Book a reminder of forgotten past

by Kim Boal
For The Post

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller is an intriguing page-turner that is part of the famous Oprah's Book Club. It takes you on a journey of a happy, middle-aged woman who is forced to revisit a dark part of her life as a young lady.

The story opens to Jo Becker, who narrates the story, as a happily married veterinarian with three grown daughters and a loving husband. Everything seems to be going well for her until an old roommate, Eli, moves into her small Massachusetts town and memories begin to haunt her.

Jo starts to become consumed by memories of her past, living in a communal home in the 1960s. She remembers leaving her normal, by-the-book life for something more exciting with her roommates, who were everything but average.

Jo enjoyed her life with her roommates while learning about everything from politics to sex and drugs. Meanwhile, Jo became very close to one of her roommates, Dana. Dana's free-spirited attitude and kindness intrigued Jo, and Dana and Jo became as close as sisters.

Jo lived there for almost a year when she found Dana murdered in their house. It was big news in Massachusetts, and making it even harder on the roommates, they were ridiculed for their lifestyle in the newspapers. Worse, Dana's death was blamed on the way they lived. To top it off, the police could not find the murderer.

The story then returns to the present as Jo becomes tortured with her memories of Dana. She begins meeting with Eli, and they rekindle their friendship. Jo becomes obsessed with Eli, wanting to see him, speak with him and dreaming of having an affair with him. Meanwhile, Eli is drawn to Jo, and the two of them decide to meet at a hotel. Jo believes the meeting will be the start of an affair, but Eli comes to confess his horrible secret: he was the one who murdered Dana.

Jo returns home in shock and tells her husband about the meeting and the truth about Eli. Her husband retreats from her, knowing that she was planning to have an affair with Eli. Jo goes to the police with Eli's confession, but they don't believe her.

Jo's life is in shambles until she slowly puts the pieces back together again. After many months, her husband begins to forgive her, and she learns how to deal with seeing Eli around their small town.

While I Was Gone is a beautifully written tale that is hard to put down. It allows you to remember that everyone has skeletons in the closet.