An advice columnist for a local newspaper, Julieanne Gillis dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was am... read full description
reviews
Dec 17, 2009
Eppie ~ Stephanie
rated it: 
I just started listening to this one for my commute. So far I am drawn in and intrigued by the main character's children more than by her or her cheating husband Leo.
Since I am listening to this book, I won't be able to critique the writing style...but I will be forced to pay attention to the details of the story.
I am at the end of disk two and honestly, I am not really that in to the book. Normally, even novels that I would have difficulty reading, I listen to with grea More...
Since I am listening to this book, I won't be able to critique the writing style...but I will be forced to pay attention to the details of the story.
I am at the end of disk two and honestly, I am not really that in to the book. Normally, even novels that I would have difficulty reading, I listen to with grea More...
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Jan 08, 2009
Joanieinnc
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I thought the story was captivating. It was so realistic that you wanted to know how JulieAnne would come to terms with her illness (MS) and her husband Leo who walked out on her. You just wanted to shake Leo for being so insensitive by disrupting the family unity to embark on his idealistic and unbelievable trek into a commune lifestyle. It was pure escapism from responsibility!
The stress JulieAnne endured acerbated the MS symptoms. Not only does she have to deal with the grief of More...
The stress JulieAnne endured acerbated the MS symptoms. Not only does she have to deal with the grief of More...
Jan 05, 2012
Daniela
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Have you ever picked up a book and from the onset it gave you that bitter taste of the first sip of morning coffee? Well,The Breakdown Lane is one of them...until you take the second sip getting used to the flavour and just shortly thereafter the jolt of caffein is going into your blood stream and buzzes on...
It is a book about myriad tribulations in one woman's life, Julieanne, who is simultaniously left by her husband and being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis as well as dealing with tw More...
It is a book about myriad tribulations in one woman's life, Julieanne, who is simultaniously left by her husband and being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis as well as dealing with tw More...
Nov 30, 2010
CJ
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 15, 2009
Karen
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This was a book my mom lent to me, I think she got it at a library book sale, so it was just a random choice. I got pretty absorbed in it, and I enjoyed the writer's style.
It's a story about Julieanne, a woman who writes an advice column for her local Wisconsin paper, but her life seems like one of the letters she answers, proving that life isn't easy no matter who you are. Her husband of twenty years decides he needs to go on a "sabbatical" from their life, leaving Julie More...
It's a story about Julieanne, a woman who writes an advice column for her local Wisconsin paper, but her life seems like one of the letters she answers, proving that life isn't easy no matter who you are. Her husband of twenty years decides he needs to go on a "sabbatical" from their life, leaving Julie More...
Apr 07, 2009
Carla
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If you are a person angry at any man in your life, this might not be the right time to read this book because my overriding sense was that I was so infuritated with the husband/father character I wanted to strangle him.
The Breakdown Lane, in my opinion, is a story of a 15-year old boy who has to grow up quickly to care for his quickly deterioriating family. I felt every emotion imaginable for this young man, Gabe. I wanted to reach through the pages of the story and give him a hug. H More...
The Breakdown Lane, in my opinion, is a story of a 15-year old boy who has to grow up quickly to care for his quickly deterioriating family. I felt every emotion imaginable for this young man, Gabe. I wanted to reach through the pages of the story and give him a hug. H More...
Jan 23, 2011
CynthiaA
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Sept 28/05. I loved this book. The story itself was average, but the characters were like real people I know. The main character -- Julianne -- was so worthy of empathy and yet so flawed. Parts of her reminded me of me and shook me up a bit (ok, not the skinny dancer parts...). The son -- Gabe -- I haven't felt that way about a character since Houlden Caulfield. I really wanted to reach in and rescue this kid from the pages of his life. The daughter was also very believable and I know so many yo
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Mar 07, 2009
Peggy
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I haven't read any Jacquelyn Mitchard books for quite a while, and now I'm not sure why.
I don't like to do blow by blow reviews, but I enjoyed this book a lot.
It basically involves a woman who writes an advice column part time. Her husband goes through a midlife crisis in which he decides he wants to get back to nature and live a communal life...a far cry from his life as a University lawyer. He eventually quits his job and takes a "sabbatical" from his fa More...
I don't like to do blow by blow reviews, but I enjoyed this book a lot.
It basically involves a woman who writes an advice column part time. Her husband goes through a midlife crisis in which he decides he wants to get back to nature and live a communal life...a far cry from his life as a University lawyer. He eventually quits his job and takes a "sabbatical" from his fa More...
Jan 24, 2009
Amy
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This book was so slow at the beginning that I almost gave up. It was worth sticking with it though as once the story took off I found myself reading until 3 am!
I found Leo to be a total selfish moron. I just couldn't understand how someone could leave their wife and 3 children to go start another life. What makes it so ruthless is that he left saying he was just taking a 6 mo sabbatical (from his family) but would be accessible. Not until he left did his family find out he didn't wan More...
