Away from Her

Hmmm. Almost a year since I last posted. Kind of pathetic. I am going to try to be more consistent. Our discussion of Away From Here produced some strong emotional responses. Some group members were completely put off by the twist of the story. Interestingly, a group member pointed out that Sandra Day O'Conner went through very similar circumstances when her husband was institutionalized. Our discussion centered not just around the story and characters, but also issues such as being the caregiver for someone you love who no longer "knows" you, loss of independence and the expression of love. Some members recognized Grant's manipulation of Aubry back into Fiona's life as an act of love. Others could not forgive him for past acts of adultery and didn't feel that this redeemed him in any way. When it came to the movie, we were all pretty positive about Julie Christy's portrayal of Fiona. As a drawback, the way that the movie intersperses Grant's visit to Marian with flashbacks to Grant and Fiona's story was hard to make sense of until the end of the movie. Perhaps this was expecting too much of movie viewers. It's hard to say what the director felt was gained by the sequence. Just my own opinion, whether in a book or movie, the technique of starting the exposition at the point of climax, then returning to build the story is pretty trite. If the work doesn't stand on it's own (this story did), then don't try putting lipstick on a pig to keep the reader or viewer engaged. So in all, not a happy a story, but certainly touching and thought provoking.