The Breakdown Lane Author:Jacquelyn Mitchard From Publishers Weekly — No one could blame Julieanne Gillis, beleaguered heroine of this no-holds-barred family drama by Mitchard (The Deep End of the Ocean, etc.) for not seeing the signs. At first her lawyer husband, Leo Steiner, seems to be in the throes of a midlife crisis, informing Julieanne that he is planning to take early retirement and... more » go and live on a commune in upstate New York for six months. The next thing she knows, he's vanished, leaving her with three children and only her meager income from her advice column for the Sheboygan, Wis., local newspaper. To make matters worse, she's diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The narration alternates between plucky Julieanne and her 15-year-old son, Gabe, a handsome Holden Caulfieldesque loner with a mild learning disability. When things get desperate, Gabe and his 14-year-old sister, Caroline, scan their dad's old e-mails and learn where he might be. Then, during spring break, lying like troopers, the two juveniles take off by bus to find their father. Surely, they think, he'll come home when he learns that their mother is sick. He comes, but the baggage he brings along means further disaster. Leo's behavior is almost campishly craven, but the novel's soap-operatic bathos is perversely satisfying. Rousing melodrama; fluid, often funny, dialogue; and the convincing portrayal of children involved in the collapse of a marriage add up to another page-turner from Mitchard.« less
I loved this book. The struggles of this books main character is one that is so touching, that I almost didn't list this book because I might want to read it again. I decided if I do, I will order it again on this site. Mitchard is a great author and this is one of her finer works in my opinion.
Reading this novel is like finding out what really happened at your neighbor's house when everything fell apart. The pages literally turned themselves. Mitchard has the ability to depict this family with candor, empathy and wit. When Julieanne's husband of 20 years decides to take a sabbatical from their marriage and 3 children, it soon becomes apparent that he's not coming back. Her sense of betrayal is complicated by her diagnosis of MS. While she is incapacitated, the children must fend for themselves with some help from her best friend. Julieanne is an accomplished Advice Columnist...but now it is her own family problems she somehow has to find the strength to solve.
"...I would take out his letters to me, our honeymoon scrapbook, and stare into the faces of those smug, slim, utterly sensual young people and think, Where was the clue? ... His pinch of arrogance? His touch of impatience? I was a dozen times more arrogant and impatient any day of the week, even back then. But I never, not ever, would have slipped through my wedding band and fled." p297
Julie's husband, Leo, unexpectedly leaves her alone and reeling, trying simultaneously to care for their three children and deal with a very scary health diagnosis. Told alternatively through the voice of Julie and that of her son, Gabe, Jacqueline Mitchard explores the families reaction to their difficult circumstances.
I picked up this novel because it was written by Jacquelyn Mitchard who wrote The Deep End of the Ocean. The Deep End of the Ocean is a terrific book. This book is so-so. It took quite a while to get into it and just as it seemed to be gathering steam, it came to a close. Even though Julie's situation in the novel should have invoked my sympathy, I found myself feeling a bit removed from everything that was happening in her life, and my empathy for the characters was disappointingly superficial. Mitchard is a talented writer, but she failed to endear me to her story this time around.
(There is a great poem on pg. 332 of this novel- the most redeeming part of this book, I think! Worth checking out.)
To bad she did not bother to research the issue of medication for MS more before she wrote a character who is allegedly impacted by her medications. (The none of the ABCR injectibles used to treat MS are monthly, as she has Julie claim.
"...I would take out his letters to me, our honeymoon scrapbook, and stare into the faces of those smug, slim, utterly sensual young people and think, Where was the clue? ... His pinch of arrogance? His touch of impatience? I was a dozen times more arrogant and impatient any day of the week, even back then. But I never, not ever, would have slipped through my wedding band and fled." p297
Julie's husband, Leo, unexpectedly leaves her alone and reeling, trying simultaneously to care for their three children and deal with a very scary health diagnosis. Told alternatively through the voice of Julie and that of her son, Gabe, Jacqueline Mitchard explores the families reaction to their difficult circumstances.
I picked up this novel because it was written by Jacquelyn Mitchard who wrote The Deep End of the Ocean. The Deep End of the Ocean is a terrific book. This book is so-so. It took quite a while to get into it and just as it seemed to be gathering steam, it came to a close. Even though Julie's situation in the novel should have invoked my sympathy, I found myself feeling a bit removed from everything that was happening in her life, and my empathy for the characters was disappointingly superficial. Mitchard is a talented writer, but she failed to endear me to her story this time around.
(There is a great poem on pg. 332 of this novel- the most redeeming part of this book, I think! Worth checking out.)
