Fly Away Home in Ask Jennifer Weiner - Special One-Day-Only Group!

Jul 06, 2010 Tiffany rated it it was amazing

Fly Away Home
Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books, July 13th,2010
ISBN: 978-0-7432-9427-0, 401 pg.

Fly away home is the beautifully written story of Sylvie, a politicians wife, and her two daughters Diana and Lizzie. In the wake and aftermath of scandal these three women are forced to face the truth about themselves including who they are, who they want to be and what they want out of life. The women deal with past issues as well as present. Weiner does a wonderful job of taking the serious issues of commit Fly Away Home
Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books, July 13th,2010
ISBN: 978-0-7432-9427-0, 401 pg.

Fly away home is the beautifully written story of Sylvie, a politicians wife, and her two daughters Diana and Lizzie. In the wake and aftermath of scandal these three women are forced to face the truth about themselves including who they are, who they want to be and what they want out of life. The women deal with past issues as well as present. Weiner does a wonderful job of taking the serious issues of commitment, self-esteem, identity and choices and mixing them with comical moments.

Meet the women of Fly Away Home:

Sylvie: Wife of Senator Richard Woodruff. Sylvie has spent her life in her husbands service, helping him, guiding him and focusing on him. After his affair is brought into the open, Sylvie must re-evaluate who she is and who she wants to be. She must make the biggest decision of all. Will she be able to trust and forgive?

Diana: The eldest daughter of Sylvie and Richard Woodruff. After watching her parents marriage, Diana has a very clear path for her life and how she wants it to be. While everything makes sense on paper, Diana forgets about the heart and love. When she is reminded her world is turned upside down and she must choose to love or not to love? Will she be happy?

Lizzie: (Elizabeth) The youngest daughter of the Woodruff鈥檚 and the family screw-up. Returning from rehab, Lizzie is determined to be better, to make something of herself, and to stay clean. It seems the world doesn鈥檛 want to make this easier for her, and her family isn鈥檛 in the best state to help. Will she be able to overcome of one the hardest parts of her life? Will she learn from the rehab and will she survive the shock and surprises she will encounter along the way?

The novel is divided into three sections. Each section skillfully sets up the next and smoothly transitions into it. Each section is divided into chapters, entitled by the woman who narrates the chapter. The first section focuses on past memories as well as current happenings. The second section dives deeper into the issues of the women, each leading to the point of no return. The third and final section brings the three women together. They face the past, present and future together and discover where home truly is.

Jennifer Weiner did a wonderful job with this novel. Fly away home quickly moved its way up the list of my favorite novels by Weiner. She encompasses so many relationships and focuses on them throughout the book. It is skillfully written and will make you laugh as well as feel the emotions of each character. You will find yourself relating to each character in your own way and rooting for them to find comfort and happiness. Fly Away Home is a heartbreaking, insightful novel, full of humor and interpersonal relationships. It will easily become a novel you will not want to put down, a novel that will carry you through many emotions, a novel you simply wont want to end.

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Jul 22, 2010 Laura rated it really liked it

Jennifer Weiner is one of my favorite authors. Her characters are living, breathing creations that I can relate to and imagine having a conversation over coffee with them. I started reading her books five or six years ago with Good in Bed and I eagerly await each new novel.

Fly Away Home is a novel that sounds like it is ripped from headlines. Sylvie Serfer Woodruff has changed herself over the years into the perfect politician鈥檚 wife. Her husband, Richard Woodruff, is a high powered senator from Jennifer Weiner is one of my favorite authors. Her characters are living, breathing creations that I can relate to and imagine having a conversation over coffee with them. I started reading her books five or six years ago with Good in Bed and I eagerly await each new novel.

Fly Away Home is a novel that sounds like it is ripped from headlines. Sylvie Serfer Woodruff has changed herself over the years into the perfect politician鈥檚 wife. Her husband, Richard Woodruff, is a high powered senator from New York with dreams of being the president. They have two daughters, Diana and Lizzie. Diana is a doctor with a seemingly perfect life with her husband and son, if you don鈥檛 count that fact that she doesn鈥檛 love her husband. Lizzie is a troubled twenty-four year old recovering addict who is trying to find her way in the world.

