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The Life You Longed For: A Novel
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In Fischer's wrenching second novel, Grace Connolly's youngest son, three-year-old Jack, is terminally ill following a baffling, heartbreaking diagnosis of mitochondrial disease. At times, Grace, a full-time mother of three with a background in epidemiology, feels that everyone else around her (Jack's medical specialists; husband Stephen) has given up hope. Desperate to reclaim her "normal" life, Grace reignites a romance with her first love. Her predictable affair with the almost painfully idealized Noah McIntyre becomes one factor in accusations that Grace has fabricated Jack's disease to gain attention—allegations that result in his removal from her custody just when he is most ill. Fischer (The Language of Goodbye) has an uphill battle to gain readers' sympathy for an adulterous mother, and for the most part she succeeds. The weight of the disease, science and history trivia that peppers Fischer's prose seems ponderous at first, but matches the heaviness of Grace's grief. While allegations of Munchausen by Proxy (a real disorder where mothers sicken children to get attention) form the sensationalist backbone of the novel and Fischer's characterizations tend toward the schematic, agonizing truths about losing a child while still longing for "a life beyond the one you were living" come through clearly. The ending's reliance on 9/11, however, feels forced at best. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Fischer's uneven second novel (following TheLanguage of Goodbye, 2000) centers on young mother Grace Connolly, whose three-year-old son, Jack, has been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease. Because the fatal disease produces an array of misleading symptoms, Jack can, at times, appear perfectly healthy. Grace, who has a medical background, struggles to keep herself from falling into total despair. When she is charged with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which women induce illness in their children in a bid for attention, Jack is removed from his home just as he is in the final stages of his illness. As the investigation uncovers Grace's flaws--she is carrying on an affair with an old high-school love; she has been a fierce and sometimes overly aggressive advocate for her child--she starts to feel like her every move is being scrutinized. Aside from a few serious missteps--Grace's unrealistically portrayed lover, for one--Fischer, like Anita Shreve, has a real knack for crafting a suspenseful plot while exploring deeper familial issues, such as intimacy and grief. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
In Fischer's wrenching second novel, Grace Connolly's youngest son, three-year-old Jack, is terminally ill following a baffling, heartbreaking diagnosis of mitochondrial disease. At times, Grace, a full-time mother of three with a background in epidemiology, feels that everyone else around her (Jack's medical specialists; husband Stephen) has given up hope. Desperate to reclaim her "normal" life, Grace reignites a romance with her first love. Her predictable affair with the almost painfully idealized Noah McIntyre becomes one factor in accusations that Grace has fabricated Jack's disease to gain attention—allegations that result in his removal from her custody just when he is most ill. Fischer (The Language of Goodbye) has an uphill battle to gain readers' sympathy for an adulterous mother, and for the most part she succeeds. The weight of the disease, science and history trivia that peppers Fischer's prose seems ponderous at first, but matches the heaviness of Grace's grief. While allegations of Munchausen by Proxy (a real disorder where mothers sicken children to get attention) form the sensationalist backbone of the novel and Fischer's characterizations tend toward the schematic, agonizing truths about losing a child while still longing for "a life beyond the one you were living" come through clearly. The ending's reliance on 9/11, however, feels forced at best. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Fischer's uneven second novel (following TheLanguage of Goodbye, 2000) centers on young mother Grace Connolly, whose three-year-old son, Jack, has been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease. Because the fatal disease produces an array of misleading symptoms, Jack can, at times, appear perfectly healthy. Grace, who has a medical background, struggles to keep herself from falling into total despair. When she is charged with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which women induce illness in their children in a bid for attention, Jack is removed from his home just as he is in the final stages of his illness. As the investigation uncovers Grace's flaws--she is carrying on an affair with an old high-school love; she has been a fierce and sometimes overly aggressive advocate for her child--she starts to feel like her every move is being scrutinized. Aside from a few serious missteps--Grace's unrealistically portrayed lover, for one--Fischer, like Anita Shreve, has a real knack for crafting a suspenseful plot while exploring deeper familial issues, such as intimacy and grief. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
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