I found Leo to be a total selfish moron. I just couldn't understand how someone could leave their wife and 3 children to go start another life. What makes it so ruthless is that he left saying he was just taking a 6 mo sabbatical (from his family) but would be accessible. Not until he left did his family find out he didn't wan More...
May 08, 2010
Diane
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Julieanne and Leo's marriage came to a thundering halt when he announced the need to get away for an indeterminate length of time. Julieanne, an advice columnist for the local paper, was left with the responsibility of three children and a recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Reading the book was like running a marathon: I felt breathless at the end of each chapter, wondering how they would cope, how fast the disease would progress, how the children would deal with the drastic changes. By the
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Feb 04, 2010
Rosina
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Julieanne Gillis’s life falls apart in a matter of weeks. Her husband walks out on her and their three kids (two of them adolescents, one hardly out of toddlerhood) and goes into hiding so as not to be disturbed while he reinvents himself; then it turns out the odd symptoms she’s been having — and he’s been either ignoring or ridiculing — are something after all. Julieanne is diagnosed with [[multiple sclerosis:]]. For a woman who’s greatest joy in life is dance and who takes great pride in her
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Mar 13, 2011
Stephen King says: "This definitely comes from the ''men are such beasts'' school of writing, but I couldn't quit. Julieanne Gillis writes a popular advice-to-the-lovelorn column. What she fails to see in her own home, however, is that her husband (Leo the Louse) has decided it's time to go on permanent vacation. He leaves Julie in the lurch with two teenagers (one with learning disabilities, one with a developing slut complex) and a toddler. While Leo joins a commune to find himself, Julie
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Aug 12, 2009
Nancy
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I really enjoyed Jacquelyn Mitchard's other books. And "Breakdown Lane" starts out wonderfully, as Mitchard sets up the family of characters, weaving little bits of information and vital images together. It's the plot that disappoints here. It's not so much the flood of terrible and challenging things that happens to Julieanne--her illness, her feckless, faithless husband, her colorful children and the lengths they go to, to get their father to return. It's the miracle rescue that set
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Oct 01, 2009
Amanda (LoveofJoe11)
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Breakdown Lane is told through two perspectives-the mom/wife/friend and her son's. Hearing the story told in this fashion added a great amount of depth to the characters. Mitchard did an excellent job exploring how a family chooses to deal with life changes and unexpected medical illness. I thought the ending was a little drawn out, but it did wrap up nicely.
Audio wise, I felt the narrator tried to hard to the point of being annoying at times. The narrator did an excellent job w More...
Audio wise, I felt the narrator tried to hard to the point of being annoying at times. The narrator did an excellent job w More...
Sep 13, 2009
Karla
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Nov 06, 2009
Robin
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I couldn't put this book down. The story alternates between the two journals kept by a Mom and her son. It is the story of a breakdown of a marriage/family plus the addition of Multiple Sclerosis. It was well written and I liked the pacing. I learned a lot about MS, which was interesting. My only complaint-and some people might consider it a big one-is the ending was way too pat. Too many good/helpful people and convenient situations came along. So I would say that the first three-fourths
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Sep 13, 2010
Jess
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This was a book which continually got sadder and more depressing, until the last quarter, which had a sappy ending. While I like Mitchard's writing style, and also the alternation between the mother and son telling the story, there was just far too much heartbreak within the pages of this novel - it was almost painful to read. Normally I'm not a fan of a nice, neat, happy ending, but in this case, it was redeeming. The last few pages were my favorite, although I won't share why, so as not to
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Jun 09, 2009
Trk142
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I had a hard time getting in to this book. I did not like her writing style. I guess I could not appreciate her constant references to other things completely unrelated to the book to illustrate a point. I found myself confused and had to re-read several portions of the book several times to figure out what she was talking about.
The story line was great and the actual plot of the book was great but her writing style was too sarcastic and too many stream of conscious side comment More...
The story line was great and the actual plot of the book was great but her writing style was too sarcastic and too many stream of conscious side comment More...
Nov 15, 2010
Marika
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"...I would take out his letters to me, our honeymoon scrapbook, and stare into the faces of those smug, slim, utterly sensual young people and think, Where was the clue? ... His pinch of arrogance? His touch of impatience? I was a dozen times more arrogant and impatient any day of the week, even back then. But I never, not ever, would have slipped through my wedding band and fled." p297
Julie's husband, Leo, unexpectedly leaves her alone and reeling, trying simultaneously to More...
Julie's husband, Leo, unexpectedly leaves her alone and reeling, trying simultaneously to More...
