All Fall Down: A Novel
Page 35
4. As Allison sinks deeper into her addiction, her relationships with her parents, husband, daughter, friends, and boss change as everyone adapts to an Allison who is less reliable, stable, and emotionally present. How do Allison’s addiction and her subsequent efforts at recovery impact the people around her for better and for worse? How does Allison handle the changes she observes in the people she loves? What surprises her about her family’s and friends’ reactions and responses to her addiction, and what surprised you as a reader?
5. How does Allison’s definition of self change when she and Dave move to the suburbs, and why? How do Allison’s hopes for life in the suburbs compare to the reality of her new situation, and what does she give up to fit into the new life that Dave chose for them? Does living in the suburbs contribute to Allison’s addiction, or do you think she would have faced the same issues had she stayed in the city?
6. How does Allison’s ability to anonymously order pills through Penny Lane facilitate her addiction? Do you think her addiction would have reached such an extreme place if she didn’t have the knowledge and resources to order pills over the Internet? What does Allison’s reliance on ordering drugs online say about technology and the future of addiction?
7. When he finally confronts Allison about her addiction, Dave is extremely angry that she has put their daughter’s life in jeopardy. Could Dave have interfered with his wife’s addiction sooner? If you think Dave suspected that Allison was abusing drugs, why did he choose to wait so long to act? Do you think that Dave feels any responsibility for Allison’s addiction?
8. At Meadowcrest, Allison meets a range of women who are addicts, including a heroin-addicted teenage mother and a devout Christian alcoholic grandmother. Did the depiction of Allison’s friends at the rehab center change your perception of what an addict looks like? Which of the characters introduced at Meadowcrest did you sympathize or identify with most, and why?
9. From lying to Mrs. Dale about how impaired she was behind the wheel to her reluctance to share her full story with the women at Meadowcrest, Allison continually fabricates stories that hide the depth of her addiction. Why do you think Allison seems to be addicted to lying, and why is it so impossible for her to face the truth about her addiction? When do you think she finally realizes that she will never fully recover unless she is honest about her addiction with herself and others?
10. Compared to the women who wind up at Meadowcrest after committing felonies or losing custody of their children, Allison feels her story is “boring, bare-bones, drama-free,” but Mary points out that Allison just has a “high bottom” as opposed to a “rock bottom.” Discuss the concept of “high bottom” versus “rock bottom.” How does Allison’s view of her addiction and her “high bottom” make her feel different from the other women in rehab whose situations appear more dire?
11. Despite the intense subject matter of the book, the author manages to infuse humor into Allison’s journey, such as when she coaxes details about The Bachelor from Wanda the aide, or when she hatches her plan to escape by staging a musical about addiction and life in rehab. As a reader, how did you feel when you read these humorous scenes? Were you surprised that the author was able to bring some light to such a dark situation?
12. Even in the depths of her addiction, Allison strives to be a better mother than her own mother was to her, even sneaking out of Meadowcrest to attend Ellie’s sixth birthday party. What does Allison do differently from her own mother, and in what ways are they the same? Were you surprised when Allison’s mother revealed her secret toward the end of the book? How, if at all, would Allison’s life have changed if she had known the truth about her mother sooner?
13. Aubrey’s phone call at the end of the book reminds Allison how quickly addiction can consume a person. Why is it so important to Allison that she refuse Aubrey’s request to come stay with her? What do you think the future holds for both of them? In a year, where do you think Allison will be in terms of her relationships with her family and her work? In five years?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Select an addiction memoir to read in tandem with All Fall Down, and compare the experiences of the writer with those of Allison. You may want to select a memoir written by a woman, but you don’t have to. Discuss how the writer’s struggles with addiction and recovery differ from Allison’s, and how their stories are similar. A few books to consider include Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp, Lit by Mary Karr, and Tweak by Nic Sheff.
2. Read Rebecca Mead’s New Yorker profile of Jennifer Weiner, “Written Off: Jennifer Weiner’s Quest for Literary Respect” (January 13, 2014). Discuss how the issues raised by Weiner about men, women, and writing come to light in the novel through Dave’s work at the Examiner and Allison’s work at Ladiesroom.com. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/01/13/140113fa_fact_mead
3. If you can, spend a day or an afternoon volunteering at a drug or alcohol treatment facility in your area.
4. Visit Jennifer Weiner’s website at www.jenniferweiner.com to learn more about her and her books, and follow her on Twitter @jenniferweiner. Fans of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette: Be sure to tune into her live tweets of the show on Monday nights and join the conversation!
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PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Epigraph from Heartburn © 1983 by Nora Ephron. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Master of the House,” “One Day More,” and “Castle on a Cloud” from Les Misérables. Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg. Lyrics by Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel and Herbert Kretzmer. Music and lyrics copyright © 1980 by Editions Musicales Alain Boublil. English lyrics copyright © 1986 by Alain Boublil Music Ltd. (ASCAP). Mechanical and publication rights for the USA administered by Alain Boublil Music Ltd. (ASCAP) c/o Joel Faden & Co., Inc., MLM 250 West 57th St., 26th Floor, New York, NY 10107, Tel. (212) 246-7203, Fax (212) 246-7217, mwlock@joelfaden.com. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. This music is copyright. Photocopying is illegal. All performance rights restricted. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
“Mix Tape” from the Broadway musical Avenue Q. Music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Copyright © 2003 Only For Now, Inc. and Fantasies Come True, Inc. All rights administered by R&H Music, a division of Rodgers & Hammerstein: an Imagem Company. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Copyright © 1959 by Williamson Music (ASCAP), an Imagem Company, owner of publication and allied rights throughout the world. Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
“This Nearly Was Mine” from South Pacific by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II. Copyright © 1949 by Williamson Music (ASCAP), an Imagem Company, owner of publication and allied rights throughout the world. Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
“You’re Checkin’ In” from the Twentieth Century Fox Television Series The Simpsons. Music by Alf Clausen. Lyrics by Kenneth C. Keeler. Copyright © 1997, 1999 . . . Music Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
JENNIFER WEINER is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eleven books, including Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, which was made into a major motion picture, and The Next Best Thing. She lives with her family in Philadelphia. To learn more, visit www.jenniferweiner.com.
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BOOKS BY JENNIFER WEINER
Good in Bed
In Her Shoes
Little Earthquakes
Goodnight Nobody
The Guy Not Taken
Certain Girls
Best Friends Forever
Fly Away Home
Then Came You
The Next Best Thing
All Fall Down
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Weiner, Inc.
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First Atria Books hardcover edition June 2014
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Permissions acknowledgments appear on page 387.
Jacket design by Anna Dorfman
Jacket photographs © Diane Kerpan/Arcangel (roller coaster); Pornsak
Paewlumfaek/Shutterstock (clouds); Stockyimages/Shutterstock (woman with arms raised)
Author photograph by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weiner, Jennifer.
All fall down: a novel / Jennifer Weiner.—First Atria Books hardcover edition.
pages cm
1. Women drug addicts—Rehabilitation—Fiction. 2. Self-realization in women—Fiction. 3. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
PS3573.E3935A78 2014
813'.6—dc23
2014009100
ISBN 978-1-4516-1778-8
ISBN 978-1-4516-1780-1 (ebook)
CONTENTS
Epigraph
Part One: Down the Rabbit Hole
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Part Two: All Fall Down
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Part Three: Checking In
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Part Four: The Promises
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
Permissions Acknowledgments
About Jennifer Weiner