Customer Reviews

Love in Mid Air

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Really, how could it be possible to tell the story of bored housewives with troubled marriages in a new way? Kim Wright astonishes with honesty and wit. She says so many things that we've all thought and could never find the words to express. A stirring read that will keep you talking and ruminating for days. Bravo!

I ordered the book to read with some friends thinking it was about marriage. I later realized it was about a woman who has an affair. I hesitated because I have worked long and hard to have a good marriage and didn't think I needed to be sitting around complaining about my husband and marriage.

It turned out to be great therapy and a push to take my marriage to the next level. The discussions we had around this book and the issues it raises only strengthened my convictions about marriage and what it takes to make it work.
Elyse and her friends struggle to find out who they really are. Did they marry for love or to find a "life" that they wanted?

"What would happen if a woman was completely herself within a marriage?"

That is an excellent question and one that requires that she actually KNOWS exactly who she is.

Marriage is complicated. And Kim Wright writes about it beautifully in her debut novel LOVE IN MID AIR. Elyse Bearden's marriage is already in trouble when she meets a handsome stranger on her flight home from Arizona. Her husband, a doting father to their young daughter but inattentive husband, has been communicating with her via post-it not for far too long and seems content with having sex in the kiss-less "X" position once a week. So it's not surprising when she starts a torrid affair with the man she met in row 29 to try to recapture the excitement she feels is sorely missing from her marriage and her life in general.

As some of her closest friends begin to realize that their seemingly harmless weekly banter about unhappy marriages has gone to a whole new level for Elyse, it stirs up emotions in each one of them that they'd rather not deal with. Because it's one thing to be unhappy, but it's a whole other thing to actually do something about it. Wright does a beautiful job questioning whether a marriage can only be successful if both parties embrace mediocrity and asks what truly defines happiness-and do parents even have a right to try to find it?

While the premise of LOVE IN MID AIR may sound familiar, what makes it so compelling is Wright's subtle yet intense writing, which may make the reader both uncomfortable and intrigued at the same time. Wright navigates Elyse's everyday life and relationships with her church book club with such authenticity that you'll be thinking about these characters long after you've finished. A must read for any wife or mother, Wright's genius commentary is not to be missed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wright's novel, recognizing it as just that - a novel (bordering on guilty pleasure). The author holds her main character, Elyse, up for us to see as if we are looking in a mirror. There are aspects of Elyse and her friends that resonated with me as a southern woman. Things are done a little bit differently in the south and Wright puts both gentility and rogue behavior on display for the world to see. Pulling no punches, parts of this book are not for the faint of heart or pie-in-the-sky thinkers. It is gritty and real and uplifting and hopeful. A must read!

Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright was one of those novels I describe to myself and others as addictive. It's about a woman, Elyse, who is unhappy in her marriage and while on a plane trip home, meets a man that she finds herself extremely attracted to. She goes back and forth with herself on whether to pursue this interest even though she has a husband and daughter at home. Now I do have to say I don't condone affairs yet this book and the character of Elyse are so much more than a woman just deciding to have an affair.

Elyse is approaching 40 and has been married for nine years. The problem is she made a mistake in marrying Phil and while she's tried over the years to make it work, especially for their seven year old daughter Tory, she knows she's fighting a losing battle. When Elyse met Phil she knew he wasn't the normal type of man she went for but at the same time thought that because he wasn't, their relationship might just work. He's a good man, he's provided her with a very comfortable lifestyle yet something has always been missing from this seemingly perfect world that really is more broken than perfect.

At first things seem ok but as time wears on and Elyse gets older she realizes just how unhappy she is. Her chance meeting on the plane with Gerry is just the clincher in something she already knew - that her marriage was over and nothing was going to change that. Elyse jumps into an affair with Gerry - it's exciting, it's different, and it's fulfilling her in a way her marriage never did. She has no romantic notions about Gerry; she knows that he isn't going to leave his wife for her. Yet that doesn't seem to bother her; she shares all her thoughts and feelings with Gerry - in some ways I think this was healing for her as strange as that sounds. She even tries counseling with her husband Phil but this doesn't change her feelings; really it only seems to make her more determined to end her marriage.