Aug 11, 2008
Carrol
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I very much enjoyed "Breakdown Lane". Jacquelyn Mitchard is a local author. I first read her columns in the local papers many years ago and then have read several of her novels. She hit the national spotlight as Oprah's first bookclub choice with her first novel, "Deep End of the Ocean". Over time, some of her books have been very good and some only so-so. I thought this one was one of her best. Her main character, Julieanne, is left with 3 children when her middle age lawyer
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Dec 02, 2007
Lain
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There are so many things to love about this book -- a wonderful, heart-wrenching story. Vivid characters. A unique setting (when's the last time you read a book set in Wisconsin??). Mitchard -- an extremely talented writer -- hit many high notes with this, her latest work.
However, she hit some real clunkers, too. The characters are so truly and vividly drawn that anything OUT of character stands out like a sore thumb. I had trouble reconciling the snobby Julie of her childhood with More...
However, she hit some real clunkers, too. The characters are so truly and vividly drawn that anything OUT of character stands out like a sore thumb. I had trouble reconciling the snobby Julie of her childhood with More...
Dec 11, 2011
Lynnea
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Great book, clearly articulating the emotions and frustrations of the diagnosis and unpredictability of MS along with other life events. I had a hard time getting into it at first. But once I got beyond page 100, I couldn't put it down.
The only reason I knocked it down to four stars was because the foul language was un-necessary. Usually when I start a book with that kind of language, I give it up - it just isn't necessary. However, because of the plot line of a mom with MS, I wanted to ke More...
The only reason I knocked it down to four stars was because the foul language was un-necessary. Usually when I start a book with that kind of language, I give it up - it just isn't necessary. However, because of the plot line of a mom with MS, I wanted to ke More...
Jan 11, 2010
Gay
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Like the majority of Jacquelyn Mitchard's books, the character's in this book are people we all know, living through situations we hope we never face, but that are all too real in this day and age. She does a wonderful job of bringing out human emotion in a plot that moves along at a great pace, and that keeps the reader pulling for the protagonist from start to finish. (In this book, a spouse leaves as a woman is facing a life-threatening illness and she is determined to "go it alone."
Mar 11, 2010
Rosalía
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Reading novels is not something I do anymore but this one kept me turning pages. The main character, a beautiful, graceful ballerina starts to experience strange symptoms that are later recognized as multiple sclerosis. You watch as she goes through denial, panic, fear, grief, anger, and then acceptance. As an MS sufferer myself, it was an interesting look at my own experience. The Breakdown Lane is a wonderful, albeit long, journalesque approach to an eyewitness account of what MS sufferers fee
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Aug 05, 2008
Monica
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You can depend on Jacquelyn Mitchard for a good beach book. Her novel "The Deep End of the Ocean" was both enjoyable and scary (It's about a woman whose toddler gets kidnapped -- and then returned years later. I read it shortly after Henry was born. Maybe it was the hormones, but the book terrified me). This one isn't as good as some of her other ones, or maybe I just can't be objective about the topic. The heroine's husband abandons her and their three children at the start of the
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Jan 22, 2012
Cindi
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A very heart warming book, filled with ups and downs in the family life of writer that ends up with MS. Learning to live again after things fall apart, but never giving up and a happy ending. I lovedthe two perspectives, Jules and Gabes in the journals that they kept. What a family endures and goes thru, capitvated me and kept me engrossed. It was so real like to me as if I was reading in secret or watching from the outside looking in.
Apr 04, 2009
Jean
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Jacqueline Mitchard writes great dialogue and tows a just big enough, somewhat improbable plot along well. She has a very likable, nurturing, heroine who has been deserted by her wannabe hippie husband, and afflicted by dread disease. What might be Mitchard's best writing in this book comes when she questions whether this paragon heroine might have done things better by the husband and in their marriage.
Apr 21, 2010
Kristy
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I would recommend this book to any woman living in the modern day world. First of all, it gives women a different perspective on life. You think you have it bad, and then you look at Julianne Gillis and think the prospect of being in the same types of situations is not always a coincidence, but a reality. I believe we have to make the most of life, and even though the book is depressing at times, it persuades you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and go out and live life, because there will alw
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May 03, 2008
Jennifer
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I actually picked up this book on the recommendation of--don't laugh!--Stephen King. As one of the ten books he recommended for late summer reads in an issue of Entertainment Weekly Magazine, the premise hooked me.
The book centers around a woman who not only loses her husband to a wacky desire to live a simpler and more-fulfilling life, but has to single-handedly raise two teenagers and a young daughter by herself, all while dealing with her diagnosis of MS.
THE BREAKDOW More...
The book centers around a woman who not only loses her husband to a wacky desire to live a simpler and more-fulfilling life, but has to single-handedly raise two teenagers and a young daughter by herself, all while dealing with her diagnosis of MS.
THE BREAKDOW More...
Apr 07, 2009
Olga
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Excellent character study of a family in crisis. Heart breaking description of a husband's and father's leaving his family and the devastation of dealing with a very serious illness.
The only criticism is the overly happy, fairy tale ending..although,the main characters deserve it after the emotional roller coaster ride they have been on.
The only criticism is the overly happy, fairy tale ending..although,the main characters deserve it after the emotional roller coaster ride they have been on.
