Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt


Pictures of You
by Caroline Leavitt
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Publication Date: January 25, 2011
ISBN: 9781565126312
336 Pages (Paperback)
Fiction


Publisher's Description:

Two women running away from their marriages collide on a foggy highway, killing one of them. The survivor, Isabelle, is left to pick up the pieces, not only of her own life, but of the lives of the devastated husband and fragile son that the other woman, April, has left behind. Together, they try to solve the mystery of where April was running to, and why. As these three lives intersect, the book asks, How well do we really know those we loveand how do we forgive the unforgivable?


My Opinion:

Pictures of You begins with two women from the same town who are both leaving their husbands on the same day. They take the same road on a foggy day one of them dies when they collide in a fatal car accident.

From that point on the story branches out to encompass not only the healing and recovery of the survivors, but also the history of the two women; uncovering their reasons for leaving their husbands. To add an extra level of interest - neither husband knew that his wife was going to leave him on that day. The husband of the woman who died is desperate to know why she was on the road that day since she left without any explanation at all.

The idea of both women being from the same town, leaving their husbands on the same day and then crashing into each other many miles from their hometown may seem too coincidental, but after I thought about it for a while I wasn't bothered by it as much. Real life experiences are often just as unbelievable, and this one reminded me of a real-life coincidence that! still a mazes me. My husband's cousin once got in a car accident in a city over two hundred miles from her home only to find out that the person driving the other car was her uncle. In a city of half a million people she rear-ended her uncle's car (and he didn't even know she was in town). Thinking about that real-life coincidence kept me from being overly critical of that facet of this book.

Returning to the story though, there wasn't anything else that gave me pause. The characters were engaging and I loved how the author developed the relationship between the widower's son and the surviving wife.

I was concerned that the ending might be unrealistic. The story could have gone in any number of directions, few of which would have pleased me. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending because it wasn't cut-and-dry and happily-ever-after. On the other hand it wasn't terribly depressing. It seemed real, with flawed people who make choices and live with them, compromising in ways that they deem acceptable.

Yes, there are heartbreaking moments in the book, but there is also friendship, recovery and even joy. I liked that the story explored emotional issues without being heavy-handed or emotionally manipulative.

I read Pictures of You in one day when I wasn't feeling well - losing myself in the story and wanting to know when and how the characters would heal. It was the perfect book for a day spent in bed.


Rating: 4/5
















I received a free copy of this book for review.

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