Review: All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

Title: All Fall Down
Author: Jennifer Weiner 
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria Books
Publish Date: June 2014
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Allison Weiss got her happy ending--a handsome husband, an adorable little girl, a job she loves, and a big house in the suburbs. But when she's in the pediatrician's office with her daughter and a magazine flips open to a quiz about addiction, she starts to wonder whether her use of prescription pills is becoming a problem. On the one hand, it's just medication, the stuff her doctors give her. Is a Percocet at the end of a hard day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class...or if your husband ignores you?

Back in the car, after the appointment, with her daughter safely buckled behind her, Allison performs the familiar ritual, opening the Altoid tin in her purse and slipping a chalky white oval underneath her tongue. The pill unties her knotted muscles, erases the grime and ugliness of the city, soothes her as the frets about her looking-good life: that her husband's becoming distant, that her daughter is acting out, that her father's early Alzheimer's is worsening and her mother is barely managing to cope. She tells herself that the pills let her make it through her days...but what if her every-increasing drug use, a habit that's becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?"

My Two Cents:

"All Fall Down" is the story of Allison, a woman who on the surface seems like she has it all. She has a seemingly nice husband, an adorable daughter, a nice house and good friends. She's hiding that she's addicted to prescription drugs. This is a pretty serious topic and definitely one that I think needs to be discussed of lot more especially with what's going on and our country currently.

I love the way that Jennifer Weiner is able to take a serious topic like addiction and give it a face through Allison. I think from the outside it can be difficult to understand how addiction happens and why people are susceptible to facingaddiction. Allison shows that even if your life looks perfect, you can be hiding a lot of secrets. The book goes through how Allison hides her addiction and how she spirals out of control. It happens in such a way that you don't really see that it's coming. Sometimes fiction is the best way to access difficult issues. This book definitely shows that!

I was pulling for Allison throughout the book. You see how difficult it is to even diagnose that you have a problem. Hopefully by talking about this issue, more and more people will be able to get the help that they need. Jennifer Weiner is my go-to when I want smart stories with a lot of heart. This book felt a little more serious than some of her other books, which I think comes from the subject matter. Again, I think it's so important for books to tackle really difficult subjects. You're in good hands with Weiner.