Skipping a Beat

November 22, 2010
Dead in the first sentence of Pekkanen's strained second novel (after The Opposite of Me), Michael Dunhill, a D.C. hotshot and the millionaire husband of narrator Julia, comes to after a few flat-lined minutes, ready for a change. What follows is a disjointed exploration of his wife's coming to terms with this development and a bulky series of flashbacks. Michael's near-death resolution involves restoring his marriage and donating his wealth to charity, much to the displeasure of Julia, who has become overinvested in their wealthy lifestyle. Michael spends most of the book radiating the grating beneficence of a religious charismatic while Julia moves from understandable annoyance to love and regret—all without much convincing connection. Pekkanen does sometimes break through the surface to offer occasional insight into married life or the effects of wealth and power, but much page space is consumed with familiar frivolities like designer clothes, chocolate binges, and fruity drinks shared with saucy friends. It doesn't achieve the substance it strives for, but readers seeking yet another quippy diversion won't be disappointed.

January 1, 2011

A two-hanky weepy in which a 30-something woman must choose between her vast wealth and a husband she hasn't really loved in years.

After Michael's surprise heart attack (he's not even 40), he becomes a transformed person. His near-death experience showers him with epiphanies—love is all that matters, money is meaningless, the quest for power is corrupting—and decides to act on them. While still in the hospital he informs everyone that he is selling his company, his home, all his possessions (totaling in the hundreds of millions) and donating the proceeds to charity. This does not sit well with his wife Julia. Because of a pre-nup agreement she insisted on (her father, a compulsive gambler, shamed and ruined their family and scarred Julia's sense of security), she will have no recourse in Michael's decisions. Hardly a spoiled D.C. wife (in fact the two come from the same poor West Virginia town), she nonetheless would like to keep a roof over her head and the heated floors beneath her feet. Michael asks for three weeks before she files for divorce—three weeks to woo her back and convince her all they need is each other. Much of the novel is devoted to flashbacks of their courtship; as high-school sweethearts they planned on escaping the poverty of their town (and their dire family circumstances) to somehow make it big. But as Michael's company grew, and her own business took off, they became little more than cohabitors in an ultra-luxe D.C. residence. Julia isn't quite sure what to make of all the sudden attention Michael is lavishing on her—a trip to Paris, picnics—but she is sure that years of neglect, possible adultery and this current betrayal may simply be impossible to forgive.   

A tragic turn of events redirects what could have been a predictable romance into a drama on the fragility of love and marriage.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from December 1, 2010

In her second novel, Pekkanen (The Opposite of Me) offers a wonderfully compelling, compassionate, and complicated portrait of the marriage of Julie and Michael Dunhill. Meeting in high school, the two were both determined to leave their hometown behind and make something of their lives, contrary to how they were raised. With Michael's colossal and unpredicted financial success, these once loving sweethearts drift apart and find different foci for their passionate energies--Michael is completely absorbed in his DrinkUp company and Julie in her party-planning business. When Michael collapses on his office floor and dies for four minutes and eight seconds, their whole world changes, and both are left to reevaluate what they thought was important in life. For Julie though, this is a struggle to overcome the disappointment, sense of abandonment, and misunderstandings she's harbored against her husband for years. VERDICT In this compelling and satisfying read, Pekkanen offers relatable characters that move you and an ending that surprises and pleases. Highly recommended.--Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.