Helpful Score: 1
A well-written story about a woman dealing with the unexpected disappearance of her husband only to find her health faltering.
Helpful Score: 1
The plot of this book was awesome. I shudder at the amount of profanity, however. It is a great book if you can tolerate the profane.
Helpful Score: 1
Great read, a little confusing in the beginning but when it finally came together it was excellent!
Helpful Score: 1
Not my favorite by this author but it was a good book.
Helpful Score: 1
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.
Helpful Score: 1
this book is 382 pages and I am not a speed reader BUT I read it in 2 days
meanwhile doing many other things.
The characters are well defined and I did like Gabe & his description
of the Bellagio & Cirque de Soleil.
Try it -you'll like it
meanwhile doing many other things.
The characters are well defined and I did like Gabe & his description
of the Bellagio & Cirque de Soleil.
Try it -you'll like it
This is the Abridged Version
good book, enjoyable listen
good book, enjoyable listen
Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of my favorite authors. This was one of my favorite books she has written to date. Real and well written!
"...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.)
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.
A look at what real life is when a chronic debilitating disease strikes but love still comes along
you do get caught up in the heroine's life altho at times you want to shake her!
Hillarious and well-written story of a heartbreaking family disaster.
Julieanne Gillis's family collects catastrophes. Julie is an advice columnist for a local newspaper. She dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was wrong in her own home.
Julieanne Gillis's family collects them. An advice columnist for a local newspaper, Julie dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was wrong in her own home. Devoted to being a good mother and keeping her twenty-year marriage fresh and exciting, she is shocked by her husband's surprise announcement that he needs a "sabbatical" from their life together -- and devastated when he disappears, leaving Julie with no funds to raise two teenagers and a small daughter alone. But it is the discovery that Julieanne suffers from a serious illness that truly crumbles her family's foundation -- setting her children on a dangerous, quixotic journey to locate their missing father . . . before it's too late
I enjoy this author and thought this book started out a little slow, but once I got involved in the story I couldn't put it down. One of Mitchard's best.
This book made me so angry and so happy - frustrating but great read!
A moving story of the breakdown and rebuilding of a family following the husband's disappearance and wife's illness.
This is a wonderful book about chronic illness and grief. I am a grief therapist and I found this to be an extraordinary book.
Not a light read, but a really good book. A bit depressing at times, but a realistic look at what happens when life spirals out of control.
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.
A light read, not particularly memorable, but an entertaining book.
Her best book since Deep End of the Ocean. I enjoyed it.
"...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.)
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.)
Wow, a great book. It took me on and off this week to read it but it was really good. You just wanted to beat her soon to be ex, then her ex over his head so bad but it was ok, his karma came back to bite him! Very moving story told from the point of view of the woman/mom and her older son.
I actually picked up this book on the recommendation of--don't laugh!--Stephen King. As one of the ten books he recommended for late summer reads in an issue of Entertainment Weekly Magazine, the premise hooked me.
The book centers around a woman who not only loses her husband to a wacky desire to live a simpler and more-fulfilling life, but has to single-handedly raise two teenagers and a young daughter by herself, all while dealing with her diagnosis of MS.
THE BREAKDOWN LANE is women's fiction at its best. I actually enjoyed the two first-person accounts that make up the book (it's in the form of a journal belonging to the mother and one written by the son). Although it does end up with a rather happily-ever-after ending, this book details life in all its ups and downs--and you'll appreciate being along for the ride.
The book centers around a woman who not only loses her husband to a wacky desire to live a simpler and more-fulfilling life, but has to single-handedly raise two teenagers and a young daughter by herself, all while dealing with her diagnosis of MS.
THE BREAKDOWN LANE is women's fiction at its best. I actually enjoyed the two first-person accounts that make up the book (it's in the form of a journal belonging to the mother and one written by the son). Although it does end up with a rather happily-ever-after ending, this book details life in all its ups and downs--and you'll appreciate being along for the ride.
Serious stuff here. Hard to put down. An absorbing read.
