Search - While I Was Gone

From the back cover, "Fascinating . . . A New Novel of Great Integrity and Power . . . Despite having a loving husband, three vivacious daughters, a beautiful home in rural Massachusetts, and satisfaction in her work, Jo Becker's mind is invaded by a persistent restlessness. Then, an old roommate reappears to bring back Jo's memories of her early 20s . . . . Her obsession with that period of her life and with the crime that concluded it eventually estrange Jo from everything she holds dear, causing her to tell lie after lie as she is pulled closer to this man from her past...and to a horrible secret." Well, yes, that does describe it, but I think it deserved a little more mention of the fact that the book really connects her present life with her past in a way that the past is very involved in her life now. It is an easy ready, found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading the book ... that's my judgment of a pretty good book. I liked it.

This is a story of how one womans past comes back to haunt her, when a man she knew 25 years ago, moves into the small New England town, where Jo is a veterinarian and happily married. Jo finds her "old friend," Eli, upsetting and at the same time tantalizing. Can she confront her past yet stay true to her marriage?
I loved the authors penchants for detail and good dialogue. It helped to make the story "real." This novel is a "page-turner," with many surprises!

Very well written, but I did find it difficult to relate to the main character. Although I cannot personally relate to the inner struggles Jo experienced, I think that Sue Miller did an excellent job of creating a flawed heroine...a survivor of the "late 1960's, early 1970's" era of American culture. I couldn't put this book down once I got into it.

I ususally can find something I like about a book, I just can't do that this time.

I was disappointed when reading this book of how much of it was setting up the history and scene. To much potatoes and not enough meat.

One of Oprah's Book Club.