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Two women running away from their marriages collide on a foggy highway, killing one of them. The survivor, Isabelle, is left to pick up the pieces, not only of her own life, but of the lives of the devastated husband and fragile son that the other woman, April, has left behind. Together, they try to solve the mystery of where April was running to, and why. As these three lives intersect, the book asks, How well do we really know those we loveâ??and how do we forgive the unforgivable?… (more)
RochelleJewelShapiro: From Publishers Weekly
When book designer Gary Breyer and third-grade teacher Molly Goldman meet at a New Jersey diner, it's love at first sight in Leavitt's (Living Other Lives) latest drama. Gary's parents were killed in a freak accident when he was a baby; Molly's only family is an older sister, Suzanne, who ran away from home at 17 and hasn't been seen since. The sisters' few conversations consist of Suzanne calling to borrow money Molly can't afford to give her; when she finally refuses, Suzanne drops off the radar for good. Gary and Molly wed after a brief courtship, buy a home and are delighted at the birth of their son, Otis at last they feel like members of a "normal" family. But their joy is short-lived: while still in the hospital, Molly becomes gravely ill and falls into a coma, leaving Gary to care for Otis with the help of dour, flaky, live-in nurse Gerta. Then Gary loses his job. Desperate and facing astronomical medical bills, he contacts Suzanne and asks her to return to New Jersey from California to help with the baby. Broke and alone, she accepts. At first her selfishness and utter incompetence strain credibility, but her sudden transformation to conscientious, doting aunt, while inevitable, seems equally implausible. The narrative, told from the shifting perspectives of the three principals, is peppered with bland, disagreeable secondary characters creepy neighbors, an arrogant doctor and Suzanne's ex-boyfriend, Ivan. There's little here to hold readers' interest even the drama of Molly's illness and mounting tensions between Gary and Suzanne lack suspense and the reward for having to endure these people never comes: the unsatisfying ending leaves too many issues unresolved. (Apr.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Gary and Molly's joy at becoming parents comes to a quick and devastating end when Otis's birth leaves Molly with a life-threatening medical condition. To make matters worse, just when he most needs work to pay Molly's astronomical medical bills, Gary is fired from the publishing company in whose art department he works. In desperation, he calls Molly's long-estranged sister, Suzanne, to return to New Jersey and care for the baby while he spends his days at the hospital with the comatose and desperately ill Molly and his nights at his new job as a security guard. When Molly finally awakens and learns the extent of her illness, she realizes that the fragility of existence (with or without a potentially fatal illness) means that it's important to live every moment fully. Leavitt (Living Other Lives) has a talent for creating believable characters whose problems touch the reader's heart. With its tug-at-the-heartstrings plot, this novel sometimes teeters on the brink of melodrama, but Leavitt is a good enough writer to keep it from dissolving into suds. Recommended for all public library fiction collections.DNancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.… (more)
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rabck from pinklady60; On a foggy highway, two women running away from their marriages collide. The fatality leaves a motherless boy, who was in the car and ran just before the crash and a photographer who now is grappling with survivor's guilt. The book shows the crash from 3 different points of view in various parts of the book - Isabella, the survivor; Sam, the boy that ran away and finally Bill, April's lover who changed his mind at the last minute when he finds out that April was hiding her son. ( )
Mostly a romantic novel. It revolves around a accident on the road where one woman is killed. The other woman becomes involved in life of the widower and his son. It’s about love , loss and forgiveness. Still, it was a bit bland. ( )
Caroline Leavitt's ninth novel, Pictures of You, drew me into the fractured and lonely lives of two strong women who are about to collide, literally and figuratively, from the first page....Leavitt's formidable skill as a writer is evident from beginning to end as we piece these lives together to find out what brought them to this world-ending moment. It's like a somberly beautiful mystery that unfolds like a dark flower until we see the glowing heart. The characters are fully drawn and we immediately feel we know them, perhaps better than the people we spend our everyday lives with....Leavitt tells a haunted yet revelatory tale and resists the urge to end it neatly - instead it has the unmistakable agony and glory of real people living real lives.
Two women running away from their marriages collide on a foggy highway, killing one of them. The survivor, Isabelle, is left to pick up the pieces, not only of her own life, but of the lives of the devastated husband and fragile son that the other woman, April, has left behind. Together, they try to solve the mystery of where April was running to, and why. As these three lives intersect, the book asks, How well do we really know those we loveâ??and how do we forgive the unforgivable?
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From the Booklist - Amazon com:In Leavitt’s compelling new novel, a car crash provides the catalyst for an examination of how well we know the people we love. April and Isabelle, both fleeing their marriages, collide on a foggy, deserted stretch of road. Only Isabelle survives, and though blameless, she is haunted by guilt. In search of healing, she finds herself drawn to Charlie and Sam, April’s grief-stricken husband and son. Complicated relationships develop, and Leavitt thoughtfully handles friendship and romance in scenes of emotional resonance. She understands the ache of loss, the elusiveness of forgiveness, and the triteness of words like “closure.” An expert storyteller, Leavitt alternates perspective among her three leading characters, providing insight into the thoughts, secrets, and dreams that they withhold from each other. Whether these individuals will arrive at happiness separately or together is the question that drives the narrative, and the reader, forward as Leavitt teases suspense out of the greatest mystery of all—the workings of the human heart. --Patty Wetli
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