In Elyse's world, women stay in marriages even if they aren't completely happy. Really, who's happy all the time? They get up each day and carry on with their routines throughout the day, go home - make supper and get the kids ready for bed. Another day over and yet did they find themselves really feeling happy at any time in that day? Elyse is tired of all that and in this novel she is very real and straight forward about it. She doesn't make any apologies for her flaws or what she wants. She begins talking about it with her friends in her book club ultimately making everyone uncomfortable as they then have to step back and take a look at their own lives.

The author, Kim Wright, has a way of bringing her characters to life in a real and unflinching way. Nothing is sugar coated. I have never been married but have been in a long term relationship in which I felt very trapped. I could feel Elyse's unhappiness and I don't think it's about her wanting something more exciting for her life. It's about wanting something better, some reason to get up in the morning and look forward to the day and be happy about it. Elyse feels that Phil doesn't see her and doesn't listen to her. She needs to feel like she is somebody - somebody valuable. I get that. So while this book is about a marriage on the rocks and a woman wanting a divorce, you also need to look past that to the reasons behind it. To the woman wanting more for herself- Elyse.

We often wonder how things get to a point where there isn't any turning back but they do and most often it creeps up on you. This novel is really quite intense and honest. How well do we really know anyone's lives? We see people and think they're happy - they seem happy but this isn't always the case. What lies under the veneer of happiness is sometimes intense loneliness and unhappiness. Is it worth it to keep on and keep trying? That's a question with an answer that would be different for everyone. What I really liked about Elyse's story is that in the end she doesn't have any fairy tale ending - there is no tall, dark and handsome man waiting - there is only she and her daughter looking to rebuild their lives.

This would make a great book club read. There's so much to discuss and it's definitely a topic that would generate a lot of conversation. Be forewarned though that there is some pretty graphic hanky panky going on and bad language. It's not overwhelming but it's there. This is Kim Wright's first novel and I think it's a solid book well worth reading.

Yeah, I was timid about reading this book. Seemed too close and personal. But I consider myself a student of marriage. I pay a lot of attention to mine and I really like learning about that of others. So, finally, I thought I should just dive in and read this book. And with that, I ended up bringing several friends along and we read it together. By reading it together, we shared so many stories, which I think is what is so incredible about this book. This book will open your mind, it will make you talk, it will make you think. Bigger. About marriage. You must read this book.

Elyse Bearden's life might appear quite appealing to the vast majority of women who would relish a lovely home replete with comforts and the financial security that her husband Phil, a dentist provides. Though secure in her social surroundings and a loving mother to her daughter Tory, Elyse's personal discontent propels her into an unexpected, yet welcome opportunity for an affair with a fellow passenger, also married with a family, but sharing similar restlessness within the routine confines of his daily life. Gerry's apparent affluence provides the rather sufficient means to travel hither and yon, thus affording both those highly desirable, yet unrealistic elements of anonymity and mystery.

"...I didn't start calling my marriage a failure all at once. At first, I tried...There's just the tiniest bit of hypocrisy around the whole issue---everyone agrees you should Work on Your Marriage, but if you're ever caught actually Working on Your Marriage, you look ridiculous. And the only thing worse than being unhappily married is being ridiculous..." - Pages 50-51

Kim Wright's insightful portrayal of Elyse's tangible "angst," is vividly authentic, and her instinctive ability to quickly tug the reader through the pages to discover how this circuitous plot will expose the unfaithful wife, affect the requisite resentful friend, possibly enlighten the painfully clueless husband, and reveal the unavoidable dichotomy that marriage often engenders. We also examine some of the indefinable aspects that husbands and wives judge as happiness and hindrance within the often inflexible framework of marriage. With considerable wit and zesty humorous episodes to divert us, almost voyeuristic in our scrutiny, we commiserate and share the immeasurable fluctuations through the characters' life experiences, expectations, and personal introspections. While the primary focus is on Elyse, it would not be the impressive narrative it is without her circle of friends and their husbands, especially her closest friend Kelly.

