The Book Diva's Reads

There are many cliches that can be applied to crooked politicians and their antics, such as politics makes for strange bedfellows or, my personal favorite, "in politics, stupidity is not a handicap." The sad truth is that politicians (business moguls, professional athletes, and other celebrities) often think that they can do whatever they want, especially if it’s illegal or immoral, and no one will ever know or say anything. When the dirt comes out, whether its about fiscal improprieties, adultery or both, the question arises as to why the wives stand by their men. Isn't that taking "for better or worse" a little too far? That is the question that Tara Woolpy asks in Releasing Gillian's Wolves.

Gillian Wolf Sachs is a 49-year-old socially inept (her words) wife, mother, grandmother and artist. Her husband is a 53-year-old Congressman running for reelection, Jack Sachs. Due to Gillian's social ineptitude she usually hides behind food, no not eating herself into oblivion, but providing food to others. Gillian is a nurturer at heart. She has put up with her husband's escapades for years and tolerated it because she didn't want to cause a media frenzy. She also thinks that she's protecting her children . . . her grown children. Her daughter Aurora no longer even has a relationship with her father because of his sexual escapades. Her son John is a little more forgiving and even comes home to help with the reelection campaign. This is when things get dicey. John falls for a campaign intern that is younger than he is and apparently this intern had a relationship with his father. When this is confirmed, John has a meltdown and Gillian decides to leave town. The truly sad part is that Gillian's friends and even Jack's mother, Gillian's mother-in-law, are all advocating her divorcing Jack and moving on with her life.

Releasing Gillian's Wolves is about self-discovery and discerning one's self worth. Gillian must find that she is worthy as an individual, not only of love and affection, but simply as a human being. That might sound simple when you're relatively young, but it is often a difficult message to grasp when you're more than 40 and have never worked outside of the home. Ms. Woolpy's characters are all too believable in that none of them are without human faults and insecurities. All of the characters are searching, in their own, way to find happiness or to hold onto it for as long as possible. It was this realistic struggle that provides one possible answer as to why these women stay . . . and better yet, why they may leave.