As If Love Were Enough: A Novel

by Anne Taylor Fleming

From the author of A Duet , comes a gripping novel that explores the intricate relationships of a family as its members grapple with love, loyalty, and their meaning to one another

With tenderness and wit, Anne Taylor Fleming returns to the complicated terrain of family life--love given, wounds inflicted--in her novel, As If Love Were Enough . When Clare Layton's actress mother leaves her husband and two small daughters to go off with her lover, their picture-perfect Hollywood family is shattered. Gone are the star-studded parties, the photo-op outings to Palm Springs. Father and daughters are left to cope and hang on, but finally Clare's older sister, Louise, also drifts away. Years pass without a word or sighting, and then Louise mysteriously reappears, hoping to enlist Clare in a medical quest to save her oldest, evangelical teenage son. Louise's reappearance plunges Clare back into her childhood in the early 60s and into a reckoning with her current role as single career woman and devoted mistress to a married politico. As Clare works toward a sense of peace and personal redemption, the novel examines religion and politics, forgiveness and reconciliation, and the deep tethers between long-estranged sisters trying to find their way back.

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2006

Reviews

[Karen]

This was a surprising read. Started out slow and a little whiny, but right when I was getting tired of the storyline, it changed. Kept me interested and I ended up loving the book.

[Stefanie Jones]

""

[Anne Marie]

Despite some negative reviews, I liked this book! Yes it had a few bad words and scenarios, but don't most books these days?! Hey, life does too. And this book was about life in general, the good, bad, and things in between. The major things this book focused on was the main character, Clare, being a mistress to a man about twenty years older than her, but she loves him. Then the story of her sister and her nephew needing a liver transplant. Without giving a whole lot away, I'll just end with my opinion of Clare and her sister, Louise. I've had this opinion before, and I'll say it again. Louise basically comes to see her long lost sister to ask for her help in getting help for her son needing a liver transplant. Louise, I assume, thinks if her sister can write in one of the magazines she writes for about Luke, so he may be able to get a liver donor sooner rather than later. Instead, she doesn't tell her straight out what the problem is, so Clare thinks Louise's husband is beating her, then gets all upset when the truth comes out. Note to our real life selves: just tell people what the problem is; it will save time and aggravation!! And one last thought...loved how the author went back in time in Book 2 and gave us the background of Clare's family. Which makes me think...why Clare was so angry with her sister...I would have just let the past go and move on!

[Histteach24]

I went from a one to a three after I got over the first 100 pages. In the beginning there were just too many story lines that were undeveloped and the sister just seemed like a nut job. The story got better once the main character unfolded the past. I still felt as if the author was trying to tackle too many story lines/issues- terminal illness, sister relationships, infidelity, abortion...
I did relate to the main character on some level and felt as if the blame were put on her lap when I found the mother and sister more at fault- the main character asks-who is to blame, isn't it the people who left?
Some interesting questions to ponder:
Do we make rash decisions for forgiveness and to put ourselves off the hook of responsibility for our part in the problem?
Was the father weak?
Does the main character have the right to be disconnect or should the people who left have the responsibility of doing the mending?
I'm still on the fence about recommending this book-didn't love it...

[Mindy]

This book took a while to get going and once it did it was really good. But it seemed as if by the end she wanted, and should have, to write a whole lot more but felt as if it was long enough. The ending was very abrupt and it felt more of the end of a chapter then the official ending. I think she should have written less at the beginning and elaborated more at the end instead of in a few paragraphs of what is happening now. But for the book the ending was appropriate as it gave as much insight as the beginning did.

[Trinka]

The title is captivating ( I chose it for the title and not the book description. ) and once you start reading you'll see that the characters are too. It's been a little while since I read this book, but even as I type now, I can picture the scenes vividly. The apartment, the main character's walking through the city, the restaurant. I loved the true honest emotions Fleming demonstrated with the sisters. Bottom line--it's a good read!

[Jenniferwonderly]

It was a decent book. I really enjoyed the flashback into her youth. All in all I will say that I've thought about the book since I've finished it.

[Kendra]

I only made it through one chapter. I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll come back to it some day, but right now, there are other books I'd rather be reading.

[Debbie Stanley]

It was a good story but I felt the writing style was a little difficult to read at times.