"When I was a teenager my grandmother used to tell me, `You marry the man, you marry the life,' and it seems to me logical, perfectly ordinary karma, that the reverse is also true. If I leave this man then I must leave this life..." - Page 181

Elyse's ultimate journey clearly reminds us that often a woman's primary quest for fulfillment, self-indulgence, or that intangible "what if," outside the context of family has the power to leave a path of destruction in its wake. For those who define infidelity as an unacceptable moral or selfish choice, this may not be a desirable read. Personally, I believe such decisions and their consequences belong to the person who makes and lives with them, and I do not profess to judge. In this vein, Kim Wright is remarkable in expressing the characters' various points of view without meandering prose, compelling behavioral excuses, or blameless justifications. As readers, we are encouraged to draw our own conclusions which tend to rely upon our own mores, life experiences, and personal values. LOVE IN MID-AIR may not be a book for everyone, but it definitely is one that captures you from beginning to end.

When Elyse Bearden is on a flight home from Phoenix she meets a man that makes her question her life. She comes to realize that she's not happy and begins to wonder what she should do about it. Should she give up so much of what she values - her home, her friends, her marriage - and take a chance, or should she stick with the safety of what she knows?

Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright is the story of Elyse's struggle. Much of the struggle is internal, but some of it is discussed with her friends as well - as a matter of fact, I was a little surprised at just how much she discussed with her friends.

I love Kim Wright's writing and was caught up in Elyse's story from the very beginning, even though I couldn't relate to her at all. I felt like she blamed her unhappiness on other people and couldn't figure out what was so bad about her husband. Having said that, I do think there are a lot of women who will be able to relate to Elyse and her discontent. I just wonder how many would make the same decision she did. Love in Mid Air made me think about what I value in life and how lucky I am. It was worth reading for that alone.

Marriage like life always provides as much stability as it does rocky, unstable travels. You have to decide at some point is it worth getting in the car or even starting the engine anymore. Do you want what you have or is something out there calling your name begging for you to make a change. What do you really want if what you have is not fulfilling even your basic need to exist? The main question you ask yourself is where do I fit into this life and when exactly does it start to become about me and my dreams and not everyone around me.

These are exactly the questions that Elyse Bearden is asking herself and at the same time she is challenging herself to see if she should stay in the marriage she does not want and is she brave enough to venture out alone. But not quite alone it seems after she meets a man by coincidence on a flight that makes her start to want more than what she presently has. Elyse has a stable marriage with Phil who is not a man with vices just a man she no longer loves and truly wonders if she ever did. Was he always this complacent, this set in his ways, refusing to fight for their marriage? Not sure if it is the new man with the affair looming that has her stirred up or just that she is not fulfilled any longer Elyse ventures into dangerous waters by starting a relationship with this man she met on a plane and trying to see if there is another life available for her.

Phil is trying to keep what he has so she agrees to counseling but nothing works and the further into the affair she goes the more she withdraws from the marriage. Elyse has a daughter to think about and she truly does not want to hurt Phil but there may be too many broken pieces that can't be fixed ever.

This book brings out the basic question I will guarantee you every woman as she faces 40 asks herself - is this all there is for me in life? You start to question who you are, why you are living in this house with a man you are not sure you love anymore and if there is more just being a wife and mother. It is not about finding another man in your life to replace the one you have but more about finding the you again that was lost for so long in the life you are living. Sometimes you can ride it out and you are able to find a place for everything to stay as it is and you become not the passenger anymore but the one that drives the vehicle but that is not always true and does not always work out. Elyse takes this ride and knows with a clear head that some things and friends will not go with her when she stops but in the end she will be okay because she discovered the most important person in life who needed to be cared for and that was Elyse.

Ms. Wright has touched on so much in this book and written it with such clarity that every woman will at some point in the book feel that they have told her a secret she has now revealed in this book. Despite the path Elyse took to find herself it was worth the trouble to get there and you feel every pain of that decision making process. This first book is the start of many great ones to come I just feel it in my bones.

Mary Gramlich is The Reading Reviewer at [...]

Elyse meets a man on an airplane and this one single act has changed her forever. She isn't the type of person who does the outrageous, spur of the moment, true love things like most hopeless romantics do. Now, here's the kicker, Elyse is married. She wants to trade her whole boring life for something more. This change in Elyse now has her friends wondering if life has more to offer them as well.

I love it when a woman's eyes are opened and she learns that it's time to start living her life her way and forget what everyone else wants. (It strikes close to home.) I absolutely adore Elyse and I hope to read more about her in the future. Two thumbs up!