Helpful Score: 10
This novel by Jennifer Weiner is a "straight from the headlines" story involving a married politician's wife named Sylvie who finds out that her husband has been having an affair with his much younger assistant. The story becomes a scandal and Sylvie is forced to re-examine her life and the years she's dedicated to her husband and his career. The scandal also impacts their grown daughters, Lizzie and Diana. Diana is a married doctor in an unhappy marriage. She also is embroiled in an affair with a much younger man. Lizzie has a troubled past as an addict with an arrest record. For most of her life Lizzie has been a screw up. Finally, she gets a chance to redeem herself and forge a new life. Honestly, I don't think this is Weiner's best effort. The story is interesting, but at times it is slow reading and the characters are somewhat dull. The character of Richard (the politician husbandd) is merely backdrop and it is somewhat startling that his motives, feelings are not explored. The story suffered with it's ending. It was all too predictable. Honestly, I wouldn't rush to read this book. It's average. There was a lot of name dropping in this book about all the various political scandals of the past decade or so...the author would have been better served to have delved into the pain and humiliation aspects of the characters.
Helpful Score: 3
I'm not a big fan of V.E.R.B. books. Victim, Entitled, Rescue, Blame types of books, or people for that matter. So I surprised myself when I picked up Fly Away Home and read it in two days. This isn't your typical woman trying to find herself type of book, it's more of a woman trying to get back to who she was all along. I know that sounds like a slight twist of words, but all Sylvie Serfer-Woodruff wanted was to go back to the simple girl she was in college before Richard Woodruff swooped into her life and turned her into the perfect political wife.
A fulfilling life should not entail having to stay twenty pounds thinner than when you were twenty and to fix your husband's breakfast plate while he runs off to do important work and you are left to struggle into yet another pair of stocking to give yet another unimportant speech to yet another group of self involved people.
In one quick moment Sylvie's life is changed when Richard's extramarital affair makes headlines and she and her two daughters, Lizzie a recovering addict and Diana an emergency room physician - who is trapped in a loveless marriage, and beginning an affair of her own, all converge and with the strength of family these three women come through their own torment to find a strength and purpose that they didn't know had existed.
Those who say you can never go home again have never had the blessing of actually going home. Going home to a place that is both a sanctuary and a reprieve. This is the gift that Sylvie has given to both her daughters and through them, to herself.
I have never read a Jennifer Weiner book before, I didn't think that an offering like this could actually resonate with me, but I was wrong. I don' t know if all her books will hit me this way, but this was definitely the right book at the right time.
A fulfilling life should not entail having to stay twenty pounds thinner than when you were twenty and to fix your husband's breakfast plate while he runs off to do important work and you are left to struggle into yet another pair of stocking to give yet another unimportant speech to yet another group of self involved people.
In one quick moment Sylvie's life is changed when Richard's extramarital affair makes headlines and she and her two daughters, Lizzie a recovering addict and Diana an emergency room physician - who is trapped in a loveless marriage, and beginning an affair of her own, all converge and with the strength of family these three women come through their own torment to find a strength and purpose that they didn't know had existed.
Those who say you can never go home again have never had the blessing of actually going home. Going home to a place that is both a sanctuary and a reprieve. This is the gift that Sylvie has given to both her daughters and through them, to herself.
I have never read a Jennifer Weiner book before, I didn't think that an offering like this could actually resonate with me, but I was wrong. I don' t know if all her books will hit me this way, but this was definitely the right book at the right time.
Helpful Score: 3
The book was good but not excellent as stars indicate. It is a story of a mother and 2 daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another. The book is written with many flashbacks and each chapter is about one of the three women. It was somewhat hard to follow.
Helpful Score: 3
Fans of Jennifer Weiner will love her latest novel, Fly Away Home. I dont know how she continues to do it, time and time again, but Jennifer Weiner can keep you enthralled in a story and engaged in the characters on every single page. She continues to be one of my favorites that Ive also been fortunate enough to meet on two book tours: last summers Best Friends Forever tour as well as this years Fly Away Home tour.
