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A review by louiselibrary
All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
5.0
Meet Allison, your typical stay at home mom / blogger. She is married - not so happily, i might add- to Dave. They have a 6 year old daughter, Elouise (Ellie for short) who is dubbed as being "sensitive". Allison's rocky marriage, her daughter's bad behavior, and her father's developing Alzheimer's is enough to set her over the edge - but wait... not without a little help from her little white friends. No, not the skin color, but instead I'm talking about Oxycontin, Percocets, and Vicodin. What began as occasionally taking one pill a day soon turned into three at a time and then maxes out at 30 per day.
She tries all of the legal methods to keep her hidden secret thriving, such as calling for more and more refills. This soon turns into buying pills online. Eventually she ends in rehab where she has to really open her eyes to the hell she has put her family through the past six months. She must face the fact that she ignores her daughter because she is sleeping all day, that she drove under the influence with multiple kids in the car, and that she has spent almost $10,000 on pills. With all of the storm comes a hint of sunlight. Although she will never fully recover, meaning she will always desire the bitterness of a pill under her tongue, Allison had made strides by the end of the book.
The book was hard to get through at times because of how unnerving it was to watch (read) this trainwreck of a wife, mother, and employee. You wanted to shake her and ask her how someone so intelligent could be so stupid. And that right there is exactly the reason this book is as good as it is. It shows the unknown side of addicts - the suburban mom with a college degree. Granted, in rehab it does show the "typical" users, but for Allison she believes she is different. The whole time she is in rehab (up until the end) she feels as though this isn't her reality. There was no way she could be as low as the other patients. She didn't do heroin, she didn't sell herself for drug money, and she wasn't homeless. It isn't until her daughter sits outside the bathroom door on the night of her 7th birthday party that she realizes she doesn't have to be all of those awful things to be an addict. Allison lied to her husband and said she had a day pass to go home when really she snuck away. She ran into the bathroom at a neighbors house during her daughter's party to find prescription pills in the sink. While rummaging through the cabinet she hears Ellie crying for her. Ignoring her protests she continues on the search. Just as she puts the pill in her mouth Ellie says "Do you need to take a nap now? I will be quiet". Allison said that that was the instant she felt her heart break. It was only then she realized that she had a problem, a problem that was noticable to her daughter. She spit the pill out and pulled her husband aside to tell him that she had to go back. Wonderful story about a woman who seemed to think that life could be fixed by being in a drug induced trance only to realize what was really in front of her when she could see clearly. Great book!
She tries all of the legal methods to keep her hidden secret thriving, such as calling for more and more refills. This soon turns into buying pills online. Eventually she ends in rehab where she has to really open her eyes to the hell she has put her family through the past six months. She must face the fact that she ignores her daughter because she is sleeping all day, that she drove under the influence with multiple kids in the car, and that she has spent almost $10,000 on pills. With all of the storm comes a hint of sunlight. Although she will never fully recover, meaning she will always desire the bitterness of a pill under her tongue, Allison had made strides by the end of the book.
The book was hard to get through at times because of how unnerving it was to watch (read) this trainwreck of a wife, mother, and employee. You wanted to shake her and ask her how someone so intelligent could be so stupid. And that right there is exactly the reason this book is as good as it is. It shows the unknown side of addicts - the suburban mom with a college degree. Granted, in rehab it does show the "typical" users, but for Allison she believes she is different. The whole time she is in rehab (up until the end) she feels as though this isn't her reality. There was no way she could be as low as the other patients. She didn't do heroin, she didn't sell herself for drug money, and she wasn't homeless. It isn't until her daughter sits outside the bathroom door on the night of her 7th birthday party that she realizes she doesn't have to be all of those awful things to be an addict. Allison lied to her husband and said she had a day pass to go home when really she snuck away. She ran into the bathroom at a neighbors house during her daughter's party to find prescription pills in the sink. While rummaging through the cabinet she hears Ellie crying for her. Ignoring her protests she continues on the search. Just as she puts the pill in her mouth Ellie says "Do you need to take a nap now? I will be quiet". Allison said that that was the instant she felt her heart break. It was only then she realized that she had a problem, a problem that was noticable to her daughter. She spit the pill out and pulled her husband aside to tell him that she had to go back. Wonderful story about a woman who seemed to think that life could be fixed by being in a drug induced trance only to realize what was really in front of her when she could see clearly. Great book!