While I Was Gone

Rating:
Summary: While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
Review: This book arrives nowhere, after an interesting start. I felt like most of the narrative led nowhere eventually. Some of the twist and turns were clumsily devised and lacked impact. The characters are one-dimensional and the reader comes to expect exactly what they ended up doing. There are no unexpected surprises and no deep connections with any one. Once you finish the book, you will never think about it again and feel like you've wasted your time reading all that nonsense.

Rating:
Summary: A study in self-indulgence
Review: This is a very well written book but hard to like, mainly because the main character, Jo, is very unlikeable. She was so selfish and so dishonest with herself that I simply couldn't empathise.

Jo is a veterinarian. She is married to a minister, has three grown daughters and lives a quiet life in a small Massachusetts community. When she was in her early twenties and married to a different man, she experienced some sort of crisis and took off on everybody. She ended up in Cambridge, where she lived in a big house with a group of students. This one-year hiatus from reality was precious and meant the world to her. Unfortunately, that unbelievable year came crashing when one of the roommates, her best friend Dana, was killed in mysterious circumstances.

Fast forward to the present. Because of one of those silly coincidences that life brings us, one of Jo's old roommates moves into her town, almost 30 years later. This was like stirring some long-settled sediment at the bottom of a pool. Jo experienced a mixture of dread and appeal, maybe because she was transported to that time, back in her 20s, where she felt free and unencumbered. Unfortunately, she allowed herself to be dragged by her emotions (which is what she had done her entire life), and in the process managed to alienate everyone, most importantly her husband.

I realized early on how things were going to turn out. The big question, the whodunit, became crystal clear soon. That disappointed me a little, but I forgave the author. After all, this is not a mystery novel. The main theme is not who killed Dana, but what a mess Jo has made of her life and her relationships.

A couple of things I liked:

This one because it rings true:

"Having children teaches you, I think that love can survive your being despised in every aspect of yourself. That you need not collapse when the shriek comes: Don't you get it? I hate you! But you do need to get it. You do need to understand and accept being hated. I think this is one of the greatest gifts children can give you, as long as it doesn't last".

This one because it reflects what a sorry human being Jo is:

"But then he returned and our life went on. Three days gone. A week. I measured the time in the faint waning of my consciousness of my misery, and wondered if this would one day be enough: simply not to be consciously miserable anymore".



Rating:
Summary: Fine writing and real feelings
Review: This was my first experience reading Sue Miller. I was drawn tothe book by the multitude of good reviews from reputable publications, and those reviewers were right about this work. It resonates, it moves, it captures character, memory, emotion, and some of the mystery of human nature. The characters became so life-like for me while I was reading that I found myself thinking about them, psychoanalyzing their motivations, seeing their faces in front of me. I guess the book reached me in particular because I fall into Jo and Daniel's generation. I too experienced life in a group house in the late sixties and early seventies and I easily related to all the yearning and pent up idealism of those times. A word about Sue Miller's penchant for detail: I think what good literature does is sort out the details of living and make a work of art from them. The details draw you in, and finally produce emotional impact that stays with you. So if you have no patience for detail and just want lots of action, a la trash novels, stay away from this one. I for one am happy I discovered Sue Miller. The Good Mother is next.

Rating:
Summary: Great story about Fixing the wrongs in your life
Review: While I Was Gone -- by SUE MILLER; is a exceptional, intelligent writing at its best - Absolutely Fantastic, compelling and suspenseful all at once. I didn't want to put it down. It compares to "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden, "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel" by Rebecca Wells; "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb, "When It Rains" by Marjorie Spoto, "Drowning Ruth" by Christina Schwarz and "The Davinci Code" by Dan Brown. A Must Read.

Rating:
Summary: Not Sue Miller's Best Work
Review: While I Was Gone is the story of a fifty-something professional woman(she's a veterinarian), with a great husband, terrific daughters and a distant past that comes back to haunt her. During the 60's, the main character, Jo, lived in a group house where one of her roommates was brutally murdered. Now, many years later, another housemate, Eli Mayhew, moves to her small New England town and Jo gets caught up in her past and with this man. This story reads like a soap opera or movie of the week. Jo continually makes bad decisions that almost ruin her marriage and the relationship she has with her daughters. I found the story line very frustrating and at times unbelievable. The characters were not as well drawn and developed as they should have been and their thoughts and actions never made sense to me. Ms Miller is a good writer, with a wonderful ear for dialogue. But, this novel got bogged down in detail and came to a very unsatisfying ending. Readers of Sue Miller will probably like this book, but it left me flat.