While I'm Falling

by Laura Moriarty

Overview

“Deftly captures” a young woman’s coming of age as her parents’ marriage falls apart from an author who “keeps getting better and better” (Jodi Picoult, New York Times–bestselling author of Handle with Care).

Ever since her parents announced that they're getting divorced, Veronica has been falling. Hard. A junior in college, she has fallen in love. She has fallen behind in her difficult coursework. She hates her job as counselor at the dorm, and she longs for the home that no longer exists. When an attempt to escape the pressure, combined with bad luck, lands her in a terrifying situation, a shaken Veronica calls her mother for help—only to find her former foundation too preoccupied to offer any assistance at all.

But Veronica only gets to feel hurt for so long. Her mother shows up at the dorm with a surprising request—and with the elderly family dog in tow. Boyfriend complications ensue, along with her father's sudden interest in dating. Veronica soon finds herself with a new set of problems, and new questions about love and independence.

Darkly humorous, beautifully written, and filled with crystalline observations about how families fall apart, While I'm Falling takes a deep look at the relationship between a daughter and a mother when one is trying to grow up and the other is trying to stay afloat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781401394523
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	332
File size:	782 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Laura Moriarty received her master's degree from the University of Kansas and was awarded the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy. She is the author of The Center of Everything and The Rest of Her Life. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

Hometown:

Maine

Date of Birth:

December 24, 1979

Place of Birth:

Honolulu, Hawaii

Education:

B.S.W., University of Kansas, 1993; M.A. in English, University of Kansas, 2000

Editorial Reviews

Moriarty (The Rest of Her Life, 2007, etc.) slips inside the skin of a premed student disoriented by her parents' divorce and her own fumbling attempts to live up to others' expectations. Veronica Von Holten's father, a lawyer who raided his retirement when times grew lean, and her mother Natalie, a stay-at-home mom who had once been a teacher, separate after Dad catches a strange man asleep in his own bed. After the family house is sold in the divorce proceedings, Natalie takes the ancient and often incontinent family dog Bowzer away in her minivan with the rest of her possessions. Now strapped for money, she struggles to support herself in a world that no longer considers her skills valid or useful. Meanwhile, Veronica's life turns inside out. She's struggling with an organic-chemistry class that might as well be Mandarin for all the sense it makes to her; her rock-steady engineering-student boyfriend Tim wants her to move in with him; and she stinks at her job as a Resident Advisor in the dorm. Without a car and longing for some privacy, Veronica leaps at the chance to housesit for one of the more dubious campus characters: a guy named Jimmy, who has piercings, a shaved head, a mysterious, possibly illegal source of income and an oddly familiar girlfriend. Things don't go quite as Veronica hopes they will, and soon she's nursing a headache, heartache and bad attitude that she will later come to regret. Moriarty deftly explores the shifting ground between Veronica and each of her parents, but it is the familiar turf of mother-daughter relationships that primarily engages her. In her careful and knowing hands, Veronica, Natalie and the rest emerge as characters readers will care about.Turn off the phone, lock the door and order takeout before opening this sweet, straight-through read that leaves no loose ends dangling. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh/Willam Morris Agency

Kirkus Reviews

"WHILE I'M FALLING deftly captures the moment a child realizes that growing up means being responsible for your parents' mistakes - and preventing yourself from making the same ones. Laura Moriarty keeps getting better and better."—Jodi Picoult, author of Handle with Care

From the Publisher

"WHILE I'M FALLING deftly captures the moment a child realizes that growing up means being responsible for your parents' mistakes - and preventing yourself from making the same ones. Laura Moriarty keeps getting better and better."

Jodi Picoult

Veronica Von Holten, a college student in Lawrence, Kansas, comes of age as her parents’ marriage falls apart and a series of other unexpected events assails her. Julia Gibson portrays Veronica as a sharp-voiced teenager who is trying to become a responsible adult amid the chaos that has become her life. Gibson draws the listener into this drama of family strife and capably dramatizes the crux of the problem: The Von Holtens care more about themselves than each other. As Veronica navigates college and her family, she talks about her feelings, her experiences, and her need to figure out who she is. Using subtle inflections to differentiate the characters, Gibson narrates the story in a distant tone that captures Veronica’s attempts to cope with a life that has been turned upside down. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2010 - AudioFile