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Barbara O. (Maryland Heights, MO)
Could not stop reading!
Book clubs will love this book and it's characters. Randy Susan Meyers creates people you react to strongly, invoking strong feelings of empathy, anger and compassion. Every family has a story and the Illica Family story is at times painful and thought provoking and real. I cared deeply about all of them but in particular, Emma. I hated to see this book end and I cared deeply about what happened to them. Bravo!
Bonnie B. (Port St. Lucie, FL)
A Well-Crafted Novel of Family and Self
Maddy is a social worker who runs groups for battered women. Her husband Ben is a public defender who has a serious anger problem. Everyone in the house is prisoner to Ben's moods. He has broken dishes, punched holes in the wall, and has verged on physical abuse of their three children - Emma is 14, Caleb is 7 and Gracie is 9. Mostly, he screams but his voice is often threatening and bullying.
Ben is driving Maddy in his car when he succumbs to road rage. The car crashes into a tree and Maddy suffers a severe traumatic brain injury and lies in a coma for weeks on end. As Maddy fights for her life, Emma becomes a
…more parental child, Caleb regresses, and Gracie is the silent child who watches carefully to see what is happening now and what the future will bring.
This is a harrowing and well-crafted book about family and personal identity. Told from the differing vantage points of Ben, Maddy and Emma, the reader is taken on a roller coaster of emotions. It is a definite page-turner and difficult to put down. (less)I enjoyed reading this book, although it made me want to cry.
The story is not a happy one, but the book is well written and the story is one that could happen to real people. Ms Meyers knows how to reach ito her character's hearts and makes you care for them.
I will recommend it to my book club, because the discussion should be very interesting.
WDH (New Port Richey, FL)
Family Dynamics
A good read overall - the storyline felt real, even though it was hard to 'like' some of the characters. Makes you want to pay more attention to relationships and be more aware of what could be going on around you. I also thought about how people start to compensate for and/or excuse behaviors that would set off alarm bells if you weren't so emotionally involved. While walking away isn't always a solution to solving relationship issues, confronting the situation could have made a difference. Not always easy to do, but ... maybe a better choice in the long run.
Kay K. (Oshkosh, WI)
Can Marriage Be an Accident?
Is who you marry just an "accident" and if it is can it be survived? Meyers book explores a marriage through the awakenings of its characters. Maddy awakens from a coma on one level and on a deeper level she awakens from her accident of marriage. Emma, a teen, is awakening from adolescence during a difficult family tragedy, and Ben awakens from his self absorption. Can all these awakenings keep the family together or will they tear them apart? Meyer's examination of each character's feelings and reactions is an interesting one. The characters seem real and the premise plausible. That is what keeps the reader reading.
Susan B. (Coventry, RI)
Accidents of Marriage
I got taken in by this book very early on. I was halfway through before I knew it. The characters were well described and each one had his/her own idiosyncrasies and needs. This meant that rather than thinking of the characters as a family, I saw them as individuals. Because of the horrible accident which occurs early in the book, the family disintegrates as such and instead we see each personality as real and feeling human beings. My sympathies were for Maddy, the mother of three children and wife of Ben. Ben was the perpetrator and evoked no emotion from me. I felt that everything negative that happened in the
…more book was his fault. I was definitely on the side of the debilitated family. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book with lots of drama. One problem follows another as the story evolves and picks up speed. It would also be a good choice for a women's book group. (less)Unless your marriage and all of your relationships are perfect it is impossible not to connect to this book. This book takes a close look under a microscope at one family and their relationships. I could really understand the relationship between Maddy and Ben before the accident. You know the conversation is going badly; you know what you should say and want to say; and yet you say the opposite and make matters worse.
Maddy worked with dysfunctional families and yet she couldn't see the dysfunction and even abuse in her own.
I found this book hard to put down and yet the relationships almost painful to read at
…more times. The accident changes everything and yet initially people did not step up to the plate the way I predicted. It keeps twisting and turning to a satisfying end. (less)In general I liked this book. I was able to read it quickly as it held my attention. The subject matter was interesting and would make for good discussion in book clubs. I felt the most compassion for the oldest daughter who was forced to keep the family functioning while losing her grip on her own life and identity. There was something, however, that kept it from being a REALLY good book though. There was something unbelievable about Ben's character. I just couldn't get a sense of why she was with him ever. Often times one sees the trail of the abusive relationship and understands the attraction but in this
…more case it was just a bit too far of a stretch and it hurt the book. (less)
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