Customer Reviews

The Breakdown Lane - LARGE PRINT

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really loved this book. I won't go into details of the plot, amazon and the other reviewers have done that already, but I just want fans of Ms. Mitchard's Deep End of the Ocean to give this one a try. I have not loved all of her other books since Deep End, so I wasn't sure about reading this one but the other Amazon reviews sparked my interest.
The writing was honest and real, the characters had their flaws and blemishes, just like real people. Most of the time, a book about a woman who gets dumped, has children and has an illness, is made out to be a saint, an angel, a hero. Well, not here. She is real....As I got to the end, I was concerned about the way the story was going, everything tied up with a bow, nice and neat, I was afraid Ms. Mitchard was giving into happy ever after land...but she didn't. Even the ending was like real life, not perfect.
Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down, give it a try, I think you will be glad you did.

The Deep End of the Ocean was one of the best books I've ever read. Twelve Times Blessed was one of the worst books I've read and The Breakdown Lane? Not great and not terrible just...disappointing. The story was interesting, engaging and kept me reading, but the dialogue was so unrealistic and stilted that I found myself getting annoyed. Leo and Mark were the kind of one-dimensional stereotypical characters that are often found in "women's novels". Mitchard is capable of better. The happy ending was just plain unbelievable--the odds of something like that happening in real life are incredible. Seems to me that Mitchard couldn't figure out how to end the book, so she just tied a pretty bow on it and hoped for the best. Too bad. She's a better writer than this book reveals.

THE BREAKDOWN LANE by Jacquelyn Mitchard
April 5, 2005


THE BREAKDOWN LANE was my first book by Jacquelyn Mitchard, and it was not what I had expected. In some ways, her writing style reminded me (at first) of Joyce Carol Oates, a writer that I have read once and had a very hard time reading, but by the time I read the last page, I said, "Wow!". Mitchard writes her stories in somewhat the same way. At least in THE BREAKDOWN LANE, the characters reminded me of those in Oates' WHEN WE WERE THE MULVANEYS. Lots of characters that you aren't sure you will like, and one that I totally loathed and despised, populated THE BREAKDOWN LANE.

Julie is a middle-aged woman who has never been called traditional. And neither is her husband. Julie grew up with a famous father (a writer) and lived with wealth. Her husband is Jewish and his childhood was quite different. This book isn't so much about their relationship, but about two people that go through some really weird stuff as her husband Leo seems to be going through a really bad mid-life crisis, but it's more than just that. Leo pretty much "drops out" of society and lives his life as he pleases, not really caring about how it impacts those around him. Julie in the mean time is going through some major health issues, and eventually finds out she has MS. With a jerk of a deadbeat husband and three kids that need them both, she is at her wit's end.

While I enjoyed this story, I don't know if I liked the way that it was told. There was something missing. Sometimes I felt that the author jumped ahead when she shouldn't have, skipped things to make time pass faster. Sometimes it worked, but I felt that this is one of those instances when a book should have been longer. My guess is that either the editor made her cut out a lot (to keep it a mainstream novel) or the author simply got lazy. I'm guessing it's the former.

I really admire a writer, however, that can make you hate a character as much as I hated Leo. There are men (and women) like this in the world. Leo was a sociopath who can justify everything he did. He was a poor excuse for a father, a husband, and a human being. He definitely needed psychological help. I felt bad for Julie, although I can't say that I "liked" her. But I liked the way the author portrayed her.

I did feel the ending came on too soon, that things were wrapped up too quickly, and I didn't think this book should have had a "happy" ending. But, maybe that was better than a totally sad ending, since readers would have really been upset. I have one more book by her on my TBR shelves (her Oprah selection) that I guess I should try to read later this year. It would be good to compare the two books.

Jacquelyn Mitchard's The Breakdown Lane is an entertaining read, full of emotions, but in the end it leaves the reader feeling cheated.
It starts out as the story of Julianne, who loses her husband, her health, and almost her job and her children and it is here that Mitchard's skill is apparent. She gets to the heart of every situation, leaving the reader with no doubt as to what every character is feeling. Julianne's son Gabe is especially well written, and a character that will stay with you for a long time after you've finished reading.
However, Mitchard ties the ending up in a neat little bow that doesn't ring true. What began as a wrenching, painful, yet absorbing read, dissolves into a generic white knight to the rescue ending. It left me thinking that Julieanne's situation deserved a better, more realistic resolution than the one she got.

*****
This book was one I couldn't put down until I finished. It is a book about a woman whose husband enigmatically abandons her and her children in order to find himself---at the same time she acquires multiple sclerosis. But it is really about so much more. It is about what family REALLY is, and what love really is.

I read this book in less than a day, mainly because I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. The story is told through the main character's journal, her advice columns, and her teenage son's journal. It was absolutely wonderful.

I think that anyone would enjoy this story because of the opportunity to reflect, think through their own life's meaning, and to experience something that they may or may not experience in life...a chronic illness...but even more so, betrayal, love, duty, being in love versus reality, grieving for someone you thought you knew, etc. There are so many thought-provoking themes that ran through the novel that I can't really even describe them all.

I do think that you would enjoy this book, if you've read this far in the review :) Writers and intellectuals, add a star!
*****

There are so many things to love about this book -- a wonderful, heart-wrenching story. Vivid characters. A unique setting (when's the last time you read a book set in Wisconsin??). Mitchard -- an extremely talented writer -- hit many high notes with this, her latest work.

However, she hit some real clunkers, too. The characters are so truly and vividly drawn that anything OUT of character stands out like a sore thumb. I had trouble reconciling the snobby Julie of her childhood with the supposedly snobby adult -- coupled with her career as an advice columnist. I NEVER liked Leo, and I would have liked to feel some sympathy for him at some point. And Kathy seemed a little too convenient.

