Julie's Review: Fly Away Home

Summary: When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator. Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more. After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity, Fly Away Home is an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another. ~amazon.com

Review: Ah another lovely book about family, love and relationships by Jennifer Weiner. I finished Fly Away Home quickly because the characters are interesting and the story moves along at a good pace. She never focuses on one storyline for too long, which is good since you are learning about the three women: Sylvie, Diana, and Lizzie. Sure the story starts off with Sylvie's husband Senator Richard Woodruff cheating on her but really that's just the catalyst for these women finding themselves and finding their way back to each other. As the wife of a Senator, Sylvie shrugged her motherly duties off on a nanny to concentrate on her husband's career. As she's gotten older and the affair comes to light, she questions her decisions. Nothing you can do about the past but she can affect the present and future with her daughters.

Diana is a young mother, in an unhappy marriage with a career as an ER doctor. She's also having an affair with a young intern. Lizzie is the irresponsible younger sister that Diana has tasked with caring for her young son Milo. Maybe Lizzie isn't really the irresponsible one anymore?

Like most of Ms. Weiner's books this book is just as much about family as it is about finding yourself. Sylvie rediscovers herself and discovers that she is strong. Diana finds out that maybe not trying to be so "perfect" is ok. Lizzie finds that she has the strength to stay sober and how to be active in her life and not looking through the lens.

If you are looking for a great read for the end of summer, then I highly recommend
Fly Away Home. I read it in a couple of days but stayed up late on Friday to finish it.

I will say that the part in the book where Lizzie is talking about the kid's show Yo Gabba Gabba has me cracking up. You have to see the show to know what she's referring to. I found it so funny that I had to read the paragraph to my husband, since we had similar thoughts.

I thought Fly Away Home was one of her better books. I definitely enjoyed it more than Best Friends Forever. Although none of her books are ever disappointing.

Final Take: 4.5/5