Book Club Review: While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

This month, Book Club read While I Was Gone by Sue Miller.

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

Comments related to the semi-serious discussion about the book:

I took perverse pleasure in the fact that it was  an Oprah Book Club pick. I knew it was going to be a captivating and engrossing but easy read.

I was really drawn in.

The most interesting part was the author interview at the end.

It was  a very pleasant read.

It spoke to how hard it is to be married and be a grown up.

I really enjoyed how life changes and how you deal with that.

I didn’t click with Jo, she was very secretive.

You could see that whole thing coming.

There were no surprises.

I wish it was not quite so twee.

I liked it.

I found the way she wrote about relationships was good.

Well-written.

It captures a married couple who had been married twenty years.

I found it odd. It seemed out of character after he [spoilers] when she [spoilers].

It was glimpse of what life is gonna be like in 15 years, you have a lot more time to think about the past.

There were moments when she really liked him and moments when she really didn’t care. It was real.

I feel like this book is not gonna stick with me.

I read it two weeks ago, couldn’t remember what it was about last weekend.

I devoured this book.

I was disappointed there wasn’t more of a twist.

I wasn’t as mad at her as I was at him.

It is so hazy in my memory but it felt very real to me.

For me, the most interesting part was understanding a different parenting approach, with her daughter.

It was a life lesson and I liked that.

–She just changed her name and moved into a group home, it didn’t seem that strange to me. 
–You California hippie.

The beauty of it was her relationships with her family.

I really, really enjoyed this book.

I liked that it brought up ideas about what is private, what should be private, secrets.

I was taken for the ride.

It was ironic ’cause you’re in her head, she’s narrating, but I felt like I didn’t know her at all, didn’t know her motivations or why she did anything.

She didn’t feel like a real person to me.

I picked it because someone suggested to me that it had themes that might appeal to me.

I can see where she’s coming from because day in and day out gets old.

I kinda liked it but it was pretty predictable.

I couldn’t understand why Dana was so infatuated with her.

–Daniel annoyed me, he was so good. Self-righteous, piousness. 
–No, he seemed great, I would totally go for him.

I think this was his fault, it was manipulative.

–[The sex scenes were] prurient. I didn’t need to read that. 
–No, I loved it, I thought ‘there’s hope’.

We’re gonna rewrite the book again.

And, now some random not-so-much book related comments:

I used to wear a unitard and a cat collar.

We can Google each other and find out everything.

Jules’ Review: It had moments. I enjoyed the flashbacks to her life in the sixties more than the rest of it. And I don’t love books where I really don’t like the main character as I didn’t here. I’m sure most of Book Club would rate it higher than I would.

Buy While I Was Gone

Paperback