Books to Pine For: I COULDN’T LOVE YOU MORE by Jillian Medoff

I Couldn’t Love You More by Jillian Medoff

SUMMARY:

Eliot Gordon would do anything for her family. A 38-year-old working mother, she lives a conventional but fulfilling life in suburban Atlanta with her partner, Grant Delaney, and their three daughters. The two older girls are actually Eliot’s stepdaughters, a distinction she is reluctant to make as she valiantly attempts to maintain a safe, happy household . . .

Then Finn Montgomery, Eliot’s long-lost first love, appears, triggering a shocking chain of events that threatens to unravel everything she’s worked for. How Eliot survives-and what she loses in the process-is a story that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved a child. With hilarious honesty, wrenching depth, and a knockout twist, I COULDN’T LOVE YOU MORE illuminates the unbreakable bonds of family and reveals the lengths we’ll go to save each other, even as we can’t save ourselves.

 

KIRKUS REVIEW:

Medoff’s talent for characterization is evident in her latest novel, a richly layered tale about that complicated thing called family.

Eliot Gordon is Everywoman—a working mother of three, she has complicated relationships and just a few minutes to spare at the end of the day. She dotes on her girls, 4-year-old Hailey and her stepdaughters, 7-year-old Gail and teenager Charlotte. She adores Grant (though they’re not married and no one’s sure why). And she is an active member of the Gordon Girls, consisting of youngest sister, Maggie, the comically imperious middle sister, Sylvia, and their mother, a novelist who spent their childhood hunched over a typewriter. It’s a good life except for the occasional intrusion of the Sculptress, Eliot’s code name for Grant’s first wife, Beth, a self-absorbed painter (she specializes in vagina self-portraits) who barely has time for Gail and Charlotte and expects Grant to support her art. And then Finn Montgomery appears. One of those impossibly beautiful men, Finn was Eliot’s great love in college until he took a job in New York and never looked back. Now back in Atlanta (with a polished wife and daughter), Finn bumps into Eliot and all of her memories of heartbreak and devotion come rushing back. They begin a flirtation, secret calls and meetings (we see Eliot helplessly tumbling into almost adultery) and then Finn takes it further, confessing that Eliot is his true love. To Medoff’s credit, the plot takes a sharp turn away from what could have been a conventional storyline; instead, at the beach and on the phone with Finn, Eliot turns for a moment, and when she turns back, both Hailey and Gail are drowning in the stormy Atlantic. Whom she chooses to save, and the consequences of her flirtation devastate everything she has. Heavy with guilt, Eliot tries to rebuild love.

Medoff’s fully realized novel beautifully explores the most important relationships we create: as parent, as sibling, as spouse.


Pub Date: May 15th, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-446-58462-3
Page count: 432pp

Bookfinds

Bookfinds Editor. Book Reviewer.

3 Comments

  1. Thanks to BookFinds for making I Couldn’t Love You More a Book to Pine For! I love your site and visit frequently! xxx Jillian Medoff

  2. Thanks, Jillian! Reading I Couldn’t Love You More right now and … get ready for a predictable pun…I COULDN’T love it more! Stay tuned for a Bookfinds review in the next week.

  3. Excellent! There’s an essay in the back called “This is a True Story” about the ten years I spent wallowing in writer hell. If you get a chance, read that too! Thank you again for your kind consideration.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.