Book No. 29: Fly Away Home

My latest book was Fly Away Home, by Jennifer Weiner.

I love Jennifer Weiner's books.  I love them, and I think I would love Jennifer herself if only she would move to Idaho so we could be friends... 

Okay, just kidding.  I am (pretty much) not a stalker.  So anyway, Fly Away Home.   I liked it a lot.   The main story is about what happens when a famous husband cheats, and the repercussions it has on his wife and daughters.  The pain, the recovery, the decisions the women must make.  What is the "right" or "best" thing to do when your husband has cheated?  What if that husband is a famous politician? 

The book also tells the stories of the daughters' own lives -- one, a successful doctor, is having an affair, and the other, a recovering addict, finds she is accidentally pregnant.  I really enjoyed how complex these characters all were.  No one situation was cut and dried. 

Since I recently read Emily Giffin's Heart of the Matter, which also told a story of a complicated infidelity, I couldn't help but compare the two.  Fly Away Home hit the mark better (for me, anyway) -- I did care about these characters and what choices they would make, whereas I just did not find the characters in Giffin's novel to be appealing.

 

So it was a good one.  I'll read anything Jennifer Weiner writes.

Here's a nice interview with the author regarding the book (Elle.com, June 2010).