inaperfectworldTitle: In A Perfect World
Author: Laura Kasischke
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Source: Review Copy Provided by Publisher
Parental Warning: Mild Language, Adult Themes

Summary:
Widowed early in life and left to raise three children on his own Mark Dorn is the man every girl wants a crack at.  Gregarious, gorgeous beyond words and more than a little unattainable women throw themselves at him at every opportunity in the hopes that they’ll finally be the one to reel him in.  Jiselle, on the other hand, has the perfect slightly oblivious existence.  As a flight attendant with a free and easy jet setting lifestyle she’s well traveled, extremely fashionable, vivacious and living her life in blissful indifference until she’s assigned to fly with Captain Dorn.

Over time layovers for work blossom into more than friendship and the two become happily involved.  Jiselle is swept up in the budding moments of love feeling energized and wrapped up in Mark.  Overnights in exotic and romantic locations, intimate dinners for two and incredible sex lead the two to a hasty and passion induced betrothal.

Forewarned of disastrous results by her skeptical mother Jiselle jumps feet first into marriage and an instant family. Letting go of her job to move into the home he shared with his dead wife she takes on the role of mother to three resentful children.  More than that Mark has become distant in both emotional and physical proximity as Jiselle struggles to adjust to her new life at home. Being tested by his spiteful and unwelcoming children is ultimately the least of Jiselle’s worries though, as not long after she begins to realize that her life is forever altered in a way she isn’t prepared to fix and that her relationship with Mark is not all she’d thought it would be an epidemic begins to sweep more fully through the United States.

The initial onset of Phoenix Flu had begun long before, influencing travel and international relations on a small scale. Now, as it takes a stronger hold Americans are universally feared and despised by the International community and are quickly persecuted and shunned.  Having traveled to Germany Mark is detained and quarantined while Jiselle is left at home to care for the children alone as the US descends into anarchy and decimation.  Faced with starvation, loss of basic utilities, illness and the unknown Jiselle steps outside of her own misery to become the woman she’d always hoped to be. She became a mother.

Opinion:
In a story built around an illness reminiscent of the avian or swine flu Kasischke portrays the United States as a country abandoned and isolated by the global community.  Viewed as the root of all evil as it relates to global warming and economic crisis American’s are left to fend for themselves in their greatest hour of need.  The picture of depression both physical and emotional the United States has descended into anarchy as the population begins to contaminate to the point of decimation.

Knowing the above to be true, this book is not for the faint of heart.  Not particularly graphic by any means it is also not a particularly light or uplifting read.  There is very little happiness to be found as Jiselle goes from flight attendant in love to mother of three fighting to keep her family alive.

What works well for me as a reader was how Kasischke writes the slow descent of Jiselle’s seemingly perfect life.  Moving from carefree professional, to being the other half of a hot love affair, to the eventual mother of ungrateful children we see Jiselle’s struggle with her own identity.  We watch as she fights for what she thinks is the perfect life then reluctantly accepts that it’s not.  We watch further still when she takes what’s left of that life and tries to build something more from it.  Taking the opportunity to be a better person even in the most dire of circumstances.  Instead of picking up and leaving Mark’s family to fend for themselves she turns her descent into depression and chaos into opportunity and builds a shaky foundation for a new and stronger life.

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What didn’t work for me? The ending.

I tend to be more of a black and white girl.  I like a definitive ending and this one was all about the grey and leaving it up to interpretation.  Was there a nuclear bomb that wiped Phoenix Flu off the face of the Earth?  Was air traffic restored indicating things were going to go back to the way they used to be?  It’s hard to say.  I’d like to think that Jiselle and her newly built family survived but we don’t know for sure and that kind of ending is not my cup of tea. I like the bow that ties things up nice and tidy like.

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As a fan of dystopian literature I enjoyed the Phoenix Flu portion of the story as it was used as the foundation for Jiselle learning about herself and becoming a stronger woman.  It was not particularly distinct from other stories in the genre but in the end I don’t think that element was the intended focus of the story as much as a catalyst.  It was the family dynamic and drama evolving that was the central focus of the story.

If you are interested in a story that draws on the difficulties of infusing into and building a new family, endurance of spirit and a bit of the end of the world as we know it then grab a copy of In A Perfect World.

[This review is part of a blog tour arranged by TLC Book Tours]