I like to be swept away by a novel.
I read for a whole lot of reasons.
I read to learn. I read to expand my understanding of the human experience. And I read to escape.
Nothing beats cracking open a book and immediately losing yourself in the characters and their circumstances. I compare it to that feeling in the theater when the lights go down and you are immersed.

Swept away I was by Douglas Kennedy's "The Pursuit of Happiness."
We open at a mother's funeral, where an unfamiliar woman puts Kate on edge. Her curiosity is dulled by her dealings with her somewhat estranged brother, her ex-husband and her young son.
We soon learn that this mysterious stranger claims to be the love of Kate's late father's life.
And their story unfolds.
What price does that pursuit of happiness carry? Who is hurt in our own pursuits? Our own betrayals?
These are the questions Kennedy raises; even as you're drawn to Sara and Jack, they are not entirely sympathetic characters.
When folks "do the right thing" in this tale, as in life, there is still collateral damage.
Recalls Kate of her mom:
"But I was too wrapped up in my own griefs; my own sense of having been betrayed by men, by circumstances, by life. Unlike my mother - who stayed silent for four decades about the betrayal that fractured her life and sent it on a difficult trajectory. No doubt, she also wanted to scream: me, me, me, me, me. But she never would have dreamed of articulating such a self-centered complaint."
That was just one of several paragraphs I paused to re-read in this novel. Not only doesn the sentiment give me pause, but the language itself is a marvel. (Just the right number of me's, don't you think?)
Another author added to my list of must-reads.

Check out a reading guide for the book here.

Who's on the edge of their seat with me awaiting the March 1 release of Jodi Picoult's latest "Sing You Home"? One of my new favorite authors Caroline Leavitt had the chance to interview Picoult about the book. Read it here.
-Tricia Ambrose

Two women, suitcases packed, leaving their marriages, collide on a foggy road. The survivor develops a relationship with the family the woman who did not left behind.
Intrigued? I know I was.

Such is the opening to "Pictures of You" by Caroline Leavitt. And before anyone dismiss this as just "chick lit," Leavitt digs deep.

This is not simply the tale of unhappily married women in search of greener pastures. (Not that there's anything wrong with reading that tale.)
This book leaves you thinking about how well you really know your spouse, about what we do in the name of love and about all those roads not taken.

Young Sam loved his mom. She took care of him, and the two enjoyed lots of adventures. The two would invent new identities for themselves and then set off "in character." Fun, no doubt for a young boy, but what does that say about his mom's state of mind. Was her love stifling? Were their adventures really healthy? Leavitt goes below the surface.
And she does so in language the both evokes and provokes.

"Charlie had been driving two hours when he began to feel like a shadow behind the wheel. His stomach was hot and tenses and his hands were clammy. There were a thousand things he could be doing today other than this fool's mission - working, doing laundry, cleaning. Everything inside him told him to turn back and head home, but he kept going,as if the car were propelling him forward, as if he had no control. When he got to the turnoff road, he was sweating, and when he made the turn, he felt as if someone had stapled his heart. He pulled over to the shoulder and parked, waiting a minute for his pulse to slow down. He took deep, long gulps of air.
He got out of the car. It was just an ordinary road, black top, yellow lines slashing the center. It had been almost four months now. The white chalk lines were long gone, the stars of blood. The road was clear and empty. You wouldn't know anything terrible had happened here. You wouldn't know that this was where his wife had died."

Aren't you standing there with him? Heart stapled, stars of blood, shadow behind the wheel. Beautifully crafted images.

Just published this month, the book has been getting lots of buzz and was picked as the January read by Costco, BJ's Wholsesale Club and The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. (who knew!)

She's written eight other novels, and I'm adding them to my list. Has anyone read any of her previous works to recommend? I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who's read this novel, too, about what they thought of the choices the various characters make ...

-Tricia Ambrose