chicks review:
Layover

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Layover Lisa Zeidner PB list price $13.00 Harperperennial (May 2000) ISBN: 0060956496 288 pages average review: Reviews: This gets: a from tricia: Essentially the story of a woman surviving a nervous breakdown after the loss of her child and the breakdown of her marriage, Layover is a quick read that is satisfying, if not enlightening. Set a few years after the death of our protagonist's child, the novel's backdrop of hospitals and hotels mirror the clinical isolation Claire feels over the loss of her son. In a bid to disappear from the pressure to recover from her loss, Claire moves from hotel to hotel, trying her luck at disappearing among the guests, scamming rooms and, all the while, longing to be caught doing so. The exodus from her life almost abates the confusion and heartbreak she suffers, but it eventually catches up with her, literally immobilizing her. Add to the mix a series of sexual detours that help her shape the image she longs to have of her son, and you've got quite psychological feast. Overall, this book is entertaining and thought provoking, and is recommended. From the back cover: Throw aside your idea of a heroine, and meet Claire Newbold. Despite hardship--a young child's death, infertility, an unfaithful husband--wry, ferocious Claire has been trying to soldier on. But then she simply checks out of job and home to confront love and loss on the road. During the leave of absence she takes from her usual life, her behavior ranges from the illicit to--she fears--the deranged. She develops a scam for staying in hotel rooms without paying. She seduces a teenage boy at a hotel swimming pool. Armed with a dangerous amount of medical lore (her husband is a surgeon), she pursues a diagnosis that might explain everything. Claire even comes to believe that she is clairvoyant--able to "read" the souls of people she encounters on her travels. And eventually she begins to see into her own soul. Some might call her sexual exploits "casual"; to Claire they are anything but. As she struggles to repair her marriage and her life, she surprises herself--and us--by emerging with a new sense of redemption. eryka.com scale: So good you just can't stand it. Almost that good. Sort of good. Generally a waste of time. Destined for the recycler. If you'd like to review this book, or another, click here Similar books by category: women writers | american Go home | Go to fiction home © 2002 eryka.com. All rights reserved.