Gone

Can a marriage become broken so gradually and quietly that no one really notices? That might be the underlying question in Cathi Hanauer’s novel Gone that goes unasked by the main characters, but it definitely ran through my mind as I read. When Eve and Eric return home from a dinner out one night, Eric leaves to take the babysitter home. But he doesn’t come back.

While that may instantly lead one to think in terms of affairs or illicit romances, it’s not as simple as that in this storyline. If that were the case, it would be easy to denigrate Eric for abandoning his family in favor of a young lover. But the situation here is much murkier, making it difficult to pinpoint one particular problem that causes Eric to head to his mother’s house across the country without telling his wife beforehand.

In Eric’s absence, Eve is at first bewildered. The assumptions she makes help to fuel her anger at her husband’s disappearance, and her pride prevents her from reaching out to determine if she is mistaken. Neither Eve nor Eric is ready to admit to the difficulties that their marriage was experiencing, or the roles each played in contributing to them. During their separation, some of these issues come to light, along with serious questions about self-worth and the partnership aspect of marriage.

I have to admit that this book evoked a lot of negative emotions for me. As a wife and mother, I immediately felt a kinship to Eve, and her anger and shock at the situation in which she suddenly found herself resonated with me. I couldn’t understand Eric’s motivation, and I judged him harshly for his cowardly decision to up and leave. It’s a testament to Hanauer’s gradual character development that as the book progresses, Eric’s character gains depth and becomes a bit easier to empathize with, at least a little. Don’t get me wrong, I still think he chose the least effective path to address his problems, but my anger toward him eventually softened a bit, especially as he becomes more self-aware and ready to acknowledge his role in creating an even bigger rift in his marriage.

Though Gone presents an extreme scenario, many aspects of Eve and Eric’s marriage may be easy for readers to relate to. I appreciate contemporary novels that address the domestic life, for I always find that even fiction can help me reflect on my own life, for all the ups and downs that it may involve.

When she’s not reading (and crying over) a book, Dawn enjoys blogging away at my thoughts exactly.