Thursday, October 28, 2010

Fly Away Home, by Jennifer Weiner (2010)


Jennifer Weiner's latest book certainly captures a recent trend in U.S. politics! For all those politicians who get caught cheating on their wives, there is a wife whose life is shattered by the betrayal. Many married men (and women) cheat on their spouses, but not all spouses suffer the consequences on national press and television.

In "Fly Away Home," we are given a wonderful portrayal a family coping with just such a situation. Senator Richard Woodruff gets caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar! His wife, Sylvie, has spent her entire marriage, being the quintessential politician's wife. She organizes her life around his political needs, even at the expense of her daughter's lives.

The Senator's daughters have each coped with an absent father in their own way: the elder, Diana, is a workaholic perfectionist who finds herself in a lustful relationship of adultery with one of her students. The younger daughter, Lizzie, is trying to recover from a decade of alcohol abuse. Both daughters feel neglected by their father for his busy political career and abandoned by their mother who gave all her attention to the needs of the political machine.

But Sylvie and her daughters have to deal with the fallout of a husband and father who has broken the rules. Can Sylvie forgive her husband? Can she reconcile with her daughters? Give this book a read and find out. It will draw you in and the ending may surprise you!

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