While I Was Gone

Wow.

One way I can gauge whether I really like a book is if I would be interested in rereading the tale. This book is one of those. I am not even sure what year I read this story (I'm guessing 2002, but who knows), but I remember I borrowed it from my Mum, and that I was at the camp, reading this by the lake (no better place, imo...). While I was Gone was my introduction to Sue Miller, and it has since invited me to read other Miller titles (The Good Mother, the World Below).

So here's the tale: In 1968, Jo was married but decides to wontonly abandon it all to go live a bohemian life under an alias and live in rooming house with some people. All this seems inconsequential when we are spun forward to her current life: she is now a veterinarian, married to a Pastor of a church and has three grown children. But one of her flatmates happens to move into her little town and thus drudges up memories of her past when, while living in the rooming house, something so heinous happened that causes her current life to unravel.

This book happens to be an Oprah Book Club selection...even though I'm really not a fan of Oprah, she has chosen some interesting reading selections. If you hate Oprah, just pretend I didn't say anything and read this book on its own merits. While I Was Gone is great book, not so much for suspense, but for a flowing prose that easily gets you lost on summer afternoons by the lake.

A great read! I am such a fan of Sue Miller's. I'm looking forward to reading more of hers. This book was very surprising and very authentic. I had the sense I was looking at a woman's relationships with a microscope. Her strengths and especially failings were well portrayed, from her first marriage, and how she dealt with her unhappiness there, to her second.