The Time of Her Life [Paperback]

Robb Forman Dew (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2003

Now restored to print--the acclaimed second novel by the National Book Award--winning author of Dale Loves Sophie to Death and The Evidence Against Her. Claudia and Avery Parks, lovers since high school, are now in their thirties. Intelligent, charming, sympathetic, they seem to be the ideal couple, the perfect dinner-party guests, almost everything people should be--except responsible. They are causally yet cruelly oblivious to the ways in which their words and actions affect other people, most particularly their talented 11-year-old daughter, who suffers the misfortune of being treated by her parents not as a child but as an equal.
- An engrossing domestic tale by a novelist of the first rank--an ideal selection for reading groups.
- Robb Forman Dew's first novel, Dale Loves Sophie to Death, received the National Book Award in 1982.<

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A writer with a special gift for charting the subtle tidal flow of emotions that make up daily life.... Mrs. Dew can convey, with a skill matched by few writers today, the quick, peculiar shifts in feelings that we experience, moment to moment, day to day."

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (May 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316890693
• ISBN-13: 978-0316890694
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,768,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Toxic families, January 23, 2006

By 

Mary Kirtz (Oberlin Ohio) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Time of Her Life (Paperback)

As in all her novels, Dew shows a remarkable ability to get inside the minds of her main characters, letting us see the situation exactly as they see it. Here, she grapples with the effects of (unacknowledged) alcoholism on an attractive, intelligent family that should have everything going for it. She has accurately captured the juvenile narcissism and self-absorption of the addictive personality, whether it is the alcoholic or the partner who enables the problem. Even more impressive is her depiction of the daughter who has to become an adult long before she is ready and suffers acutely as a result. In this, she resembles most children growing up in alcoholic households who are forced into a premature adulthood because their parents, mired in their addictions, refuse to grow up. It is not an easy book to read, but definitely worthwhile if one wants to understand the dynamics motivating parents who make their children responsible for their own problems. Dew handles these circumstances deftly, without making judgments and letting the situation speak for itself.