The Rest of Her Life

by Laura Moriarty

In The Rest of Her Life, Laura Moriarty delivers a luminous, compassionate, and provocative look at how mothers and daughters with the best intentions can be blind to the harm they do to one another.Leigh is the mother of high-achieving, popular high school senior Kara. Their relationship is already strained for reasons Leigh does not fully understand when, in a moment of carelessness, Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy -- the effects of which not only divide Leigh's family, but polarize the entire community. We see the story from Leigh's perspective, as she grapples with the hard reality of what her daughter has done and the devastating consequences her actions have on the family of another teenage girl in town, all while struggling to protect Kara in the face of rising public outcry.

Like the best works of Jane Hamilton, Jodi Picoult, and Alice Sebold, Laura Moriarty's The Rest of Her Life is a novel of complex moral dilemma, filled with nuanced characters and a page-turning plot that makes readers ask themselves, "What would I do"

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Adult Fiction, Realistic Fiction

332 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Laura Moriarty earned a degree is social work before returning for her M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Kansas. She was the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas. http://www.lauramoriarty.net/bio.htm)

Reviews

[Karen Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could not put this book down and finished it the same day I started it. It seems that opinions of this book are all over the place, but I for one found it to be quite intriging and well-written.

Perhaps the description on the cover is a bit misleading since the story is actually about the mother, who has a very strained relationship with her teen daughter which is put to the test by the tragedy. She relives her sad and unfortunate childhood and relationship with her own mother and finds that what she wants for her own mother-daughter relationship is not to be.

This is how I came to know Leigh and relate to her personality. I can appreciate how she tried to be a complete opposite of her own mother. Some of us try to over compensate for the love we didn't get by trying too hard and being disappointed that we have failed when we feel rejected by those we reach out to, in a misunderstood way. It's what we know. We all dream of a Norman Rockwell life, don't we?

[Liz B · Rating 1 out of 5]

The rating is a personal one. I suppose the book is a fine book, and at least moderately well-written. It's not really the book's fault that I hated the premise (everything that happens after the protagonist's teenage daughter accidentally runs over and kills another teenager), disliked the protagonist (whiny), and was pretty much uninterested in the back story. In fact, the main real critique I have of this novel--that is, a critique not based on personal taste and bias--is that it doesn't have enough story to really make it a novel. It felt like a short story that had been forced into being a novel, with back story grafted in to make it long enough. As a short story, I may even have liked it.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am tired of books that say one thing and deliver another. This was supposed to be the story of a mother dealing with an accident her daughter had in which she killed another teenager. Instead it was a flashback rich tale of Mom's woes thorugh life and the accident took a backseat, so much so that the truth about what happened that day was NEVER given. Waste of time!

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the way the daughter's reactions to the accident evolved was thoughtful and real, but that was only a tiny part of the story. Despite what the book cover and premise in the blurb say, the story is actually about the mother; the main event just served as a catalyst for her to realize things about herself and her relationships with her family and friends. At first I didn't like her at all because of her petty feelings in momentous circumstances, but as her past unfolded, I started to understand and so did she. She didn't just have an epiphany and suddenly change the way she had been her whole adult life, though; the author showed small things she tried to do and how unnatural they felt, which I also thought was realistic. So the ending turned out satisfying but not all tied up in a bow.

[Jaime Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this author doesn't feel the need to spoon feed her readers every detail. She gives her audience some credit and lets us put things together ourselves. This book was just perfect. The characters were so believable and the story progressed at just the right speed. My favorite character was Eva. Everyone needs a friend like her! I would definitely recommend this book.

[~☆~Autumn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very depressing and possibly the most awful book I have read in 2024. A high school girl runs over and kills another high school girl.

[Sheryl Sorrentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

From practically the opening page, this story was intense, emotional and gripping. The Rest of Her Life shows us how, from one minute to the next, one error in judgment—a teeny, tiny moment of inattention—can profoundly alter so many lives forever. I found both the plot and characters to be intelligent, moving and utterly convincing.

Distracted by a stray dog, eighteen-year-old Kara Churchill accidentally hits and kills a pedestrian in a crosswalk while driving her parents’ Suburban SUV. The victim, Bethany Cleese, is a fellow neighborhood teen being raised by a single mom. One beloved young life is irretrievably lost, but many, many others are deeply affected. Although Kara’s punishment will likely be light (a reckless driving charge), Kara is hell-bent on punishing herself to the max. She withdraws, stops eating, and sinks into a deep depression while her father tries to do “damage control.” Gary Churchill orders the family not to talk to anyone—not even their closest friends, mother-daughter duo Eva (the town gossip) and Kara’s best friend, Willow. Gary’s all about lawyers, insurance, and making sure Kara avoids jail and starts college in the fall on schedule as if nothing happened.

Kara’s mom, Leigh (from whose point of view this story is told) processes the tragedy quite differently. She becomes obsessed with Bethany’s mother, Diane, and grows increasingly desperate to finagle Diane’s forgiveness even as the dents in her own relationship with Kara become all-the-more evident under the weight of her family’s sudden misfortune. To Leigh, Kara’s carelessness offers proof to the entire small town of Danby, Kansas that she has failed as a mother. She is reminded of something Jackie Kennedy once said: “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” Damning herself, Leigh concludes that “despite her best intentions, apparently, she’d somehow bungled raising her daughter. Now that Kara had bungled too, it was true—nothing else seemed to matter.”