The alternating chapters/alternating voices thing usually doesn't work for me. It seems a lazy way for a writer to give us insights into different characters. I also found the timing and sequencing to be confusing -- one step forward, one to the side, two back, one forward again. I couldn't figure out where in the timeline we were with each subsequent chapter.

Despite these complaints, I loved this book. It touched me -- something fiction rarely seems to do anymore. One recommendation: Don't listen to it on CD. Anna Fields, the narrator, was annoying beyond belief.

Although Julieanne offers helpful advice via a weekly column in a local newspaper, she was oblivious to the warning signs that her own twenty-year marriage was about to collapse. When her husband, Leo announces that the pressure of domesticity is weighing him down and needs a six month "time-out" Julieanne pleads with him to reconsider. He doesn't. He takes off, with the empty promise of returning in six monts, to a commune far away from home. He doesn't even leave a forwarding address.

With the recently acquired status of single parent and breadwinner of three (two teens and a toddler) Julieanne is stressed beyond belief. That stress is followed by puzzling medical symptoms that are soon diagnosed as MS.

The reader goes along on the journey with this family guided by the voice of Julieanne and her mildly disabled teen son, Gabe. Gabe's voice will touch any mother's heart. He's been victimized by his peers due to his LD but the reader quickly learns that Gabe possesses depth and sensitivity and intelligence that would make any mother proud. When his mother becomes too ill to properly care for baby Aury, Gabe steps up to the plate without complaining.

We don't get Julieanne's daughter Caroline's perspective through her own voice, but we're made aware that Caroline seems too self-absorbed to be affected by the unraveling of her family. Later, we learn that Caroline was simply using the only coping skills she could access during the most troubling and confusing time of her life.

Caroline concocts a plan for damage control: go to the commune and fetch the father who deserted them. Surely once he finds gets a first hand account of the terrible troubles at home, he'll come running back, shame-faced and begging for forgiveness. Dad, however, is none too happy to see his two offspring. He's already started another family with a younger woman.

Amazingly, this family bonds together and with the help of a family friend and new rich husband for Julieanne, there's a happily ever after for everyone. Even baby Aury.

A touching read, which Mitchard tied up nicely at the end.

Jacquelyn Mitchard's new novel, "The Breakdown Lane," is the story of a family's disintegration. Julieanne and Leo Steiner have been married for twenty years and, although they have their problems, they seem to be a happy couple. Soon, however, Leo shows signs of discontent; he has a classic male midlife crisis. Leo suddenly decides to take an extended trip away from his family, and Julieanne is left with three children, very little money, and an unexpected diagnosis of multiple sclerosis that leaves her depressed, debilitated, and frightened.

Mitchard does female angst well, but there are portions of this novel that are too formulaic, too reminiscent of the many other novels of this type that are published every year. The man in his forties who turns his back on his loving family, the convenient best girlfriend who steps in to help the beleaguered wife, the quarrels between the custodial parent and her rebellious children--we have seen these scenes so many times before. In addition, the dialogue in the first half of the novel is filled with quips and forced humor that quickly become irritating.

However, Mitchard redeems herself in the second half of the book. She gets down to business and starts taking Julieanne's plight seriously. We learn about the ways that multiple sclerosis can affect an individual like Julieanne who was a ballet dancer and is still in great shape. Mitchard alternates chapters that are told through Julianne's eyes and those of her adolescent son, Gabe. Gabe, who is a gifted young man with a learning disability, becomes the man of the house when his dad leaves, and his sister, Caroline, takes her rage out on her mother. Julieanne is often so sick that she cannot get out of bed without help. Leo's parents, Hannah and Gabe senior, are wonderful people who step in to keep Julieanne's head above water, emotionally, physically and financially. Mitchard beautifully depicts the warmth and unselfishness of these loving grandparents.

In addition, the author effectively demonstrates how messy and unpredictable life can be. Julieanne was born into an aristocratic family; her father was a famous writer and they lived upper class lives. However, this life of privilege does not protect Julieanne forever, and she eventually finds herself pinching pennies to make ends meet. Ironically, she earns a bit of money as an advice columnist for a local newspaper. She tells people how to fix their lives, while her own is falling apart.

By the time I finished "The Breakdown Lane," I was invested in the characters and I was anxious to know how each one would fare in life. Does Leo get his comeuppance? Does Julieanne climb out of her slough of despond? How do the children survive the changes in their lives? Although Mitchard's plot resolutions are not all very realistic, they are satisfying and poignant. A little melodrama and a good cry may not be great literature, but it has its own satisfactions. "The Breakdown Lane" is cathartic, and, in its own way, it is a testament to the resilience of a mother and children brought low by circumstances beyond their control.

I just finished this book, enjoyed it for the most part while I was reading it, but felt like I was manipulated some of the time. The ending was very contrived and predictable and was a letdown after the first part of the book. Also, since Gabe and his sister were both "born in the same year", because Julieanne didn't realize you could get pregnant while breastfeeding--years later, Leo's girlfriend gets pregnant with a two-month-old baby because he didn't realize that it could happen while she's breastfeeding! We readers are supposed to forget that it happened once before with Leo? How could Leo forget??? I found the book disappointing; Caroline was a spoiled brat and a very unfeeling young lady. I did enjoy Gabe and his chapters in the book, however. I expected more from this author.

This book managed to take numerous depressing topics and turn them into a funny and real story that you could identify with. I'm very surprised how much I enjoyed this book. At times it was heartbreaking and you wondered how much more the main characters could take but at the same time you wanted to laugh at how ludicrous the husband was acting. I don't think too many authors could have come away from these topics so successfully.