Fly Away Home

by Jennifer Weiner

[Leah]

Jennifer Weiner is an author that I don’t have much experience of. I’m well aware of the fact that she’s huge in America, with hundreds of reviews on Amazon of all of her books but, for me, I’ve never fancied reading any of them, not enough to go out and buy any anyway. At the start of 2010 I received a review copy of Best Friends Forever and because I adored the sound of it, I read it. Unfortunately it really disappointed me. It just wasn’t what I expected. So when I recently went to the post office to collect a package and saw her latest novel Fly Away Home I was in two minds about reading it. Sure, I disliked Best Friends Forever but Jennifer is an author many people love. In the end, I decided to read it and, do you know what?, I’m pleased I did. Because it was much better than Best Friends Forever and it was certainly a very readable novel.

I must admit, when I first starting reading Fly Away Home I thought I’d made a grave mistake. It was slow-going and I wasn’t entirely sure I was on board with Sylvie, who is the main character, as she’s in her 50s. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be prejudiced but I find it hard to relate to heroines who are thirty years older than me, as you might expect. However, by bringing in Diana and Lizzie into the story, with their own troubles, really helped me get into the book. Because it wasn’t just about Sylvie being betrayed by her husband, it was Lizzie and Diana, too and because they were younger and more around my age group, I found it easier to get into the novel on the whole. And I must admit, once I passed the 200 page mark, I was hooked. It wasn’t that the first 200 pages were rubbish, it’s just they weren’t as engaging as I found the last 200 pages. However once I got into the book, and truly felt it, I was flying.

The base of the novel is infidelity. How Sylvie deals with learning that her husband of thirty years has cheated on her with some upstart, who (which makes it worse) looks like Sylvie did thirty years ago. What makes it worse is that Sylvie’s husband is a politician so she’s got a decision to make: does she stand by her man a la Hillary or does she split? It reminded me of the TV show The Good Wife, I have to admit, not because of any similarities but because of the plot itself. As I’ve already mentioned, Sylvie’s daughters have their own troubles, too. Diana is in a loveless marriage, and is cheating with a intern student at the hospital where she works and Lizzie is a recovering drug addict, something she’s forgotten to tell her boyfriend, Jeff. I liked how each female was represented in the book, with separate chapters allowing us a peek into their lives. I thought the part of the book set in Connecticut was brilliant, and very well described by Weiner.

I must admit, I did find the characters to be a little cliche. The cheating politician – check, the meek wife – check, the daughter who is perfect – check and then the screwed up daughter – check. But despite the ‘perfect’ nature of all of the characters, I did find them fascinating. Despite my worry over Sylvie being someone I couldn’t connect with, once I got into the book and once the tale moved to Connecticut, I was absorbed by how Sylvie handled herself. I thought she handled the scandal of her husband with grace and dignity and how she didn’t let it define her. I did find Diana, Sylvie’s eldest daughter, to be a hard one to like. She’s a bit of a hypocrite, she treats Lizzie like she’s a leper and she only allows her son a small amount of ‘screen time’ each day. To you and me, that’s TV time. She screamed perfection, but yet, she wasn’t perfect at all. Because she did exactly what her dad did, she cheated on her husband just like he cheated on his wife. A bit more humility would have done her the world of good, lemme tell you. Lizzie was my favourite character, she wasn’t perfect, but she was trying to keep her life together and she was doing it. She spoke to me the most, strangely enough, and I felt sorry for her that she was treated badly by her family. I don’t really have anything to say about Richard, typical politician, to be honest!

Despite the fact it took my a while to get into it, in the end I think I did very much enjoy the novel. It really comes into its own during the last half of the book and is well worth persevering because it comes good. I must admit, the ending left me in two minds. On the one hand, I understand why Sylvie chose who she chose, but on the other, there’s part of me that wishes she’d chosen differently. But what I will say is that the ending was well executed. Because I understood Sylvie’s choice. Fly Away Home is very well written, and I can see why Jennifer is so huge in the Chick Lit world, she can tell a good tale. I will definitely be looking to read her new book Then Came You which is out in August. Weiner brings warmth and realness to her characters, so that even though you have one opinion on how you think it might pan out, you’re not disappointed with the way it really does and that’s a clever talent. I’d definitely recommend reading Fly Away Home, and I am looking forward to the next Jennifer Weiner novel!