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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
I really enjoy reading about addiction - I'm actually writing a book about it - and that's why I picked this up. I was so disappointed! So much of the story was unrealistic, and there were a ton of subplots that were left unresolved. The pacing also seemed off - there were many times where Allison would be telling a story, and the next paragraph would randomly jump to several weeks or a month later. It was kind of confusing. I stuck through the book thinking it would eventually get better, and it just never did.
I have been a big Jennifer Weiner fan for years, but this was new territory for her. I was impressed by this story - taking her general heroine (an upper middle class 30 something) and making her an addict. Her descent into increasing pill-popping and its consequences was enthralling.
I love most of Weiner’s books. I just liked this one. It was good, not everything has to be life altering.
I have always been a fan of Jennifer Weiner’s Women’s fiction titles, as has my mom and sister, so I was excited to be able to read the advanced copy of this title so I could recommend it (or not of course) to them. I picked up this book without even reading a summary at first so I didn’t even know what I was going to be reading about. This is the story of a suburban mom who deals with everyday struggles (some would say more struggles than others) and gets addicted to prescription painkillers. It begins as a somewhat slow downward spiral, using regular doctors to get the meds, and then progresses very quickly into a major problem. She starts buying the drugs on the internet through an unknown source and spends ungodly amounts of money. The addiction really comes to light when she makes a poor choice while picking up her daughter from school one afternoon. From this point, her story is about recovery and the struggles that go with it. We have all read a story about someone getting lost in the world of drug use, I have ready many being a High School Librarian; but, Jennifer writes this story beautifully and in a way that doesn’t make you hate the addict or necessarily feel sorry for her either. You can truly just relate to her thoughts and kind of see what it might be like if this happened to you. The main character has grown up with a somewhat absent (or at least absent-minded) mother and has a marriage that was becoming hard to maintain, but the supporting characters step up in a way that is commendable and helps you see them in a good light as well. The daughter in the story, Ellie, is a hilarious, “overly-sensitive” child that kept me entertained throughout the story. As somewhat of a diva child myself, I could relate! All in all, definitely worth a read!
My rating: 4/5
Who would I recommend this to? Adult women mostly, maybe some of my older teen girls; anyone who has enjoyed previous Jennifer Weiner books; anyone who likes Women’s Fiction in general; fans of Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin, Kristin Hannah
Language: There is some adult language, of course, but nothing appalling.
Drugs/Alcohol: As is the nature of the story, there is definitely drug use and references, as well as some alcohol. It is not presented in a praiseful way though.
Sex: Nothing appalling here either.
http://sarakiplinger.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/all-fall-down-by-jennifer-weiner/
My rating: 4/5
Who would I recommend this to? Adult women mostly, maybe some of my older teen girls; anyone who has enjoyed previous Jennifer Weiner books; anyone who likes Women’s Fiction in general; fans of Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin, Kristin Hannah
Language: There is some adult language, of course, but nothing appalling.
Drugs/Alcohol: As is the nature of the story, there is definitely drug use and references, as well as some alcohol. It is not presented in a praiseful way though.
Sex: Nothing appalling here either.
http://sarakiplinger.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/all-fall-down-by-jennifer-weiner/
I enjoyed this book It was quite different in theme from other Jennifer Weiner books I’ve read. I liked that we watched Allison descend into pill abuse and her denial—she wasn’t like other addicts—she’d never exchanged sex for drugs, she had a good job and house and husband and kid, so how could she be an addict like them?
The problem was that I listened to this as an audio book. While the narrator did a good job with the majority of the story, when she did the voice of Allison’s six-year-old daughter, it was fingers-on-the-chalkboard irritating. I understand that Eloise could be a demanding kid given to temper tantrums, which is part of the reason Allison thought she needed pills to cope. If I’d read this book it would have been fine, but listening to an adult doing the part of annoying kid made me clench my teeth with irritation—word of warning.
The story itself is good. Allison’s marriage is not going well, her job is demanding, and her father is slipping into dementia. To “deal” with these issue, she continues her prescription from multiple doctors after she’d had a back injury months earlier. The problem with using drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism, of course, is that it might work at first, a little, but with addiction, a person quickly develops a tolerance and needs more and more to achieve the same effect. I’ve had two acquaintances who lost everything after being prescribed OxyContin after a back injury and then become addicted—detoxing from that drug is miserable—it definitely doesn’t happen after just a day or two. Therefore, that drug has always terrified me, and more so now that I hear stories of people who started with a prescription to an opioid, got too many pills, and then became addicted, only to quickly discover that heroin is cheaper and evidently a better high (if it’s not laced with something, like the stuff that apparently killed Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Allison’s problem was pills but instead of NA she starts going to AA. The 12-step programs are basically the same but not necessarily interchangeable. Besides that, it seemed to me that Weiner did a great job researching this. (Thankfully, I don’t have firsthand experience with this to verify her accuracy.)
I recommend this, but you might want to read the book digitally or in paper form to avoid the whiny kid.
The problem was that I listened to this as an audio book. While the narrator did a good job with the majority of the story, when she did the voice of Allison’s six-year-old daughter, it was fingers-on-the-chalkboard irritating. I understand that Eloise could be a demanding kid given to temper tantrums, which is part of the reason Allison thought she needed pills to cope. If I’d read this book it would have been fine, but listening to an adult doing the part of annoying kid made me clench my teeth with irritation—word of warning.
The story itself is good. Allison’s marriage is not going well, her job is demanding, and her father is slipping into dementia. To “deal” with these issue, she continues her prescription from multiple doctors after she’d had a back injury months earlier. The problem with using drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism, of course, is that it might work at first, a little, but with addiction, a person quickly develops a tolerance and needs more and more to achieve the same effect. I’ve had two acquaintances who lost everything after being prescribed OxyContin after a back injury and then become addicted—detoxing from that drug is miserable—it definitely doesn’t happen after just a day or two. Therefore, that drug has always terrified me, and more so now that I hear stories of people who started with a prescription to an opioid, got too many pills, and then became addicted, only to quickly discover that heroin is cheaper and evidently a better high (if it’s not laced with something, like the stuff that apparently killed Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Allison’s problem was pills but instead of NA she starts going to AA. The 12-step programs are basically the same but not necessarily interchangeable. Besides that, it seemed to me that Weiner did a great job researching this. (Thankfully, I don’t have firsthand experience with this to verify her accuracy.)
I recommend this, but you might want to read the book digitally or in paper form to avoid the whiny kid.
I love Jennifer Weiner. I have read every single one of her books. However, I have to admit that she has completely resigned herself to the "chick lit" genre, and while she used to straddle that line intelligently, she's abandoned growth and different plot lines and has dove head first into the romantic comedy fiction genre. I love her in a guilty way now, as her last three books have revealed that she is merely cranking out novels for one particular style of audience. I will continue to read her books religiously because I still love her in spite of myself, but it's more of a guilty pleasure now instead of being purely enjoyable.
I struggled with this book a little bit. I couldn't and could relate to the main character. It was frustrating to read about the decisions that she made. I had trouble with her problems because they were such "first world" problems, but I guess it can be easy to get caught up in our bubble. That being said, I can see how her addiction happens to people, especially upper middle class women, who feel the need to put on a show.
The details about addiction were interesting enough, and the book was easy enough to read, that I finished it. But all in all I had that cotton candy feeling I so often get from chick lit. It was good fun at first, then too familiar, and finally I started to wonder why I thought reading it was a good idea.