Just Fly Away

by Andrew McCarthy

A New York Times Bestseller

"Ever wish that you could just fly away?"

When fifteen-year-old Lucy Willows discovers that her father has a child from a brief affair, an eight-year-old boy who lives in her own suburban New Jersey town, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her home and her life. How could Lucy's father have betrayed the entire family? How could her mother forgive him? And why isn't her sister rocked by the news the way Lucy is?

As her father's secret becomes her own, Lucy grows more and more isolated from her friends, her family, and even her boyfriend, Simon, the one person she thought understood her. When Lucy escapes to Maine, the home of her mysteriously estranged grandfather, she finally begins to get to the bottom of her family's secrets and lies.

Just Fly Away is a debut novel about family secrets, first love, the limits of forgiveness, and finding one's way in the world from an award-winning writer, actor, and director.

• ISBN13: 9781616206291
• Publish Date: 28 March 2017 (first published 10 January 2017)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 January 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 2.5 Stars

"Where have you been?" he asked me.
"On the road to discovery," I said.
"Huh?"
"Nowhere much."

When I saw that Andrew McCarthy was the author, I did not realize it was THAT Andrew McCarthy. (Let's be real, both the first and last name are not that uncommon). But it is THAT Andrew McCarthy. The one that starred in my all-time favorite film (Pretty in Pink). So, I was curious.

Lucy overhears a conversation between her parents, which forces them to reveal a family secret. Out there, in her own town, was an 8 year old boy, who shared her DNA due to a brief affair her father had. This book followed Lucy as she struggled to come to terms with this information, and the way it changed the view of her father.

What I liked:
I felt like some of the observations Lucy made of the people in her life were rather thoughtful, and sometimes, profound. But if you have to know what I liked most, it was the time Lucy shared with her grandfather. Those moments were the most special, and I smiled a bunch while she was visiting Maine. I was pleased with the ending. I thought it was a nice way to bring the story - not a complete resolution (this is a contemporary), but an open door, which allowed me to make my own decisions about what happened next.

What I didn't like:
At times, Lucy's thoughts were so random, they seemed forced. She would make an observation that was so disconnected and made no sense in the story. This randomness cropped up a bit, and made it seem like the story was losing it's way. Maybe it's just me, but that's how I felt.

This is one of those quiet contemporaries. In the case of the quite story, I require some standout characters. The only character who really had enough page time to be fully developed was Lucy, and she just was not a stand out for me. There were other characters, who intrigued me, and I wish were developed more, but this was a short book and one cannot do it all in that many pages.

Overall: Quiet but cute coming of age story.