While I Was Gone (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "IT'S ODD, I SUPPOSE, THAT WHEN I THINK BACK OVER ALL that happened in that terrible time, one of my sharpest memories should be of..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mary Ellen, Eli Mayhew, Jean Bennett (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 2000: In her still startling debut, The Good Mother, Sue Miller explored the premium we put on passion--and the terrible burden it places on a mother and child. Her fourth novel, While I Was Gone, is another study in familial crime and punishment. But this time, her wife and good mother is accessory to more than emotional malfeasance. Jo Becker has everything a woman could desire: a loving spouse, contented children, and a nice dog or two. When her New England veterinary practice takes on a new client, however, her past comes back to haunt her. Long ago, it seems, Jo had escaped her family and identity for a commune in Cambridge. Her Aquarian illusions came to an abrupt, bloody end when one of her housemates was brutally murdered.

Now this unhappy era returns in the person of Eli Mayhew, who had been the odd man out in Jo's boho household. His appearance is both tantalizing and upsetting: "Inside, I slowed down. I felt numbed. I had two last patients, and then I told Beattie to go home, that I'd close up.... I refiled the last charts, sprayed and wiped the examining table. I reviewed my list of routine surgeries for Wednesday. All the while I was thinking of Eli Mayhew, and of Dana and Larry and Duncan and me, and our lives in the house. Of the horrible way it had all ended." Sue Miller's fine novel is a penetrating--and sensuous--portrait of a woman besieged by her conscience. While I Was Gone also demonstrates that in the face of distance and betrayal, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing indeed. --Winnie Wheaton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Riveting . . . The narrative pacing is masterly, building tension even in the most psychologically subtle passages. . . . While I Was Gone celebrate[s] what is impulsive in human nature."
--CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT
   The New York Times

"MILLER WEAVES HER THEMES OF SECRECY, BETRAYAL AND FORGIVENESS INTO A NARRATIVE THAT SHINES."
--Time

"FASCINATING . . . A NEW NOVEL OF GREAT INTEGRITY AND POWER . . . Despite having a loving husband, three vivacious daughters, a beautiful home in rural Massachusetts, and satisfaction in her work, Jo Becker's mind is invaded by a persistent restlessness. Then, an old roommate reappears to bring back Jo's memories of her early 20s. . . . Her obsession with that period of her life and with the crime that concluded it eventually estrange Jo from everything she holds dear, causing her to tell lie after lie as she is pulled closer to this man from her past--and to a horrible secret."
--Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

"MARVELOUS . . . POIGNANT . . . POWERFUL."
--Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer

"A BEAUTIFUL AND FRIGHTENING BOOK . . . MANY READERS WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO FORGET. . . . It swoops gracefully between the past and the present, between a woman's complex feelings about her husband and her equally complex fantasies--and fears--about another man. . . . I can think of few contemporary novelists--John Updike and Frederick Buechner are two others--who write so well about the trials of faith."
--The New York Times Book Review

"QUIETLY GRIPPING . . . Jo shines steadily as the flawed and thoroughly modern heroine. As in her 1986 novel, The Good Mother, Miller shows how impulses can fracture the family."
--USA Today -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Later Printing edition (May 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345443284
• ISBN-13: 978-0345443281
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (312 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,763 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 34 in The Oprah's Book Club Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

181 of 187 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine writing and real feelings, May 18, 2000

By	John Sollami (Stamford, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: While I Was Gone (Hardcover)

This was my first experience reading Sue Miller. I was drawn tothe book by the multitude of good reviews from reputable publications, and those reviewers were right about this work. It resonates, it moves, it captures character, memory, emotion, and some of the mystery of human nature. The characters became so life-like for me while I was reading that I found myself thinking about them, psychoanalyzing their motivations, seeing their faces in front of me. I guess the book reached me in particular because I fall into Jo and Daniel's generation. I too experienced life in a group house in the late sixties and early seventies and I easily related to all the yearning and pent up idealism of those times. A word about Sue Miller's penchant for detail: I think what good literature does is sort out the details of living and make a work of art from them. The details draw you in, and finally produce emotional impact that stays with you. So if you have no patience for detail and just want lots of action, a la trash novels, stay away from this one. I for one am happy I discovered Sue Miller. The Good Mother is next.

145 of 156 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A WORTHWHILE READ -- A GOOD OPRAH PICK, May 30, 2000

By	Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews

When Oprah announced this as her latest pick, I was happy because this book has been sitting in my bookcase for over a year waiting for me to read it. I finished it in two days and was happy I finally had the impetus to read a Sue Miller offering. She is a gifted and talented writer but in this book she gives you a main character, Jo Becker, who you love at times and want to strangle at others. It's terrible to say but during the book I kept saying to myself, "what a jerk she is." I know that's not a great descriptive word but it fits. This is a character who always thinks there is something better around the corner and although she's been married for 25 years, wanderlust is lurking around every corner. While devoted at times (to animals), I found her shallow both in the way she treated her husband's profession as well as her daughters. Over the years, Jo had lived a kind of quirky lifestyle and 25 years later, an old friend comes back into her life and wreaks havoc. The unfortunate thing is that it didn't have to be this way but wonderful Jo allowed it to be. For anyone who has lived through the 60's or even thought about free, communal living and is now living in just the opposite lifestyle, you will probably find this book as page-turning as I did. I felt that I was rushing the book because I wanted to see how it would end. This is not your typical Oprah dysfunctional family book set in the South -- rather it is set in the North but a bit dysfunctional all the same. Definitely worth the read.

89 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Read, May 30, 2000

By	N. Hochman (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sue Miller is among my favorite authors and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Her incredible storytelling and attention to detail made me feel a part of Jo & Daniel's family. I identified with many of Jo's emotions about marriage, middle-age, and family bonds, yet the amazing thing is, I'm single, 34-years-old, and don't have, nor desire to have, any children. The one thing Jo and I did have in common was animals -- I work at an animal shelter and loved the fact her character was a vet.

I did have some problems with the book, though. I liked the pacing in the beginning when Miller went back to Jo's days in the Cambridge house. Her description of the closeness amongst the house members was similar to my Boston college experience. I spent my sophmore year living that lifestyle of casual sex, drugs and late-night "house talks." But after Dana's murder the book dragged on a bit. While I was interested in Jo's family life with Daniel and the girls, I felt that the middle of the book broke the momentum that Miller had going in the beginning. This was frustrating and while I understand her reasons for slowing down I couldn't wait for the chapters where Jo & Eli would come together. Daniel's response to Jo's revelation about her meeting with Eli was frustrating too because I felt that his character would have made the effort to sort through things much more quickly. Their long-term distance from one another almost seemed out of character on both of their parts.

I will definitely continue to read Sue Miller's books. She is a truly gifted writer that captures whatever moment she is attempting to portray. Great book!