While I Was Gone - Sue Miller

It looks like I may be on a bit of a self-deception themed reading binge, (see my review of I'm Not Stiller, here) but not on purpose. For this week, While I Was Gone (WIWG) was my running/gym audiobook. Sue Miller came highly recommended by my sister who's read just about everything Miller has ever written.

WIWG begins with Joey Becker, a veterinarian who lives in New England with her husband. Their three grown daughters are gone from home, the youngest being in college. Turns out Ms. Becker had a bit of an adventurous past when, at 22 years old, she left her new husband and lived in a group house in Boston with five other 20-somethings. One of the roommates in the flat gets murdered and that puts an end to Joey's stint as her alter-ego.

She goes home, but not to the husband, and finally figures out who she wants to be in her life. Fast forward to her cozy monogamous life with her preacher husband, when one of the old flatmates shows up in town and needs his dog taken care of. The arrival of this person from her past completely unseats Joey from her life. She starts to spin an elaborate fantasy around the old flatmate. Her old feelings of restlessness are awoken.

I won't say more about the plot because I don't want to give the rest away. But the themes here, about how much we are taken back to the people we used to be when we hang out with the people who surrounded us in previous times is very fascinating. We may try to move on, but the reminders of who we were can sometimes influence who we are. I started to think more about people who move away after high school and people who stay in their same home town, hanging out with the same people.

I'm not going to debate if one or the other of these things is better. But it certainly would have the capacity to seriously guide how you live life into adulthood. When you move away, you get to greater freedom to completely reinvent yourself and try to be the person you want to be. You have no one there that remembers the things you did or the person you were. Can we ever truly escape from our past?

When confronted with our past selves, do we choose to continue to be the new person we have become?

Miller's writing is really well done and the dialogue, although pretty plentiful in the story, sounds the way actual people speak. I'll be reading more of her work in the future.

4/5 Stars.