When You Went Away
Michael Baron
Story Plant, Oct 6 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780981956800
In Port Jefferson, Long Island, Gerry Rubato believes his life is perfect. He loves his wife of two decades Maureen and adores their teenage daughter Tanya. Gerry likes working at Eleanor Miller, Inc where he is highly respected as the chief of the new products development team.
His life begins to turn upside when Maureen informs him she is pregnant. Soon afterward without warning his seventeen year old daughter runs away with her boyfriend. Maureen gives birth to Reese, but one month later she dies. He is a single father raising an infant, mourning his wife’s death and worried about his oldest child at a time when his deportment is critical for innovation in the Christmas catalogue, whose suspense ran out while he was burying his wife and his life. He will spin further into chaos as Gerry relooks his values.
This is an intriguing character study of a person who seems to have everything perfect only to feel like a tsunami swamped his ideal life. Gerry is terrific as he tells his tale of happenings changing to woe changing potentially back to happiness if he takes chances that he is afraid of because love hurts. Although the ending is too neatly problem resolved rather suddenly, fans will enjoy following Gerry’s struggles with grief for his late wife; fear for his runaway daughter; indifference towards his deadline job; and joy raising his bubbly newborn.
Harriet Klausner
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