Fly Away Home: A Novel
Fly Away Home: A Novel book cover

Fly Away Home: A Novel

Paperback – April 26, 2011

by
Price
$17.00
Format
Paperback
Pages
432
Publisher
Washington Square Press
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0743294287
Dimensions
5.31 x 1.08 x 8.25 inches
Weight
12.3 ounces

Description

""Fly Away Home" is the book to pack this summer. The latest from Jennifer Weiner has it all." -- "St. Petersburg Times"""Fly Away Home" is Weiner's best offering in years. The book is well written, a page turner and timely." --"Associated Press""Fresh, nuanced... Weiner wryly and sensitively shows the trade-offs we all make to maintain our relationships." --"Parade""Sharp, hysterical, thoughtful. . .Jennifer Weiner's latest treat hits the spot" --"The Providence Journal""Smart and juicy" --"Good Housekeeping""The quintessential beach read!" --"Columbus Dispatch""This best-selling author proves again that she writes the best page-turners around." - "Elle""This is summer reading at its best: entertaining and full of insight into relationships and how they change" -- "People "(3.5 out of 4 stars)"Unflappably fun... Hilarious... In Jennifer Weiner's luscious new novel, Fly Away Home, a political wife's predicament is the catalyst for a highly entertaining story... The message is choosing to live an authentic life. As always, Weiner gives us a woman who stands taller, curvier, and happier when she does just that." --"USA Today""Witty and smart" --"O "Magazine“"Fly Away Home" is Weiner’s best offering in years. The book is well written, a page turner and timely.” —"Associated Press"“The quintessential beach read!” —"Columbus Dispatch"“This best-selling author proves again that she writes the best page-turners around.” – "Elle"“Unflappably fun… Hilarious… In Jennifer Weiner's luscious new novel, Fly Away Home, a political wife's predicament is the catalyst for a highly entertaining story… The message is choosing to live an authentic life. As always, Weiner gives us a woman who stands taller, curvier, and happier when she does just that.” —"USA Today""“Fly Away Home" is the book to pack this summer. The latest from Jennifer Weiner has it all.” — "St. Petersburg Times""Smart and juicy" —"Good Housekeeping""Witty and smart" —"O "Magazine Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one books, including The Summer Place, That Summer , Big Summer , Mrs. Everything , In Her Shoes , Good in Bed , and a memoir in essays, Hungry Heart. She has appeared on many national television programs, including Today and Good Morning America , and her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times , among other newspapers and magazines. Jennifer lives with her family in Philadelphia. Visit her online at JenniferWeiner.com. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Fly Away Home Read more

Features & Highlights

  • From one of the nation’s most beloved writers,
  • Fly Away Home
  • is an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who seek refuge in an old Connecticut beach house.
  • When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator. Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more. After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be. Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity,
  • Fly Away Home
  • is an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(542)
★★★★
25%
(452)
★★★
15%
(271)
★★
7%
(126)
★
23%
(415)

Most Helpful Reviews

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An introspective look at women and relationships

I found this to be a solid, if not wonderful, story. Sylvie is a far from perfect mother who devotes herself completely to her politician husband while losing herself in the process. Her daughter, Diana, is the most unbelievable of the female protagonists. That she would marry such a sniveling, annoying man is beyond belief. However, maybe Weiner did this so we could believe that she would have a hot and heavy affair even though she had a young son. The younger daughter, Lizzie, is a recovering addict trying to rebuild her life. She meets a very nice man but has no idea how to have a normal relationship. I found her character to be the most hopeful. When Sylvie's husband, Richard, is found out to have had an affair, she has to re-evaluate everything she has been doing her entire adult life. The three women become closer helping each other get through their individual crises. This basically is a story of the three women trying to get back to who they truly are after losing themselves to other things - a marriage, an affair and drugs respectively. I think this is an attempt at a deeper novel than the others and is consequently less fun. It also has more gravitas and for that I enjoyed reading it.
3 people found this helpful
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Compelling and Entertaining

Political scandals have become commonplace in the news recently. We are actually surprised when political figures don't have secrets or skeletons in their closets. But what we don't take into consideration is the personal toll these scandals take on the innocent victims involved; the wives, daughters, mothers, and sons. Jennifer Weiner tackles political scandal and the ultimate destruction it forces on relationships in her novel, FLY AWAY HOME. Sylvie Woodruff is the ideal political wife and has been for the past 30 years. She has stood patiently by her husband's side, carrying his mints, reminding him of forgotten names and holding his business cards. Sylvie, a lawyer in her own right, has ignored her own personal passions and transformed herself into the perfect wife and mother. Which is why she is more shocked than anyone to discover that her husband has been carrying on an affair with a young legal aid half his age. When the scandal becomes public, Sylvie and her two adult daughters are unwillingly thrown into the spotlight.

