Book Review: The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

You know you’re in for a good time when you pick up a Jennifer Weiner book. Although often relegated to the ‘chick lit’ genre, her stories typically include an element of romance but they also deal with serious issues that affect women, which is why I was so absorbed in her latest book, The Breakaway. We’ve got a protagonist with boy troubles, sure, but we also touch upon women’s rights, body image issues, and our society’s obsession with appearances over happiness. There’s lots to sink your teeth into, and for those who enjoy biking (myself included), many will want to read this book simply for its descriptions of the freedom found on two wheels.

Plot Summary

Abby is 33 years old, with an incredible boyfriend that she’s certain will propose any day now. Aside from her doctor boyfriend Mark, a handsome, kind and generous man she’s known all her life, little else is going right in her life. She makes negligible money working as a dog walker, having dropped out of university years ago. Her relationship with her mother Eileen is fraught as she struggles with the complicated memories of her parents sending her to ‘fat camp’ as a teen, and having only begun to accept her body size, reminders from her mother about how best to cut calories is the opposite of helpful. She’s asked by her friend at the last minute to lead a 13 day bike trip, and being an avid biker, Abby quickly accepts because she needs the cash. However, she quickly discovers that not only has her mother joined the trip as a surprise, another member of the trip is a very attractive man named Sebastian who Abby had a one-night stand with two years ago, right as she started dating Mark. They haven’t spoken since, but seeing him again reminds Abby of the undeniable chemistry they experienced, and the comfortable but boring life her and currently Mark share. A few other riders on the trip have secrets that come out over their time together too, and as the leader, Abby is expected to navigate it all with ease and professionalism, while riding hundreds of miles across New York State.

My Thoughts

As my blogging buddy over at Grab the Lapels has mentioned, Jennifer Weiner commonly features fat protagonists in her books. I tend to avoid using the word fat, but in this book Abby uses this word on purpose, so I’m going to use it too – body shape and size are a big part of Abby’s inner dialogue. She meets Mark at the fat camp as kids, and while he loses half his body weight in his twenties, she mostly stays the same, enjoying good food when she can, but also staying active doing things she enjoys. But when they get together again in their thirties, her being fat and him being obsessed with staying thin, the focus remains on her size, even when Mark assures her he loves the way she looks. The same issue comes up with Sebastian, as he is very fit, and she does not appear to be, although they are equally matched in strength when it comes to biking, an activity that Mark refuses to participate in.

This never-ending focus on weight may grate on some readers, but it didn’t bother me because I found it realistic. When someone is dating, obsession with looks is normal, and whether or not you are ‘matching’ with someone evenly, is sadly, a very common thing to evaluate. We all rate ourselves on different scales, and Abby is not immune to this, although she’s wisely surrounded herself with friends who remind her how beautiful she is, inside and out. What makes Abby such a positive character is that she’s constantly reminding herself to focus on changing perceptions, rather than herself:

“Eileen wanted her daughter to shrink herself to fit into the space the world allotted, instead of fighting to change the systems and institutions that wanted women to keep themselves small. She treated Abby like a problem in need of solving instead of asking, even once, whether it was the world, not her daughter, that might have been wrong.”

-p.71 of The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

What I love about that quote is how applicable it is to a wide array of modern topics; same sex marriage, trans rights, abortion protections, the wage gap, racism, just to name a few. There are a few generational hot button topics that get touched upon in this book, and most are dealt with in a very sensitive and thoughtful way, respectful of how different generations will approach the subject.

A fast-moving plot and likeable characters all come together as a fun read in this latest Weiner book, which no doubt explains her continued bestselling status.