Table of Content
Then CNN, and every other news outlet, breaks the news that the Senator has had an affair with a young legislative aide and reports that he used his political influence to find her employment in a top D.C. Talk about a plot ripped from the headlines. This book is the story of what happens after the news conference. Each chapter is told from the perspective of the wife, or one of the daughters.
That said, the subject of gentrification is timely. And with an update this book could be good. But as is, it's dated - not old enough to be a classic, but old enough to feel stale.
About Marge Piercy
This was what Sylvie Serfer Woodruff thought as the elevator descended from the sixth floor and opened onto the gleaming expanse of the lobby of the Four Seasons in Philadelphia. Maybe it wasn’t much, but it wasn’t nothing. If pressed, Sylvie also had some very profound and trenchant observations to make about executive airport lounges. He handed her the cappuccino, finishing his song with a flourish and a bow to Torte, who sat thumping his tail on the tiles, his eyes gloating on Ross.
Oh, I think Sylvie and Richard are going to be fine and better than fine—better than they were before. “He’s busy,” Sylvie murmured, shifting the plate to her right hand and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear with her left. “I don’t mind.” She knew what her mother was thinking without the Honorable Selma, first in her class at Yale Law, former chief judge of the state of New York, having to say a word. Sylvie should mind, and Sylvie should be busy, too. Like her mother, Sylvie had gone to Barnard and Yale. Sylvie was meant to have followed in Selma’s footsteps straight up to the Supreme Court, or at the very least practiced law for more than two years.
by Weiner, Jennifer
Jennifer Weiner is one of my favorite authors. Her characters are living, breathing creations that I can relate to and imagine having a conversation over coffee with them. I started reading her books five or six years ago with Good in Bed and I eagerly await each new novel. This book is a one-time read if at all anyone is interested in family dramas. I had started reading it, kept the book aside as it was giving me a reading slip, but succeeded in finishing it when I took it once again.
I used this as a little light reading to refresh my palate after a slew of fantasy novels. Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eighteen books, including Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, and, most recently, That Summer. A graduate of Princeton University, she lives with her family in Philadelphia. The novel also focuses on Sylvie's two daughters, Diana and Lizzie, along with their struggles.
News & Interviews
Richard has an affair with an aide & everything comes crashing down for Sylvie. She has spent her whole marriage catering to her husband. Now, she has to decide whether to stay with him & how to redefine herself. The girls are also a mess, Diana in a loveless marriage & having an affair and Lizzie still not pulling herself together.The story is divided into 3 parts and each part has several chapters told from Sylvie, Diane and Lizzie's point of view. I picked up this book on the grounds that I have liked almost everything of Piercy's I had previously read. The book started off reading like a (well-written) fluffy kind of story about a woman whose mother dies and whose husband is probably having an affair.
This was an excellent book, with themes very pertinent to today. A substantial novel, Fly Away Home provides hours of reading pleasure as the plot draws you in and leaves you wondering what will happen next. This is a story about losing complacency and security while learning to find a new way of existing. It also tackles the issue of financial predation visited on the 'have nots' by some of the more fortunate. In the end, it's a story of one woman's awakening and courage.
What was Dr. Seuss’s first published book?
Piercy also creates images of married and unmarried women which suggest that the latter, although they may have children, are freer and less inclined to seek approval. Their habits are portrayed as different from Daria's. However, when an attempt is made to push her into the subservient role of daughter and sister when Ross leaves her, she rebels, despite being made to feel like an overgrown child by her brother.
They each bring some depth to their story, and just enough realism to be identifiable. Affairs by politicians and celebrities are nothing new. But Jennifer Weiner explores what happens to the spouses. The betrayed women who stand, at least for a time, beside their contrite husbands. It is certainly chick-lit, but that doesn't mean it is dumb.
My real quibbles with the book are questions of taste-- I find realism, qua realism kind of boring, whether it's Weiner or Franzen, and in my experience, neither writer has done what it'll take to change that. Also, and this might be a more significant thematic problem with the book, no story seems to really impact the other... In at least some sense, Sylvie's extramarital experience should have some impact on Diane's adultery, but the novel never goes there, and actually denies any connection, which seems a little weird. There are, as a result, no emotional surprises-- in fact, the book feels a little programmatic in a way that's not always flattering.
Although the plot slowed in spots, my main complaint is that although I got to know the characters, neither they nor the story stayed with me for any length of time. In short, fans of Jennifer Weiner and those looking for a light airport or beach read will enjoy this book. A disappointing story about the "perfect" Senator's wife who has neglected her two adult daughters (the "good" daughter is an ER doctor and the "bad" daughter is a drug addict fresh from rehab) to devote her life to her husband and his career.
She continues to capture the hearts of her readers and definitely has mine. Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment. When the toilet overflows, when the toddler slams her hand in the front door, when the six-year-old acts like it’s Armageddon when I try to get her to brush her teeth, I quietly tell myself, “In Chinese, the word for crisis is the same word for opportunity! ” Then I tell myself to shut up, and find the towels or the ice packs or the Chardonnay.
No comments:
Post a Comment