The Breakaway

A Novel

By: Jennifer Weiner

Narrated by: Nikki Blonsky, Santino Fontana, Jenni Barber, Soneela Nankani, Joy Osmanski

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner comes a warmhearted and empowering new novel about love, family, friendship, secrets, and a life-changing journey.

Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place. True, she still has gig jobs instead of a career, and the apartment where she’s lived since college still looks like she’s just moved in. But she’s got good friends, her bike, and her bicycling club in Philadelphia. She’s at peace with her plus-size body—at least, most of the time—and she’s on track to marry Mark Medoff, her childhood sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually dieting mother forced her to attend. Fifteen years after her final summer at Camp Golden Hills, when Abby reconnects with a half-his-size Mark, it feels like the happy ending she’s always wanted.

Yet Abby can’t escape the feeling that something isn’t right...or the memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two years previously. When Abby gets a last-minute invitation to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls, she’s happy to have time away from Mark, a chance to reflect and make up her mind.

But things get complicated fast. First, Abby spots a familiar face in the group—Sebastian, the one-night stand she thought she’d never see again. Sebastian is a serial dater who lives a hundred miles away. In spite of their undeniable chemistry, Abby is determined to keep her distance. Then there’s a surprise last-minute addition to the trip: her mother, Eileen, the woman Abby blames for a lifetime of body shaming and insecurities she’s still trying to undo.

Over two weeks and more than seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl with a secret unites the riders in unexpected ways...and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love.

©2023 Jennifer Weiner (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Fun Story but New Narrator Needed

The story was nice. A little predictable, more than a little unrealistic, but fun fiction is for fun. I wish we could have gone a bit deeper into some of the other characters' lives, but I get that this was Abby's story.

Since it is her story, I'm surprised the narration for her part was so subpar. This audiobook would be much more enjoyable with someone else reading that part.

I tried listening at different speeds, but her reading pace was so inconsistent that I found myself losing track of the story because I had to adjust the speed so frequently.

If I had it to do over, I'd skip the audio version and buy the actual book for this one.

It’s Time to Start Vetting Your Narrators

Not her finest work. Like watching a Cameron Diaz movie, Entertaining,but the characters - for their ages - are immature. I have to 100% agree that Abby’s narrator is painful. Another reviewer commented that she sounded surprised at each word and that’s a pretty good summary. Her voice is cute but her reading skill needs major work. I have 2 1/2 hours to go and I’m struggling. To be fair, I’m listening to this on the heels of Streep’s narration of Tom Lake, and that’s a hard act to follow.

It's ok

Positives - current, feminist characters

Negative - inexperienced reader(s) with unnatural pacing, story is meh but not much more

Not her best book

Light, relatively enjoyable story - not as engaging as her other books. Blonsky is a good actor— but sadly narrating is not her forte. I sped up the narration and it was still too slow with strange pauses and rhythm.

Story

Disliked Abby’s voice… the others were okay. Not her best work. But I finished it so it isn’t terrible!

Had Potential But Didn’t Quite Get There…

Enjoyed the story and the main character for the first half of the book only to feel annoyed by the end. Didn’t love the author’s political agenda coming into play out of nowhere…and over and over. Made the storylines feel forced.

I still have 9 hours to go....

glad to know I am not the only one who can't stand the voice for Abby. serious cringing happening. plus some of it is just gross. im not a prude but some bodily fluids shouldn't get so much attention. I don't think I can finish it.

Die Hard JW Fan But….

Ugh… I don’t know where to start with this one. I excitedly pre-ordered some time back and had a calendar reminder for the release date. I’m not sure if I can finish this… it’s terrible all around. It’s like she had all these great ideas in her head and put them all in one hodge podge if a story. I’m wondering where her editor was on this one. It felt like Top Chef when the critique is that there are too many flavors in the dish. Each flavor or idea is good, but too many competing just makes a mess.

JW has definitely had a theme of writing plus size leads which I find refreshing. I am a huge proponent of HAES, fighting Western beauty standards, and smashing the patriarchy. But this book definitely pushed the agenda to the point that I was annoyed. I’m looking to escape in one or JW’s clever stories, not be reminded of how shitty diet culture is (which it definitely is).

I’m just not sure what this book is. A novel? A story showing different points of view via the different characters? A book educating us on body neutrality? A reminder not to slut shame and assure consent? A commentary on the impact of Roe being overturned and how devastating that change can be to a person with an unwanted pregnancy? (Using trite, stereotyped characters nonetheless.)

And finally… the narrator (a talented actress) needed to stick to her day job. Unnatural pauses, pronunciation which led to a struggle in comprehension, grating voice, unexpected emphasis on syllables or words.

Hoping JW comes back in her next novel showcasing how brilliant of a storyteller she can be.

Jenn Weiner is my favorite- sadly this book is not!

First, the narration was a bit cringy. These fake voices- ugh. Just read the book.
Second, some storylines seemed just thrown in there for todays news sake. No follow up or real reason for them.
Let’s just take every issue of today and throw it in a book.
I love JW- I preorder every book.
This one was disappointing.

Don’t Waste You’re Time

The story is not very good, however it is made 1000x worse by the main narrator. Seriously, whoever booked this reader should be fired.