While Sylvie's life begins to unravel, things aren't going smoothly for her daughters either. Lizzie is 24-years-old and a recovering addict still trying desperately to win back the trust and respect of her older sister, Diana. When she meets someone who could be "the one" she gets an unexpected surprise that could ruin everything she's been working towards. Diana is a successful doctor with a perfect husband and a happy son, but things are never how they appear. Diana is carrying on an affair and watching her own marriage crumble around her.

Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the three female characters; Sylvie, Diana and Lizzie. Weiner has created real characters and impeccable dialogue that keeps the story entertaining, authentic and honest. The characters don't feel flat at all and their internal struggles are extremely relatable. What's wonderful about Weiner's story telling ability is that she creates enough suspense to keep you rapidly flipping the pages, while at the same time making you want to slow down and savor the pitch perfect dialogue and thought-provoking themes.
2 people found this helpful
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Not my cup of tea - reading for the beach?

To be fair, I just read a really great novel before this one. Plus I think I'd enjoy it as a movie, but the book didn't do it for me. Makes me think of a modern day Danielle Steele work. I ended up skimming through the pages, reading all the dialogue, but it bored me too much to read each and every word. I got the whole story, except I didn't even care enough to read the last chapter. For me it just felt like it was whipped out due to the references of current infidelities and the mentioning of Suri Cruise a few times. I found that to be a turn-off like the author was trying too hard to make it current. I think I prefer classics and quirkier novels more. I'm sure it would be entertaining at the beach or the pool since missing pages by distractions would not result in losing the storyline.
2 people found this helpful
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Classic Jennifer Weiner

This is one of Jennifer Weiner's best books in recent years. As I first started reading, I thought "Great, another book about a jilted political wife." But, this book surprised me. Each of the three lead female characters are drastically different, but I found myself relating personally to each one on some level and rooting for them. Weiner did a great job making the characters well rounded and real. You might not always agree with their actions or how they handle situations, but you will identify with the characters in this book.
1 people found this helpful
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Solid Read, But a Little Predictable

I've read most of Jennifer Weiner's books, and they all deliver solid writing, real-feeling characters, and timely topics. I didn't like this one as well as two other recent novels of hers - [[ASIN:1451617739 Then Came You]] and her latest, [[ASIN:1451617755 The Next Best Thing]] (which I read before this one) - but I did enjoy it. This one pulls from the headlines, specifically the now all-too-common 'cheating politician', as in cheating on his wife. Richard and Sylvie are a long-time, happily married (or so Sylvie thinks) couple. He's attained the status of Senator from NY, and she's been his behind the scenes help, in addition to raising their 2 now-adult daughters Diana and Lizzie. At the start of the novel, she learns he's had an affair, and her carefully constructed world falls apart. In the meantime, both her daughters are going through their own life struggles. The novel rotates between their stories, until they all come together to help each other heal and figure out the next phase of their lives.

It's very readable, although it's more of an inner than outer story - Weiner doesn't probe the public fallout from the affair much, focusing instead on its impact on these three women, as well as the other events of their lives. I felt it was a bit predictable though, and rotating between 3 characters meant I never got very attached to any of them, so in that sense, it wasn't her best for me, but still a recommended read.
1 people found this helpful
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A fun, quick read

I really enjoyed this book. I think it's fun the way she dove into the idea of political wives standing by their unfaithful men, and also the twist of her own daughter having an affair. I think that she explored the three characters well, and I couldn't put this book down. I love Jennifer as an author!
1 people found this helpful
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A fun read

I was looking for a bit of a mindless, chick book for a recent long flight. I saw this in the bookstore and loaded in onto my Kindle. It was the perfect book. Easy reading...a great flow and wonderful story line. I had a hard time putting it down. I loved the story and grew to love all of the family members. This is a really good and simple read!
1 people found this helpful
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One of my favorites.

I really enjoyed this book; despite what others said, I was invested in the characters and found them very relateable. One of her better works, I think.
1 people found this helpful
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Come on people....it was entertaining!

I was really surprised at the wide range of poor reviews. What do readers expect from chick lit? I began reading this book as such and found it to be totally entertaining. Jennifer is an excellent writer of women and their complicated feelings. I identified with each character or saw someone I know in each character. I listened to the audio version with Judith Light as the narrator and thoroughly enjoyed her expert reading. I highly recommend to any reader who enjoys being entertained. If you are expecting to solve the world's difficult issues from the revelations you acquire from this book, then perhaps you could skip this one and read a book about the workings of Mother Theresa instead. If you are looking for a light reading about women's relationships with family, you may find yourself learning a little bit about your own self and family. Pour yourself a glass of wine, put your feet up, and enjoy yourself for God's sake. That is what this book was meant for!
1 people found this helpful
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redundant

Jennifer Weiner missed it in this book. Lazy writing, boring characters, gratuitous, explicit sex, and a huge disappointment. I didn't care what happened to any of the characters, least of all the wronged wife. No humor, as in Jennifer's other books. And if she had written "Are you alright", or "you OK" one more time when trying to convey concern, I would have thrown the book. This book is going to the free book rack at my local drugstore, or the trash if I hadn't spent money on it. Ms. Weiner lost my respect with this book.
1 people found this helpful

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