My Life on Mars

by Alicia Metcalf Miller

An intimate portrait of a compelling family?and the magic of love found later in life Eliza White, a successful children?s author who lives in Santa Fe, has always had a thriving fantasy life. Though able to create magical worlds in her books, her life has been clouded by memories of her cold, distant father and by nagging doubts about her equally remote and unfaithful husband, the father of her children, all of whom have recently flown the nest for...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452286832
• ISBN13: 9780452286832
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

"I'm in mid-life hear me roar"

Yet another book about a woman going through a mid-life "crisis" and taking care of an ailing parent. The reason this book is a bit different are the characters of the hometown and the underlying story of a woman wanting to leave her no-good husband. It's always comical to me how in the throws of a life change there always seems to be some charming (usually younger) man coming along to sweep the main character off her feet. I wish Eliza would have stood up on her own to leave her marriage but then I guess we wouldn't have been treated to the steamy scenes that dot the book. The story is rich in detail and lovingly told and you will love it's hopeful nature. This is a fast, fun read--perfect for a summer beach book.

Engaging story about a woman at a crossroads

At 43 years old, main character Eliza is a successful author of children's books. However, now that all three of her children are in college, she finds herself missing them terribly, and as a result, she is listless and unable to work. An exacerbating factor in her discontent is her marriage, which has a history of problems that appear to be resurfacing. So, when Eliza's mother suggests that Eliza return to her Chicago-area hometown to assist with packing up and selling the family home, Eliza jumps at the chance to get away. Being in her childhood home confronts Eliza with many new issues, both past and present: there is the mystery of her deceased father's always-distant demeanor, the continued conflict with her younger brother, and the confusing feelings aroused by handsome neighbor Rabi. As Eliza slowly sorts through the contents of her mother's home, she also gradually addresses each of these issues in turn, eventually finding a way to reconcile the past and move forward. Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read, and I definitely recommend it; a wide variety of female readers will likely find themselves relating to various aspects of Eliza's story.

Great story by new author

I coudn't put this book down, Favorable reviews by our book club. We found a lot to discuss.

Quietly honest, lovely and hopeful

This honest tale of a woman's midlife crisis and subsequent fresh start thoughtfully abandons the traditional trajectory of the genre by focusing on unraveling the family dynamic that led to the crisis, rather than on imagining the rosy future to come. When Eliza White leaves her cushy Santa Fe home and philandering husband to help her aging mother pack up the family home in Ohio in preparation for moving Mother to Santa Fe, she unwittingly also embarks on a quest to understand how her current life--a distant husband, grown children who are deeply missed, and an inability to move forward with her work--could be reflecting the model she grew up with. Beautifully written with evocative passages that explore the bittersweet and confusing nature of marriage and motherhood for both Eliza and her own mother, My Life on Mars offers a respite to noisy and simplistic urban novels of women who seek second chances. The requisite "surprise" love interest is a complex character who offers Eliza the opportunity to respond to her options in a variety of realistic ways. Thankfully, there is no neat fairy-tale resolution here; the purity of clear vision facing an unknown future with hope and determination is a welcome twist.

Charming

This is a charming story, lots of fun to read, and we're all in it. I hightly recommend it.