a bit disappointing, but i enjoyed it ( )

Star and a half. I thought this would be a more accurate and maybe even nuanced portrayal of addiction than another book of Weiner's, "Fly Away Home." I read the books years apart from one another. This--it is more nuanced and accurate, but that doesn't mean it's entirely accurate. The nuance is there because of how the book is written: first person POV of the addict, all the way through. In "Fly Away Home," it was third person omniscient, with multiple POVs. People experience addiction differently, I note acidly to Jennifer Weiner. Your protagonist, Allison, says that pill-heads aren't sloppy, don't slur their speech, and don't wake up in their own vomit. My experiences back when I was hooked on painkillers prove you WRONG. Sudden lack of coordination and slow speech and movement are common. I woke up in my own puke enough to get used to it. No alcohol involved. I used Percocet and Percodan mixed together regularly.

Allison agrees to buy a house she's not sure of, because her husband smiles at her. He wants her to be a housewife and she's too overwhelmed to say no. He is a huge jerk throughout and totally selfish. She's a people-pleaser who hates conflict. It was awful emotionally to read through, and how their marriage was deteriorating. I hated Ellie all over again, with added layers of judgment, exasperation, and fury at her mother for not being able to say no to a FIVE-YEAR-OLD who is an enormously spoiled unbearable brat. And she's only five! It's gonna be so much worse when she's a teenager! Stop coddling her! Allison's husband, Dave doesn't want couples counseling. It's clear he doesn't like his daughter or care for her, especially since he also does not draw boundaries or scold the little brat. He is paying attention to another woman in a way that makes Allison uncomfortable, and has been sleeping in the guest room for six weeks. Why haven't they discussed separating? (sigh) Probably because Allison is afraid to set boundaries with him. She's certainly afraid to do with with Ellie. She's not confident enough in her blossoming career to take other opportunities, even though her boss is thrilled. That was sad.

I remembered Allison's dad had dementia, but not how in-depth and detailed the pages spent on it were. That was hard emotionally. My late grandmother was the family matriarch, and her death from complications due to dementia was hard on my whole family. We never really recovered. The book details accurate withdrawal symptoms from pill use. The second half of the novel is a bunch of blather about a program that is not based in science, medicine, or evidence, and it mentions the word 'god' a lot. There are science-based and medicine-based rehabs and detox facilities out there. In the Pacific Northwest of the USA, there's a place called A Positive Alternative. It treats people with addictions like adults, treats them individually, and many staff have Master's degrees. There are similar facilities in other parts of the USA, and I encourage people to go through them. ( )

Meh. Her main characters are all basically the same. The drug addiction angle was new, but I'm getting a little tired of the "poor, poor pitiful me" vibe from them. Plus, Ellie talks a lot like the main characters in Lauren Child's Charlie and Lola books. I'm not buying it. I think I'm about done with Weiner unless she shows me something different. ( )

It's been quite a few years since I've read a Jennifer Weiner book, and now I remember why I like her. If she often gets dismissed as a "chick lit" author, so be it. I find her lead characters funny and relatable, and in All Fall Down she takes on a pretty weighty subject and handles it well. ( )

Didn't finish. ( )