While I Was Gone

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Summary: What a GREAT book!
Review: I was SO surprised to read this fantastic book! I savored thedescriptions and felt just like I was there. This book made me think about my life and family and appreciate everything so much. It's one of those thought provoking novels that opens your eyes to many things. Forgiveness, love and it's realities, family.... I felt so much while reading this - I'll go read her other books now. I feel SO LUCKY.

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Summary: A good read!
Review: My reading group read this book. Everybody in the group reallyliked the book. I could understand how Jo got caught up in the past.( I felt it was a believeable scenario) Sometimes when we're going day to day raising a family working, trying to make ends meet etc etc. Then something comes back to remind us of our past and the "carefree days" you can get caught up in it, and romanticize about the past. When Jo runs into this man from her past she gets caught up in it. And almost throws everything away. She also never seems quite satisfied with her life no matter how good things are. In the end she doesnt go through with. But not because she relizes what she is doing is wrong, and just plain dumb, but because of other circumstances. I took away from this book is that Yes! life when you were younger may have been happy go lucky and more carefree than what you have now. But if you have a good life now dont throw it away to try to recapture the past. Leave the past in the past and go on and be happy of where you are right now!

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Summary: Insightful, satisfying fiction.
Review: It took me two evenings to read Miller's novel that offersinsights into the lives of middle agers who went through some harrowing experiences in the 1960's. Expieriences that inevitably serve to shape the course of their lives to come. How we live and how we constantly mediate our outer existences with our inner desires is crafted into an interesting read. Sue Miller seems to get better and better at revealing some of lives truths and mysteries, making the reader reflect on, and sometimes cry about the lives the reader is presently inhabiting.

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Summary: Engaging, masterful, thought provoking
Review: I inhaled this book. The characters were beautifully real, thestoryline complex and surprising. The writing is masterful, astonishing. Don't miss it!

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Summary: NOT GREAT, BUT OKAY
Review: I am a Sue Miller fan from way back when - the Good Mother andFamily Pictures are among my favorite books. This book certainly kept my attention and evoked a lovely sense of place and time, but it was disappointing. The marriage between Jo and Daniel bordered on nauseating, and the sex scenes were so overdone that I felt as though I were reading a bodice-ripper. They were totally overdone and quite graphic. Spare me! Good fiction doesn't need this. Overall,okay story but disappointing and not up to Sue Miller's usual standards. - wait for the paperback

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Summary: An Entertaining Read, But Cheaply Melodramatic
Review: Jo has a happy, secure life with her loving minister husband,Daniel, in a picturesque New England town. One day Eli Mayhew moves to town. Jo knew Eli in the Sixties when they lived in a commune in Cambridge with several other people. Jo joined the commune after running away from her first short-lived marriage. The commune exists happily, until Dana, it's brightest member is visciously murdered, the murder never solved. The tragic results of what happens when Eli meets Jo again after all these years is the 'stuff' of this book. But this murder mystery in the guise of a contemporary woman's novel is cheaply melodramatic and Jo is a very unlikeable, self-centered character, although the portrayal of family life is excellent, especially the depiction of Jo and her difficult twenty-something daughter, Cass. If I want to read outstanding murder mysteries I'll stick with authors like Ruth Rendell. She does this sort of thing so much better.

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Summary: A must read, instant bonding for women over 40
Review: I just finished Sue Miller's While I Was Gone and can't wait toread her other books. This story moved me, many of the situations described in it regarding children, sense of self, and relationships were right on the mark. Miller takes these everyday situations and vague thoughts all of us have and gives them clarity. To be able to write so that your reader knows exactly what you mean and can visualize the scene is a gift and Miller has this gift and shares it with us often. One powerful example of this talent is her chapter dealing with the death of a parishioner in the small Massachusetts town where the main characters, Jo and Daniel live and work. Miller's treatment of the sermon following the death of a young mother was both enlightening and comforting. She says exactly what you want to hear without being trite. This story is realistic and at the same time it makes you feel good. I hope you read this book.

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Summary: While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
Review: I read this book over a two day span - I couldn't put it down. The clean writing in this book explained feelings so obscure in such a normal way that anyone could have related. I loved the main character the most - and her loving husband. This book makes me look at my husband differently and has given me the foresight to appreciate life and what it hands me. The main character, Jo, has so much to be thankful for - yet she lets herself be taken back in history to another time and life she led, and it gets her in trouble. This book gives you the chance to think about things in a new way, a way that might not have even come up before. I like the captivating way Sue Miller writes and look forward to reading another one of her books.

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Summary: There's no place like home
Review: Anyone who has ever taken a cold hard look at their life and wondered how they ended up where they did, will love this book. It was gripping at times and the title really hit home for me.
"While I Was Gone" tells what happens when you aren't content, when you keep looking for more or different, never satisfied with what is. Being physically present in a relationship doesn't mean a thing if you're really "gone."

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Summary: Reading in Florida
Review: I thought the book was well-written but somewhat dark. Jo seemed to be afraid of any significant emotional committment throughout her life; consequently, she seemed somewhat shallow. I couldn't help wondering if she was drawn to her second husband -- a minister -- as someone 'good' who would counteract the 'bad' things that had happened during her life in Cambridge. It appeared that she just wanted a 'safe' life, a life that wouldn't make too many demands on her emotionally. I also felt that this inability to commit was probably why she became a Vet -- animals love unconditionally and require very little in return. All in all, a thought-provoking book.