While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

I finished this book in 2 days. It had such promise when I picked it up and started reading it but I have to say, I really worked to get through it and skimmed a lot of it. Most of it was uninteresting to me because nothing really ever happens in the story. It’s simply a woman reconciling her life. And I guess in that regard it is intriguing, but on the other hand, I found it somewhat boring and frustrating to read through.

Here’s the very basic story line without spoilers:

The main character is a pathologic

al liar and this character trait is both her salvation and her demise. She uses her ability to lie to create worlds in which she thinks she is succeeding in only to find that the reality of the world she is operating in is fundamentally flawed. That discovery surprises her – which is interesting since it is her lies that have created the shaky foundation. 

I can’t say I much liked the book. At the end of the novel I just kind of thought, “Humph.”There are some highly graphical scenes that unfold between the woman and her husband. Those excerpts were not offensive to me, but some readers might find them inappropriate.  Personally, though, I would say don’t waste your time reading this novel. There are many other great novels out there to read and this is just not one of them. I have also read The Good Mother by Sue Miller and found it as equally drab. I read it last summer but did not put a review up on the book blog. **Maybe** I’ll do that at some point.