Home again, Home again

After a week of no Internet -- between the storm which actually sent a lightning bolt through my neighbor's attic, burning down his entire home, and a sojourn to Louisiana -- I am ready to blog again. Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, Fly Away Home, seems to be a combination of the many political scandals that have popped up in recent years. A long time senator and "happily" married man indulges in an affair which breaks apart his family -- while Weiner could have gotten on the bandwagon here and made the novel's focus the rage of the betrayed wife and daughters, she, in fact, turns the book into an examination of the way we live our lives and the choices we make. Neither daughter, both adults, one a physician engaged in her own extramarital romp, the other, just out of rehab and looking for direction, is quite able to judge and condemn the brief exploits of her father. The wife, however, whom the novel follows most thoughtfully, spends her time coming to terms with herself as an individual and not as an accessory of a famous husband. She must begin to live her life on her terms and happily has a coastal summer house in which to seek respite. This novel much like all of Weiner's books has believable characters and a slim plot; her talent as a writer it seems to me is in the creation of people so full of truth that we may forget we are in a world of fiction. Now having read all of Weiner's books, I must admit that Good in Bed was for me the most hilarious and well done. These last few seem to be more rushed and less quirky. Nonetheless, if you want a quick and enjoyable read for these dog days of summer, Fly Away Home will do.