The Breakdown Lane

I love to read and do it constantly. Once I find my book I read the reviews and then decide whether it interests me or not. This book got great reviews that is why I purchased it. I did not like it all and was wondering if maybe I missed something that the other readers did not. Usually, if I start a book and do not like it I force myself to finish it....this I could not....did not even get half way through before I decided to move on to another one. I liked the plot of the story but did not like the story telling itself. I read one of her other books and loved it but somehow this one fell short for me. Does anyone else feel the same way about this particular book?

***** This book was one I couldn't put down until I finished. It is a book about a woman whose husband enigmatically abandons her and her children in order to find himself---at the same time she acquires multiple sclerosis. But it is really about so much more. It is about what family REALLY is, and what love really is. I read this book in less than a day, mainly because I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. The story is told through the main character's journal, her advice columns, and her teenage son's journal. It was absolutely wonderful. I think that anyone would enjoy this story because of the opportunity to reflect, think through their own life's meaning, and to experience something that they may or may not experience in life...a chronic illness...but even more so, betrayal, love, duty, being in love versus reality, grieving for someone you thought you knew, etc. There are so many thought-provoking themes that ran through the novel that I can't really even describe them all. I do think that you would enjoy this book, if you've read this far in the review :) Writers and intellectuals, add a star! *****

Although Julieanne offers helpful advice via a weekly column in a local newspaper, she was oblivious to the warning signs that her own twenty-year marriage was about to collapse. When her husband, Leo announces that the pressure of domesticity is weighing him down and needs a six month "time-out" Julieanne pleads with him to reconsider. He doesn't. He takes off, with the empty promise of returning in six monts, to a commune far away from home. He doesn't even leave a forwarding address. With the recently acquired status of single parent and breadwinner of three (two teens and a toddler) Julieanne is stressed beyond belief. That stress is followed by puzzling medical symptoms that are soon diagnosed as MS. The reader goes along on the journey with this family guided by the voice of Julieanne and her mildly disabled teen son, Gabe. Gabe's voice will touch any mother's heart. He's been victimized by his peers due to his LD but the reader quickly learns that Gabe possesses depth and sensitivity and intelligence that would make any mother proud. When his mother becomes too ill to properly care for baby Aury, Gabe steps up to the plate without complaining. We don't get Julieanne's daughter Caroline's perspective through her own voice, but we're made aware that Caroline seems too self-absorbed to be affected by the unraveling of her family. Later, we learn that Caroline was simply using the only coping skills she could access during the most troubling and confusing time of her life. Caroline concocts a plan for damage control: go to the commune and fetch the father who deserted them. Surely once he finds gets a first hand account of the terrible troubles at home, he'll come running back, shame-faced and begging for forgiveness. Dad, however, is none too happy to see his two offspring. He's already started another family with a younger woman. Amazingly, this family bonds together and with the help of a family friend and new rich husband for Julieanne, there's a happily ever after for everyone. Even baby Aury. A touching read, which Mitchard tied up nicely at the end.

THE BREAKDOWN LANE is much more than just another story of how a family copes when the head of the household walks out on them. Add a newly diagnosed, debilitating illness for the wife, and you have the makings of an extraordinary book by accomplished writer Jacquelyn Mitchard. This novel shows how family dynamics shift dramatically whenever any major change occurs within the family unit. Still beautiful at midlife, Julieanne seemed to have it all: a loving husband with a solid, professional career, three healthy children, caring friends, and enough money to indulge her passions of ballet classes and fashion. She even dabbled at a job of sorts --- writing a weekly advice column entitled "Excess Baggage." This domestic picture disintegrated when Leo announced he needed air and craved a change. He had been giving some not-so-subtle clues that something was amiss but Julieanne failed to recognize the warnings. When he announced that he really was leaving home for several months, Julieanne argued passionately to no avail. Leo's mind was made up. He promised to keep in constant communication and to return home renewed and refreshed in a few months. Leo did not keep in touch at all. Nor did he return as promised. Instead, he joined an alternative community in Vermont, far from the family he abandoned back in Wisconsin. He even set up a household with a woman half his age and started another family with her. Julieanne experienced various puzzling physical problems, which turned out to be multiple sclerosis. Between her frightening new diagnosis and Leo's abandonment of their family, Julieanne felt overwhelmed. At times she became quite ill and helpless, taking to her bed. This often left Gabe, Caroline, and Aury to fend for themselves. They got some help from Julieanne's best friend, Cathy, and Leo's aging parents, who were horrified by their son's bizarre behavior. Teenager Gabe became his mother's rock. He looked after preschooler Aury and became a surrogate father figure to her. Gabe struggled with a serious learning disability that made school seem like torture for him. Reading was difficult for him but he could easily write. Together Gabe and Cathy often wrote Julieanne's advice column. Caroline, a self-absorbed teenager, was little help. She was seldom home and tried to ignore the problems that threatened to overwhelm her family. However, it was Caroline who approached Gabe with the daring idea of finding their father. She felt sure she could talk Leo into returning home once he was aware just how badly they all needed him. So Gabe and Caroline concocted a series of lies, sharing their real plans with only one adult (Cathy) and embarked upon the journey from Wisconsin to New England. Their trip had several unexpected hazards, but they did locate Leo who wasn't exactly thrilled to be reminded of his family back in Wisconsin. What choices Gabe made about his future, which parent Caroline decided to live with, how Julieanne adapted to her illn

This book is about family relationships and how those relationships are the threads that make up the fabric of our lives. Breakdown Lane examines how other people and random events can cause those threads to break or if you're lucky become stronger. Julieanne Gillis is married, has three kids, has her own newspaper advice column, and loves to take ballet lessons. Her life is turned upside down when her husband Leo decides he needs to take a sabbatical from their married life. It does not get any better when her doctor gives her the diagnosis that she has multiple sclerosis. Julieanne depends a lot on her son Gabe to help her with his two younger sisters. Gabe is incredibly smart young man but a terrible student. Gabe and Cathy, her best friend write her advice column when Julieanne is unable to write. As the narrative unfolds, Gabe and Julieanne take turns in each chapter telling their story. These chapters are interspersed with excerpts from her column, "Excess Baggage". Julieanne's daughter Caroline struggles with her mother being ill. She comes up with the idea that she and Gabe need to go find their father. Julieanne manages to find happiness in the end. Gabe is able to finally stop being angry with his father Leo. She and Gabe reveal at the end that this book was written from excerpts from their respective journals and that their names were actually Pamela and Daniel. Just like in her column, they felt the need to protect their identities. An excellent well-written book that will make you think about love, family, and friends.