With or Without You

June 8, 2020
Leavitt’s illuminating exploration of a 40-something couple’s failed relationship (after Cruel Beautiful World) revolves around three people. Stella is a nurse with dwindling hopes for starting a family after dating washed-up rocker Simon for 20 years. Their lives are upturned when Stella accidentally takes a mix of medication and alcohol that puts her in a coma. While Stella is comatose, Simon and Stella’s friend and colleague, Libby, a brusque and intimidating doctor, initially butt heads but find common ground, and by the time Stella revives after a few months, they’ve secretly developed a romantic relationship. Stella comes out of the coma feeling tentative about taking up where her life left off professionally and personally, even without knowing how the two closest people in her life betrayed her. She finds solace in a newfound talent for drawing, gaining a measure of fame and financial independence from her portraits. While a tacked-on, fairy tale ending fails to convince, Leavitt shows how the characters’ family relationships and childhood experiences inform their actions and needs (Simon’s disapproving father; the death of Libby’s brother in their childhood), and demonstrates how they are all transformed after Stella wakes up from her coma. This is a highly readable exploration of the fluid nature of relationships and redemptive power of self-reflection.

Starred review from June 1, 2020
What if Snow White woke up and decided she didn't much like Prince Charming? Something like that happens in Leavitt's latest novel. New Yorkers Simon and Stella have been a couple since the heady days when his rock band was almost famous. Now in their 40s, he's still chasing musical fame while Stella, a skilled and well-regarded nurse, supports them both and generally is the adult in the relationship. The night before they're supposed to leave for a gig in California that might be his big break, they have a nasty argument, drink a lot of wine, and, despite Stella's aversion to drug abuse, share an unidentified pill. In the morning, Simon wakes up and Stella doesn't. Her coma lasts for several months. The middle section of the book alternates among Simon's anguished guilt and devotion to caring for her, Stella's hallucinatory experiences while comatose, and the reactions of Stella's best friend, Libby, who is one of the doctors treating her. Libby had never liked Simon but is impressed with his dedication; unlucky in love herself, she's drawn to him. Sparks fly, but their loyalty to Stella counters the attraction. Then the patient awakes, and, as can happen after comas, her personality is quite different. The old Stella was cautious and always played by the rules; the new one is restless, reckless, and emotionally distant. The only thing that calms her is art. Compulsive doodling turns into startlingly accomplished drawings--a talent she had never displayed before. People begin to commission her probing portraits; in the meantime, Simon, kicked out of his band because he stayed at Stella's bedside, is a Lyft driver. And Libby keeps swearing she won't see Simon anymore and then opening the door when he buzzes. Leavitt expands the characters with backstories that have a common thread: Stella, Simon, and Libby all felt severely rejected by their parents in childhood. The upheavals in their lives caused by Stella's coma and its aftermath lead to the exposures of old secrets, healed wounds, and surprising futures. One character's coma is only the first surprise in this satisfying story of middle-aged love.

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June 1, 2020
Prolific author Leavitt (Cruel Beautiful World, 2016) mines the aftermath of one couple's tragedy in her latest novel. On the eve of Simon's band's possible comeback tour, his wife, Stella, is losing interest in his career. They take an unknown drug, trying to recapture their youth. Stella winds up in a coma and Simon stays home to care for her, losing his spot in the band for good. Two months later, Stella wakes but she's no longer the same person, even developing a new talent for drawing. She no longer has the capacity or desire to return to her nursing career. Stella's friend Libby, a doctor, helps care for Stella and emotionally supports Simon, but as things don't return to normal she finds herself growing apart from Stella and even closer to Simon. Leavitt's seamless writing easily carries readers through the compelling story. While more character development would have been welcome, this doesn't take away from the book's emotional wallop. Leavitt's fans and readers of domestic drama will be thrilled.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)