Allison Weiss got her happy ending—a handsome husband, an adorable daughter, a job she loves, and the big house in the suburbs. But while waiting in the pediatrician's office, she opens a magazine to a quiz about addiction and starts to wonder...Is a Percocet at the end of the day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class...or if your husband ignores you? She tells herself that the pills help her make it through her days...but what if her increasing drug use, a habit that's becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?
Hailed as "a witty, realistic criticism on the modern age" (Boston Herald), this remarkable story of a woman's fall into addiction and struggle to find her way back up again is Jennifer Weiner's most masterful, moving, and celebrated work yet.
Allison Weiss got her happy ending—a handsome husband, an adorable daughter, a job she loves, and the big house in the suburbs. But while waiting in the pediatrician's office, she opens a magazine to a quiz about addiction and starts to wonder...Is a Percocet at the end of the day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class...or if your husband ignores you? She tells herself that the pills help her make it through her days...but what if her increasing drug use, a habit that's becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?
Hailed as "a witty, realistic criticism on the modern age" (Boston Herald), this remarkable story of a woman's fall into addiction and struggle to find her way back up again is Jennifer Weiner's most masterful, moving, and celebrated work yet.
Reviews-
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March 31, 2014
Bestselling author Weiner (The Next Best Thing) takes us down the slippery slope of prescription drug addiction in this page-turning saga about a working mom, Allison Weiss, who uses pills to deal with recurrent pain, not to mention life’s increasing challenges. These include being the family’s major breadwinner; raising a difficult five-year-old daughter, Ellie; helping her mother deal with her father’s worsening Alzheimer’s; and maintaining a relationship with her ever-distant husband, Dave. While Weiner covers no new territory, she makes a good case for how a well-educated, self-aware woman can become dependent on drugs through legal prescriptions. Even her closest friend, Janet, turns to something—in her case, alcohol—to take the edge off the burden of being the perfect wife and mom. Allison’s experience of rehab is what we might expect: a drab place where she “doesn’t belong,” feels superior to the staff and fellow addicts, and finds the AA philosophy off-putting and outmoded. Although the ultimate explanation for Allison’s problems is clichéd, Weiner doesn’t take Allison’s path to redemption lightly, and convincingly shows that addiction can, indeed, be overcome, but only with genuine commitment and hard, hard work. Agent: Joanna Pulcini, Joana Pulcini Literary Management. -
April 15, 2014
A 39-year-old suburban mom turns to prescription painkillers to manage the compounding stresses of her downwardly mobile existence, her troubled marriage, her difficult 5-year-old daughter and her father's descent into Alzheimer's-related dementia. Allison Weiss is a blogger at a Jezebel-like site called Ladiesroom.com and is largely responsible for supporting her family as her reporter husband's salary shrinks in the wake of the implosion of the newspaper industry. Certain aspects of Allison's writing career mirror facets of Weiner's (The Next Best Thing, 2012, etc.) own public battles against sexism in the media and publishing industries. Allison wonders whether or not to use the term "strident" to describe another woman, and after her picture appears in a Wall Street Journal article, the comments sections is barraged by disparaging remarks about her weight and appearance. Unhappy in the large house in an upscale Philadelphia suburb chosen by her husband, Allison develops a pill problem, starting with pain meds prescribed for a bad back. Before she knows it, she's juggling several doctors to feed her habit, requiring larger and larger doses, and eventually turning to an illegal website to place her orders. Weiner manages to postpone the inevitable train wreck for a few hundred pages, as Allison dismisses and denies her addiction, comparing herself favorably to stereotypical junkies, whose lives are so different from her upscale Whole Foods and private-school existence that she can pretend there is no connection. Weiner relies on brand names as class signifiers; the other moms at her daughter's school wear Lululemon workout clothes, Seven for All Mankind jeans, and carry Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags. Even after entering rehab, Allison's denial of her problem and inability to identify with lower-class addicts from broken homes carries on for another hundred pages or so before the inevitable revelations set in. Though it feels a bit like the literary equivalent of an after-school special for adults, Weiner does a good job of describing the mindset of the addict and provides a realistic portrayal of upper-middle-class addiction in a novel that will appeal to her many fans.COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Starred review from May 15, 2014
Allison Weiss is having trouble keeping it all together. Her husband, Dave, resents that she makes more money as a lead writer on a mommy blog than he does as a newspaper reporter. They live in a house they can't afford, with Dave sleeping in the guest bedroom more and more often. Between juggling writing assignments with the antics of their highly sensitive five-year-old, Ellie, Allison also tries to help her mother manage the fact that her father is falling further into dementia. So how does a stressed-out mom catch a break? Pills. Lots and lots of lovely little pain-killing pills. When she runs out of legitimate prescriptions, Allison turns to buying them illegally online, spending thousands of dollars a month on her growing addiction. Things look great on the outsideone would never guess how many Oxycontins and Percocets it takes Allison to get through the daybut rock bottom hits, as it always does. Weiner, who is a master at creating realistic characters, is at her best here, handling a delicate situation with witty dialogue and true-to-life scenes. Readers will be nodding their heads in sympathy as Allison struggles to balance being a mother, a daughter, and a wife while desperately just wanting to be herself.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Weiner is one of the reigning queens of contemporary women's fiction, and her latest is sure to hit the best-seller lists. The hot-topic quality of the story line will only boost readership even further.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.) -
November 1, 2013
After contented suburban mom Gillian Weiss's website starts booming, her husband gets chilly, her daughter gets snarky, and her father's Alzheimer's gets worse. Those prescription painkillers help, but suddenly Gillian's in rehab. Great for book clubs.
Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Starred review from May 15, 2014
From the outside, it would seem that Allison Weiss has it all--a dedicated husband, a spirited daughter, and the job of her dreams. But between her father's Alzheimer's, her husband's career failings, and her daughter's sensory sensitivity, Allison struggles to maintain her vision of perfection. A pain pill here and there, originally prescribed for her sore back, quickly becomes a requirement for making it through each day. Then the unmarked envelopes from an online drug site begin arriving as Allison starts consuming ten or more pills per day to keep her cool, putting her child at risk as she gets behind the wheel while under the influence. Weiner's (Good in Bed) latest novel is reminiscent of Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted, as Allison struggles to first hide, and then overcome, the addiction that jeopardizes everything she has worked so hard to achieve. VERDICT An absolutely heartbreaking read that will leave readers haunted. Great for book clubs or for anyone trying to understand a loved one's addiction.--Chelsie Harris, San Diego Cty. Lib.
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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May 15, 2014
From the outside, it would seem that Allison Weiss has it all--a dedicated husband, a spirited daughter, and the job of her dreams. But between her father's Alzheimer's, her husband's career failings, and her daughter's sensory sensitivity, Allison struggles to maintain her vision of perfection. A pain pill here and there, originally prescribed for her sore back, quickly becomes a requirement for making it through each day. Then the unmarked envelopes from an online drug site begin arriving as Allison starts consuming ten or more pills per day to keep her cool, putting her child at risk as she gets behind the wheel while under the influence. Weiner's (Good in Bed) latest novel is reminiscent of Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted, as Allison struggles to first hide, and then overcome, the addiction that jeopardizes everything she has worked so hard to achieve. VERDICT An absolutely heartbreaking read that will leave readers haunted. Great for book clubs or for anyone trying to understand a loved one's addiction.--Chelsie Harris, San Diego Cty. Lib.
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
