The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

 

Do you like to ride bikes?  What is the longest distance you have ridden?  I loved to ride bikes and used to ride a lot before I got married and had kids.  I sadly don’t get to ride as much as I would like to, but hopefully as the kids get older, I will ride more again.  I never used to measure the distance of my rides, but The Breakaway has inspired me to take a longer biking trip.

Abby is thirty-three and floating through life.  She hasn’t figured out what she wants to do for a permanent job and her apartment looks like she is still a college student.  She has reunited with her high school sweetheart and is trying to figure out what she wants to do with life.  She loves riding her bike on long bike journeys and helps a friend out by taking the leadership role on a tour that will go from New York City to Niagara Falls.  The group is a motley crew of a variety of personalities and age groups. Unfortunately, it also includes Abby’s mother who is very critical of Abby’s weight and a man she had a one-night stand with a couple of years ago.  Will she be able to make it through this trip and keep her group on track?

The Breakaway was immensely readable.  I took this book on our Labor Day weekend campout, and I couldn’t put it down.  I was especially caught up thinking about taking such a bike adventure and was inspired that people of all ages and body types were taking the trip.  I like how we get to know the other riders in the group as the book progresses as well. 

Weiner is aways great writing about body issues and this book was no exception.  Abby was raised by an almond mom who is very critical of what Abby eats and sent her to fat camp repeatedly when she was a teenager.  I will admit though of having a “first world problem” moment when reading this book.  In a flashback to teenage years, Abby is horrified about being sent to fat camp instead of drama camp in Maine and throws a giant fit about it.  I was sad for her about going to fat camp, but I never got to go to any camp because my family couldn’t afford it.  I was working in the fields as a teenager when Abby was throwing a fit about not getting to go to Maine.  I had a really hard time feeling empathy for her and thought she should probably not go to any camp and maybe work in the fields like I did to lose the weight her Mom wanted her too.  Kidding aside, I was horrified thinking about how this would really warp a teenager’s body image.

SPOILER ALERT

The section I had the hardest time with what Weiner’s attempt to put women’s issues into the book.  There are a mother daughter duo on the trip from a state where abortion isn’t legal.  The daughter is 15, pregnant, and plans to stop by an abortion clinic while on the ride.  She is sure her mother will not understand and does not talk to her about being pregnant or her plan.  I can understand that.  What I couldn’t understand was when several other members of the group find out about it and are helping the 15-year-old without talking to her mother.  They all judge and assume the worst about the mother.  I found it very cringy to have people helping an underage girl with such an important decision and leaving her mother completely out of it.  This entire side story felt forced and out of place.  The story line concluded in a satisfying way, but I was ready to throw my book for a large part of it.

I felt the same way about the romance in this novel.  While I could see that Abby’s teenage love might not be Mr. Right, I also didn’t like one night stand guy at all.  I wasn’t into this romance and the whole thing was cringe.

SPOILER END

I have mixed feelings about this book.  There were things I loved, storylines that I didn’t think worked, but overall, I couldn’t stop reading.

Book Source: I preordered this book on Amazon.com.