Synopses & Reviews
It’s the eve of her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and Mary Gooch is waiting for her husband, Jimmy, to come home. But Mary isn’t just waiting for Jimmy. She is waiting for a mother who accepts her, children she is unable to have, a life beyond the well-worn path from her bedroom to the refrigerator. Mary is waiting for her life to start.
As she waits for Jimmy, the night passes into day and it becomes clear that he isn’t coming home. A letter left in the mailbox confirms her worst fears and Mary is left alone to make a difficult decision. Should she break free from her inertia and salvage her marriage? Or is the pull of the familiarity of her home, the predictability of her daily routines, too strong to resist?
For the first time in her life, Mary decides to leave and boards a plane to California. She flies across the country in a desperate attempt to find her husband. The clothes, the marriage, the home that had given her a place to hide for so long are all gone. Mary soon finds that the bright sun and broad vistas of California force her to look up from the pavement, stop waiting and start living. What she finds when she does is an inner strength she’s never felt before. Through it all, Mary not only finds kindred spirits, but reunites with a more intimate stranger no longer sequestered by fear and habit: herself.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Lori Lansens is the author of two bestselling novels,
Rush Home Road and
The Girls, which was a Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year in 2006 (and sold over 300,000 copies in the UK) and a finalist for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, Lori Lansens now makes her home in California.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
1. Mary Brody struggles with what she calls her “obeast.” What is her obeast? Beyond the obvious “subcutaneous duvet” she carries, how else does that struggle manifest itself in her life?
2. At one point, Mary admits to hating when she’s described as having a “pretty face.” Why?
3. Why do you believe Jimmy Gooch (Gooch) left his wife? More importantly, why does Mary break from the inertia she’s lived with for so long to leave and look for Gooch?
4. When Mary complains to her father that she must be a pessimist because she always sees the glass half-empty, her father replies, “Forget about the glass, Murray. Get a drink from the hose and push on” (p. 27). In what ways, if any, does Mary heed his advice?
5. Mary often attributes her weight gain to grief and loss. If that’s the case, why does she start to lose weight after Gooch is gone? Is her transformation permanent? What might happen to Mary if Gooch returns?
6. While walking on the beach with Jesus, Mary finally articulates out loud what she has known in her heart for some time – Gooch is not coming back. At what point does Mary move from waiting for Gooch to having a life without him? Why was she never angry with him for leaving her?
7. At Frankie’s hairdressing salon, a woman comments on Mary’s admission that Gooch has left her, saying “I don’t care what happened. Twenty-five years is worth fighting for” (p. 174). Do you agree in principle? Do you agree in Mary’s case?
8. At the points in her journey where she needs it most, Mary always finds someone waiting to help: Big Avi, Frankie, Eden, Emery Carr, Ronnie Reeves, Jesus Garcia. What accounts for her good fortune? Is Mary experiencing the kindness of strangers because she’s “looking up” from the ground for the first time in years?
9. How do these benevolent gestures from strangers tap into the giving side of Mary’s nature?
10. Can you think of an instance in your own life when someone or something arrived just when you needed it most?
11. Mary has an interesting and redemptive relationship with her mother-in-law. What is it that they need from each other and how do they find it?
12. What was your reaction to the end of Mary’s story? What do you believe is next for her?