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Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Accidents of Marriage

by Randy Susan Meyers

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Readers' Rating (64):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2014, 368 pages
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There are currently 64 reader reviews for Accidents of Marriage
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Power Reviewer
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 amore
Power Reviewer
Portia A. (Mount Laurel, NJ)

A very good book club book
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 themore
Sandra W. (Marietta, OH)

What is acceptable?
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 atmore
Malinda N. (Wheeling, WV)

Good book club choice but would only give a 3.5
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 thismore

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