As a Washington, D.C. area local, it seems all too familiar. The tale of the wandering politician. The one who thinks the rules dont apply to him, who indulges in temptation and his selfish desires, and who ultimately ends up making a public statement of apology with his disgraced wife standing by his side. Yet its rare that we get an inside glimpse at the wife and familys views. The ones who were betrayed and shamed in public. The ones who have to figure out what to do with their lives and how to protect each other from public opinion and interest.
Jennifer Weiner does just this in her newest novel. Exploring the family side of the typical political scandal, we follow Sylvie (the scorned wife), Diana (the over-achieving and perfect oldest), and Lizzie (the younger, more rebellious child.) Told from all three points of views (which is one of the things I love most about Weiners novels- you get more than one side of the story!), other trials rise in every characters life. From work to parenting to relationships to family, there is so much going on in Fly Away Home, I never lost interest! (Though to be fair, Ive never lost interest in a Weiner novel.)
Written with the authors usual humor and wit, youll laugh out loud with these women. Youll root for them as individuals and as a family as they try to piece back together their lives after their world(s) are turned upside down. Each one has her own desires, her own passions, and her own relationships to reconcile. And I think this book definitely leaves some doors open for a sequel.
I can say Im happy with the ending, however I do find myself wondering what happens next for Diana and Lizzie! Particularly Diana. Both of their stories and lives were so interesting and, a couple of times, unpredictable. (Maybe we will find out in an upcoming sequel?) Either way, Fly Away Home, is another fantastic Jennifer Weiner novel that will leave you considering your family and appreciating them all the more. After all, isnt family what its all about?
Congrats to Jen on signing a four year-four book deal with her publisher! Im looking forward to meeting new characters and seeing you on tour again! Thanks for supporting our blog after your stop in the D.C.-area. Enjoy the rest of those cupcakes this summer!
As a Washington, D.C. area local, it seems all too familiar. The tale of the wandering politician. The one who thinks the rules dont apply to him, who indulges in temptation and his selfish desires, and who ultimately ends up making a public statement of apology with his disgraced wife standing by his side. Yet its rare that we get an inside glimpse at the wife and familys views. The ones who were betrayed and shamed in public. The ones who have to figure out what to do with their lives and how to protect each other from public opinion and interest.
Jennifer Weiner does just this in her newest novel. Exploring the family side of the typical political scandal, we follow Sylvie (the scorned wife), Diana (the over-achieving and perfect oldest), and Lizzie (the younger, more rebellious child.) Told from all three points of views (which is one of the things I love most about Weiners novels- you get more than one side of the story!), other trials rise in every characters life. From work to parenting to relationships to family, there is so much going on in Fly Away Home, I never lost interest! (Though to be fair, Ive never lost interest in a Weiner novel.)
Written with the authors usual humor and wit, youll laugh out loud with these women. Youll root for them as individuals and as a family as they try to piece back together their lives after their world(s) are turned upside down. Each one has her own desires, her own passions, and her own relationships to reconcile. And I think this book definitely leaves some doors open for a sequel.
I can say Im happy with the ending, however I do find myself wondering what happens next for Diana and Lizzie! Particularly Diana. Both of their stories and lives were so interesting and, a couple of times, unpredictable. (Maybe we will find out in an upcoming sequel?) Either way, Fly Away Home, is another fantastic Jennifer Weiner novel that will leave you considering your family and appreciating them all the more. After all, isnt family what its all about?
Congrats to Jen on signing a four year-four book deal with her publisher! Im looking forward to meeting new characters and seeing you on tour again! Thanks for supporting our blog after your stop in the D.C.-area. Enjoy the rest of those cupcakes this summer!
Helpful Score: 2
I liked this book. typical chick-lit the sisters were well drawn, and the mother Sylvie was too. I loved her mother the Judge, wanted more of her wit and wisdom. seemed a bit 'ripped from the headlines' but that is okay. Nice peek into the poloticians family. Good read, love Jennifer Weiner.
