Julieanne Gillis has a brilliant life – married to her college sweetheart, two great adolescents and a surprise toddler, a fantastic relationship with her in-laws, still able to star in ballet class at the age of forty-something, and a thoroughly enjoyable job as an advice columnist. Sure, not everything’s perfect – son Gabe has learning difficulties and hates school, daughter Caro is a little more self-centred than Julieanne would really like, and over the last few years Leo has becoming a little less attentive than he used to be, and is increasingly interested in alternative living. He named their baby Aurora Borealis, for heavens’ sake, and has started making jibes about things like the cost of ballet class. But he’s a lawyer, they’re very comfortable, and life is really pretty much perfect.
And then Julieanne’s perfect life starts to fall apart.
Leo leaves to find himself, Julieanne’s health disintegrates, and when she’s given a devastating diagnosis it falls to fifteen-year-old Gabe to support the family as Caro runs wild.
This novel is very effectively told from both Julieanne’s perspective and through Gabe’s diary entries. Mitchard manages to beautifully convey the frustration and anger that both people with chronic illness and their carers experience, the utter selfishness of ‘following your bliss’ at the expense of your responsibilities, and the conflict between loyalty and betrayal that children feel when their parents fail to meet their expectations. The foreshadowing means that some of the impact of events unfurling is lost, but is true to the voice of the main narrator and actually contributes to the sense of frustration that permeates much of the book. Each chapter opens with one of Julieanne’s columns, which both depicts the changing nature of her advice and provides a sharp contrast with her own unravelling life. Though I thought the ending was a little contrived and fairytalesque, I really enjoyed reading The Breakdown Lane. – Alex
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