I love Jennifer Weiner's books. This topic was great and it was so real. I must admit, I was irritated by her husband's lack of support, but in the end, he made no real difference. Maybe that is what Ms. Weiner was trying to say?

Good read as always!

Okay it drove me crazy that the narrator on the audio book pronounced withdrawal "withdrawral" but that's not actually a problem with the book. I should have written this before I had started my next book because I only have memory space for what I am currently reading apparently. I enjoyed this - I think it probably could have been more harrowing - the main character's brush with addiction was actually fairly mild - but was an interesting look at how a suburban mom who seemingly has everything and has it all together could still get addicted to opiods. Was entertaining as a book should be. The daughter was somehow oddly aged - some behavior and speech seemed too young.

I couldn't put this book down. Literally - the reviews on the cover were true: it is "compulsively readable". But then, like the bitter taste of Percocet she described about one millions times, I felt kind of yucky about reading it. I really liked the writing, but I think the fact that the character never was brought to witness the true effects of drug abuse, poverty and reality (and still thought she was better than everyone!). It was troublesome. Even at the ever end when she "took her place among them" just wasn't enough to wash out the fact that this young woman still placed herself above everyone in her life. The end result after what was a nice read was a bad taste of "blah". Maybe this was the desired outcome. I hope so, because the book itself was enjoyable, but the characters made me feel gross.

Perhaps this book is more deserving of 2.5 stars, but definitely not three. The protagonist is whiny and pitiful, but maybe Weiner intended her to be that way. I feel that the book spend too much time talking about her spiral and not enough time developing the other aspects of her life: Alzheimer's, a daughter, a possible affair. The book was almost exclusively painkiller-based, and while it was interesting, certainly underdeveloped, and I merely finished this book quickly so I could be done with it.

I power-read this in one (very late) reading session, so I have an overall impression: it's powerful! It's scary! It reads like a memoir!

I have to go back and read it more slowly to get some of the nuances and make a final decision because my overview is that 1. Dave is way TOO thoughtless/heartless; 2. Ellie is incredibly annoying. Her sensitivity seems to be at least partially 100% indulgent parenting. And really: if you name your daughter after that character Eloise, are you asking for that kind of karma????; 3. I'm a little concerned that Weiner is becoming a Jodie Picoult type writer, focusing on a new Headline Issue with each novel. I hope she realizes that she's very good at just doing regular women dealing with regular life stuff, and she doesn't have to do Betrayed Political Wife or Surrogate Mom in Crisis or whatever.

However: it's immensely readable--hence the bags under my eyes this morning!

Disappointing. First 2/3 of the book felt really ponderous. The final 1/3 was better, but not enough to redeem the entire novel.

Entertaining enough that I read it in a few days, but definitely not my favorite Weiner novel. I wish she had gone further into the mother/daughter relationships in the book -- there were a few great (but short) sections at the end, but it wasn't fully played out.

A story about a mother/wife and her descent into prescription drug addiction. I thought it had some important things to say, but it didn't really appeal to me.

Blah