fly away home - a book review

i am a huge fan of jennifer weiner.  she is a local (if you call philly local) writer who writes "fat" chick lit books such as good in bed, in her shoes (also made into a movie with cameron diaz and toni collette, one of my favorites as well) and my personal favorite, little earthquakes.  i was excited to hear that she had a new book coming out, so i pre-ordered it at amazon and received it (2 days early!) last week.

fly away home tells the story of sylvie, the wife of a senator who's life takes a twist when her husband becomes embroiled in a sex scandal a la john edwards/elliott spitzer/james mcgreevey.  sylvie, who spent the majority of her adult life keeping track of her husband's schedule and being the good politico wifey, suddenly finds herself lost, confused, angry and searching for her identity after the scandal.

sylvie has 2 daughters, diana and lizzie.  both diana and lizzie have their own issues.  diana, the family perfectionist, finds herself at a crossroads - an unfulfilling marriage, an unsatisfying career as an emergency room physician.  she dotes on her son, milo.  lizzie, the black sheep of the family, is a recovering drug addict, college dropout, and struggling to keep clean.

diana's life takes a free fall after her marriage explodes and a situation at her hospital forces her to take a good look at her life and figure out what she really wants.  lizzie becomes involved with jim, a caring young man and finds a job assisting a photographer.  an accidental pregnancy forces her to maintain her sobriety.  both girls turn up at sylvie's family summer compound in connecticut, where she has been hiding out since the scandal broke.

out of the scandal's spotlight, sylvie learns how to cook and channels her feelings about her husband's indiscretion in cleaning up the summer home.  she sheds the designer suits and heels, allows her hair to curl and go grey, and finds comfort in snuggly pants and sweaters.  she reunites with a childhood friend and finds solace in his company.

thanksgiving dinner provides an opportunity for secrets, grievances and broken dreams to be revealed.  lizzie reunites with jim and plan a future with their child.  diana makes some hard decisions about her marriage and career.  sylvie learns that "sometimes the worst thing that happens to you...the thing you think you can't survive...it's the thing that makes you better than you used to be".  

at first i felt uncomfortable with the premise of the book.  after hearing the john edwards, elliott spitzer,  "the professional golfer with a sex addiction"and "the academy award actress whose husband dallied with a tattooed stripper" sex scandal stories all the time on the news, i was sick of hearing them.  however, the heart of the story really is "be yourself".  don't spend your life catering to someone else's life or ideals (as sylvie did), building the "perfect on the outside, nightmare on the inside" life that diana led, or finding the solution to your problems in a bong (as lizzie did).  and above all, as each person finds in this book, "what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger".

i loved how the family rallied for each other.  sylvie regrets allowing her husband's political ambitions affect the girls (specifically regarding a situation from lizzie's past).  the girls, who haven't gotten along for years, finally accept each other for who they are.  lizzie, who resented diana's perfect life, finds that diana is as damaged as she is.  diana learns that she is as much a screwup as her sister and that having it all isn't all it's cracked up to be.  this book shows forgiveness and redemption.

 i found fly away home an improvement over her last novel, best friends forever.  it is a perfect read for a weekend or vacation.  out of 5 stars, i give it **** 1/2.

ETA:  i apologize for the font size.  blogger ate my original post, and this was copied from a saved version.  i loathe little print, but embigging it made it worse.