Sue Miller

I don't understand how they do it. How do they write so many damn novels? I just tried to count and I got dizzy. 



I read Sue Miller's debut novel, The Good Mother, a couple of years ago and I became an instant fan.
 
If you liked Crazy Heart, you'll like this story about Anna, a recently divorced Mom, whose choice of boyfriends isn't nearly as bad as Bad (in Crazy Heart), but that fact doesn't save her from a turn of events that darkens the undertones of this novel, and offers disturbing insights into motherhood and relationships rarely captured in fiction. The beauty of this book is found in Miller's depiction of Anna and her three-year-old daughter's vulnerability after Anna falls for an artist, whose lifestyle tests the boundaries of acceptability. Our evaluation of Anna is shaped by our own notions of what defines a "good mother," and as Anna's trust in her lover increases, we are forced to navigate this definition in increasingly difficult terrain. The tension crescendos as we witness this "good mother" pay a ruthless price. 

I highly recommend this novel and reading it again after watching Crazy Heart makes for an interesting comparison that would lead to a great book club discussion.




"SUE MILLER'S [Lost in the Forest]secures her place in the company of writers like Anne Tyler and Alison Lurie, whose best books pull off the trick of being highly readable even as they lend a certain gravitas to contemporary domestic realism. These narratives convince us that the worlds they depict, albeit separate and specific and small, bear a weight of truth and meaning that complements the bigger, more self-important canvases of a Tom Wolfe or a Jonathan Franzen. Less concerned with identifying the larger patterns of our increasingly manic, morphing society, they address a subject that evolves as slowly as the human species: the intrigue of familial and romantic love. "
                                       —By KATHRYN HARRISON, NYT Books

Oprah's Pick ....





And her most recent...modeled after Clinton's escapades, but even more timely in the wake of what seems to have become a trend of infidelity in politics.