Tuesday 11 September 2007

Another Novel Read

Finished September 11
Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney
This tale of a woman's midlife crisis is told both from her and her husband's points of view. There is also a short section from their college-aged daughter's viewpoint. Dash is in her mid-forties, a commercial photographer specializing in portraits of children. Her husband Andrew is a university history professor with a special interest in Thomas Jefferson. Throughout their relationship, they've both been aware of their differences, and mostly appreciated them, but suddenly Dash needs to get away. She runs to their cabin in Virginia and becomes involved in the community there, making friends and working on the cabin. She commutes to her studio a few days a week, and hires an assistant to be there, both when she's on a job and to cover the office when she's not there. Andrew doesn't understand what is going on and Dash can't articulate it. They both look at their relationship more closely, through others eyes including that of a therapist. There is a good deal of humour here, and the supporting characters are given true personalities rather than just outlines. I liked how the plot developed and felt the characters reacted to the situations in honest ways.

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