All of their worlds are changed forever when it is discovered that Richard had an affair with a young staffer and helped her to get a job. Without Richard to take care of, Sylvie realizes that she has not been taking care of herself. Diana realizes that she is more like her father than she thinks . . . as she is having a torrid affair with a young intern. Lizzie finds purpose in life by taking care of Diana鈥檚 son Milo and then her father Richard, who is lost without Sylvie. The book explores what it is like to be the woman who stands behind the man confessing his extramarital affairs at the podium.

I wasn鈥檛 sure at first that I would like this book, as I have politician scandal fatigue, but I loved the focus and character development of the three women. The story wasn鈥檛 really about the scandal per say, but about how these women discovered or rediscovered themselves and were able to move on from their experiences.

I did have a hard time connecting with Diana. I understood her drive for perfection, but to marry someone you don鈥檛 love or feel attraction for just to be married is something I really don鈥檛 understand or have sympathy for. I like how she also had to hit rock bottom to start to understand herself again.

Sylvie reminded me a lot of my grandmother who was very focused on my grandfather and not on raising her child. This caused problems for poor Lizzie in the novel as well as Sylvie when Richard was suddenly out of the picture. Lizzie had a variety of problems, and I loved her growth to a mature young woman throughout the book and her ability to put the problems behind her.

I also loved reading Sylvie鈥檚 back story on how she and Richard got together in the first place and how their marriage evolved to the point it was at. I just wish the book could have continued on, I wanted to continue the journey with these characters!

While the story was serious, Weiner鈥檚 trademark humor was every apparent and you can see below in my favorite quotes:

When Sylvie鈥檚 mother Selma is talking about her sex life with her father, Sylvie thinks, 鈥淪omewhere in the world, there was surely a conversation taking place that she鈥檇 less enjoy hearing. Trouble was, she couldn鈥檛 imagine what that conversation might be.鈥�

Later in that same conversation Selma says, 鈥淚 just wanted you to know that you never know what鈥檚 going on in someone else鈥檚 marriage, behind someone else鈥檚 bedroom door. Nobody鈥檚 perfect.鈥�

I laughed out loud at this quote, 鈥淚f your grandmother wouldn鈥檛 recognize it, don鈥檛 eat it, her nutritionist had said. Well, too bad, nutritionist, because Selma鈥檚 grandma would have recognized Crisco just fine.鈥�

Overall this was a great character study and a hard book to put down. It tackled serious issues, but was relatable and had plenty of humor. I highly recommend it.
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Jul 12, 2010 Kirstin rated it liked it

This was another ok Jennifer Weiner book. I miss the funny, lighthearted characters from her ealier books. Most of the characters in this book were depressed the vast majority of the time. I really could not stand Diana, the older sister. I could not feel happy for her in the end , it was her own fault that her life became such a mess. Sylvie became somewhat whiney and annoying at the end as well, and the ending was a little disappointing with her storyline. The only likable character was Lizzie ...more

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Jun 11, 2010 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, adult-fiction

This wasn't my favorite Jennifer Weiner book, but I really enjoyed it. The narrator (Judith Light from Who's the Boss) was a great storyteller and really brought the raw emotions of each character to life. Sylvie Woodruff's world is rocked when she finds out (via the news) that her Senator husband has had an affair with his legislative aide. She stands behind him during the press conference even though she is furious, deeply hurt, and betrayed. After the press conference she flees to the family ...more

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Mar 08, 2010 Jamie rated it it was amazing

This was a really fast read. I liked the subject matter and the fact that it was written from the viewpoints of the wife and her two daughters. Its about a wife of a politician who has an affair. Since this has been happening in real life a lot it was interesting to read it and try to understand why the women often decide to stand up next to their husbands during those press conferences about the affair. I am not sure how I felt about the end of the book. I am not sure what I was expecting regar ...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Cynthia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

Of course another great book by Jennifer Weiner! This one follows three women, a mother and her two very different daughters. After a family crisis occurs the women all go about finding themselves. Lizzie is trying to make a new life for herself and escape her troubled past while Diana realizes the life she chose for herself may not be what she wanted. The girls' mother, Sylvie, has a life altering event that changes her life as she has known it for most all of her married life. Jennifer does a ...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Tamara rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Unfortunately, I misread the jacket description, so I went through the whole book expecting Richard to die. Other than that, I found the book a thoughtful description of the lives of three very different women who happen to be related. I enjoyed getting to know Sylvie, Diana, and Lizzie and expect to see them again in another Jennifer Weiner novel.

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