nice and entertaining, but at some point the story dragged on too long, and at many points there where too explicit bed-and bathroom scenes that grew a bit annoying. Eileen is a character that tries to figure out live in Italy, but doesn't scare back to cheat on her husband wich was a bit strange sometimes, but Paul was also a strange character that didn't became interesting during the story. It was interesting though to also read about how the Italians thought about the presence of the US navy in their territory, and the effects it had on their lives and the environment, and Eileen is not getting the whole honest picture from Paul. I liked how the Italian characters where portrayed in the novel, and the contrast between them and the US navy wives she gets involved with was also interesting to read.
Overall I found this an okay novel, at some points it was too long, but further on it has an interesting storyline.
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