Title: All Fall Down Author: Jennifer Weiner
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: June 17, 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
More Info: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon US
Purchase: Amazon UK
Purchase: Amazon Print
Allison Weiss has a great job...a handsome husband...an adorable daughter...and a secret.
Allison Weiss is a typical working mother, trying to balance a business, aging parents, a demanding daughter, and a marriage. But when the website she develops takes off, she finds herself challenged to the point of being completely overwhelmed. Her husband’s becoming distant, her daughter’s acting spoiled, her father is dealing with early Alzheimer’s, and her mother’s barely dealing at all. As she struggles to hold her home and work life together, and meet all of the needs of the people around her, Allison finds that the painkillers she was prescribed for a back injury help her deal with more than just physical discomfort—they help her feel calm and get her through her increasingly hectic days. Sure, she worries a bit that the bottles seem to empty a bit faster each week, but it’s not like she’s some Hollywood starlet partying all night, or a homeless person who’s lost everything. It’s not as if she has an actual problem.
However, when Allison’s use gets to the point that she can no longer control—or hide—it, she ends up in a world she never thought she’d experience outside of a movie theater: rehab. Amid the teenage heroin addicts, the alcoholic grandmothers, the barely-trained “recovery coaches,” and the counselors who seem to believe that one mode of recovery fits all, Allison struggles to get her life back on track, even as she’s convincing herself that she’s not as bad off as the women around her.
With a sparkling comedic touch and tender, true-to-life characterizations, All Fall Down is a tale of empowerment and redemption and Jennifer Weiner’s richest, most absorbing and timely story yet.
Has your drinking or drug use become a problem?
Allison Weiss got her happy ending—a handsome husband, an adorable little girl, a job she loves, and a big house in the suburbs. But when she’s in the pediatrician’s office with her daughter and a magazine flips open to a quiz about addiction, she starts to wonder whether her use of prescription pills is becoming a problem. On the one hand, it’s just prescription medication, the stuff her doctors give her. Is a Percocet at the end of a hard day really different than a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class…or after your husband ignores you?
Back in the car, with her daughter safely buckled behind her, Allison opens the Altoid tin in her purse and slips a chalky white oval underneath her tongue. The pill unties her knotted muscles, erases the grime and ugliness of the city, soothes her as she frets about the truth of her looking-good life: that her husband’s becoming distant, that her daughter is acting out, that her father’s early Alzheimer’s is worsening and her mother’s barely managing to cope. She tells herself that the pills let her make it through her days…but what if her ever-increasing drug use, a habit that’s becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?
All Fall Down is the story of a woman’s slide into addiction and struggle to find her way back up again. With a sparkling comedic touch and tender, true-to-life characterizations, this tale of empowerment and redemption is Jennifer Weiner’s most poignant, timely, and triumphant story yet.
Praise for All Fall Down
“An absolutely heartbreaking read that will leave readers haunted. Great for book clubs or for anyone trying to understand a loved one’s addiction.”
— Library Journal, starred review
“Best known for her sense of humor, Weiner’s raw new novel proves she is equally as fluent in poignancy. A searing, no-holds-barred look at an ordinary woman whose life spirals out of control.”
— Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Weiner, who is a master at creating realistic characters, is at her best here, handling a delicate situation with witty dialogue and true-to-life scenes. Readers will be nodding their heads in sympathy as Allison struggles to balance being a mother, a daughter, and a wife while desperately just wanting to be herself. Weiner is one of the reigning queens of contemporary women’s fiction, and her latest is sure to hit the best-seller lists. The ‘hot-topic’ quality of the story line will only boost readership even further.”
— Booklist, starred review
“Weiner’s sly portrayal of family, entitlement and recovery culture is a romp – with an edge.”
— Good Housekeeping
“The everymom heroine in this novel becomes a hard-core pill addict–and it’s impossible to look away.”
— Glamour
“Dark humor and a surprise twist.”
— People Style Watch
“Weiner paints a multidimensional character with real-life trials and tribulations so you can’t help but sympathize. While the plot is a departure from Weiner’s usual fare, you’ll still have some laughs as you follow the heroine’s attempt to salvage her happy ending.”
— Real Simple
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