Allison Weiss is a work-at-home mom to a very needy young daughter. Her marriage is on life support and her father’s Alzheimer’s is becoming worse and worse. Allison has a little secret, though. She pops painkillers to get through her days. And as her life gets crazier, so does her pill problem. Soon Allison is unable to keep her perfect image intact and her husband ships her to rehab. Allison doesn’t feel she belongs in rehab, among girls who have sold their bodies and souls for heroin. Surely pills aren’t that bad. Allison’s experience is humbling, though, as she hits her rock bottom and makes her way into recovery.
I have been a fan of Jennifer Weiner for a long time, and while my tastes have developed a bit since I first read Good in Bed in 2003, I still pick up Weiner’s books whenever I see a new one. I know I will be entertained. I did enjoy All Fall Down, though it was one of Weiner’s more serious books. Allison’s descent into full-blown addiction was hard to watch and a bit frustrating, but rings true in terms of other addiction stories I have heard. Her trip to rehab was a little cartoonish at times, but it is there that Allison realizes some hard truths about herself and her addiction. Allison’s recovery also seemed to follow along with recovery stories I’ve heard. And I guess that was my major complaint– this felt like a plot line from an AA meeting or brochure or something, cliched in every way except it happened to an white upper-middle class working mom. Which is not even that original a story these days. I enjoyed it while reading it, but it wasn’t really anything special. A solid 3 stars from me.
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