While I was Gone by Sue Miller

If ever you were in the mood to run away from yourself, While I Was Gone is the book you'd want to turn to. Sue Miller writes a great story of what we all dream of at one point or another. "What would happen, if I just left all this behind and started over". To most, it's just a fantasy; nothing we'll ever really do.

Sue Miller's main character is Joanne. Your regular middle-aged mother. The thing with mom's though is that they lived a life before they became mothers and Joanne really lived! In fact, I was sort of jealous of the bold decisions she made and actually followed through with them. Yes, I was jealous of a fictional character! One of the reason I envied her was because she was able to make a decision to change and follow though with it at 100% without second guessing herself or going back or changing her mind or wimping out half way though. That takes a lot of will power and bravery.

A main theme of While I was Gone is the very defined stopping and starting points in life. Joanne made all her life changes at an event in her life. Once something happened then she would make a life change. A real life example would be graduating from high school. However, all of Joanne's moments of change are little less. . . ordinary. And one event is down right tragic.

It took me a while to understand Jo. To get where she was coming from because at first she came off as really self-centered. So, I kept putting the book down only to start it over again a week later. Finally, by chapter three, I was hooked! I just had to know what happens to Jo, to Leshia Stead and everyone else in the book. This is Oprah recommended reading and as usual Oprah does not disappoint.