This is a story that triggers many emotions, but I found it hard to like the book because I despised nearly all of the characters or felt so sorry for a couple of them that I almost stopped reading it several times! Since I have a personal rule to finish what I start, I kept going only to find that mostly I was angry and frustrated with this whole sorry saga.
Lee leaves her newly delivered baby and her husband, Jim -- vanishing without a trace. Stunned and deeply in love with Lee, he frantically searches for her, going on long car rides and following any sighting or lead until he finally gives up and tries to create a stable home for his daughter. Meanwhile, Lee is on the road until she sets up with a fake name in a new place. What was she running from?
I'm not sure if we're meant to empathize with Lee or hate her. I felt the latter. Jim is a besotted fool and his obsession annoyed me. I couldn't see where any person would want a relationship with either of them. I guess it's all the question of forgiveness and the notions of mistakes and redemption.
I've read a couple of this author's other books and have liked them so perhaps this was the odd one that didn't ring true for me -- perhaps my compassion button was turned off. The messy, fractured family tale told here did not find that sympathetic or understanding reader in me and ultimately, I didn't care what happened to Lee at all nor will I wonder how things eventually turned out for Jim, Lila and Joanna.
I have a couple of other titles by Caroline Leavitt on my shelf and will read them. I hope for a return to the magic of complex and realistic domestic fiction that I'd found previously in her work. I noticed that this book was published in 1993 so perhaps that is part of it as it somehow did seem dated.
Thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for this e-book ARC to review.
I've liked Caroline Leavitt's books. Hope she hasn't lost her touch!
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