Although on the surface, The Rest of Her Life is about a fatal accident, Leigh’s realization about her maternal inadequacy is what gives this story its beating heart. As the narrative progresses, we slowly learn why Leigh has had such a difficult time with motherhood: She was abandoned by her own mother as a 16-year-old, left to live in a trailer with her hapless if kind-hearted older sister (herself a young single mom), and basically had to grope her way through life in order to become a teacher and form a stable family as an adult.

The Rest of Her Life reveals just how difficult it is to parent a child when one has had defective (or no) parenting herself. Understanding intellectually that her mom did the best she could given how she was raised did little to heal Leigh’s festering emotional wounds. Even though Leigh could dance circles around her own self-absorbed, clueless mother, she has difficulty connecting with others—including her own family, and slowly comes to realize that, despite her best efforts to be a different sort of parent than her mom, her own daughter simply doesn’t like her. At this crucial time when she most wants to comfort and connect with Kara, she is blocked at every turn. Stomach-clenching scenes are abundant throughout this novel, but the clumsy mother-daughter standoffs are perhaps the most heartbreaking in their authenticity; they certainly struck a nerve with me.

A well-rounded cast of nuanced secondary characters—including younger son Justin; sister Pam; Eva and her daughter, Willow; Cynthia Tork (the book-censoring mom of one of Leigh’s students); and especially Bethany’s mom, Diane—pepper this already compelling tale with thorny complexity as Leigh grapples with her day-to-day connections and commitments. After all, no matter the pain we might be suffering inside, life marches on all around us.

Though I am perhaps in the minority in finding Laura Moriarty's novel to be the rare gem that left me emotionally spellbound, in this reader's humble opinion, The Rest of Her Life is a truly extraordinary book deserving of five stars. I would give it six if I could.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I didn't find it at all 'jodi piccolt'-ish. Though I can see why people have linked the two. It didn't feel overtly sappy as JP books can. This was a really interesting point of view, and I found it refreshingly different. The jacket is a bit misleading though as it does state that it is a book about a young woman and the aftermath of her accidentally killing a teenager. The story is much better than that. The accident is a catalist for a change in the mother/daughter relationship. It was told from the mother of the driver of the car that killed a teenager, not the driver of the car. I felt that was really interesting, and enjoied it. I liked the mother and her background. As a mother I am constantly second guessing myself and trying to make sure that my daughter has a better childhood than I did, and that is a main focus of the strife between the mother and daughter in the book. I found it very relatable and would highly recomend this book. I gave it 4 out of 5 because I too felt very misled about the premise of the book, but ended up enjoing it much more than I think I would have.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts with a tragic accident that affects Kara and her family. I think I expected the story would focus on Kara and how this event affected more. Instead the story is more about her mother Leigh and her inability to reach out and communicate with her daughter. Over the course of the novel we get flashbacks to Leigh’s childhood and the relationship or lack thereof with her mother, which helps us understand Leigh. One quote that struck me in the novel was attributed to Jackie Kennedy. ’ If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.’ Leigh’s main aim in life is to be a good mother unlike her own mother was and yet Leigh fails to relate to her daughter, even before the accident. While it is easy to empathise with Leigh given her upbringing, I still found it hard to warm to her. But then, that perhaps is indicative of her life and her inability to relate to others. It’s an interesting read but I think the cover and the blurb do it a disservice since in the end the story is more Leigh’s story than Kara’s. But it certainly raises some issues about responsibility, parenting and relationships.

[Valerie McEnroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot in Laura Moriarty books has much to be desired. Very little actually happens. I consider her books to be more of a character study. The main character's thoughts are so intriguing to me that I'm caught up in what she's going to think next. Even though I can never identify with any of her characters, I feel like I know them. As with her other books, I could not put this one down. It is interesting how people either love or hate this author.

[Rhonda Rae Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was going to give this a three because of the ending but after thinking about it the novel deserves a four because it is so well written and insightful. I was involved from the beginning and found myself agreeing with the characters on so many details. My heart was wrenched with what happened as I've been to places very similar. A very beautiful story, one that you'll remember for a long time. As mother's we try our very best to protect the children and give them what we never had...but we really can't protect them from choices in the world and what we think they need may be not what they want...it is extremely difficult being a parent. No child is alike...I will read more of this author...she knows how to portray the hearts of real people...thanks Laura!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leigh Churchill has a nice life in a small Kansas town: A sweet husband, two good kids, a teaching job she loves. There’s the usual teenage trouble with her daughter, Kara, but nothing serious. It all changes one day - on the first page of the book - when a distracted Kara runs a stop sign and ends up killing a girl.
In “The Rest of Her Life,” Moriarty follows the family in the turmoil after the accident. She deftly captures the initial horror and the sadness, but also explores the wash of feelings that comes afterward: the frustration of never being able to apologize enough, the fear of leaving your house because the whole town is talking about you, and the confusion over what to do next. We feel for these people and know they are hurting just as much as the girl’s mother, though in a different way.
But just as interesting as the story about the aftermath of the accident is the story of Leigh’s childhood, woven throughout. Abandoned by her mother at 16 and relegated to sharing a trailer with her not-much-older sister and her boyfriend, Leigh did not know a stable home until married life. She turned her life around and vowed that her own children’s life would not be like hers; the friction that occurs between her and her daughter is mainly due to their radically different upbringings.
Even though everything ends up as well as it could, it’s not all OK. Kara is changed, forever, but it’s a tribute to the strength of her parents that she chooses to pay her penance in a helpful and constructive way. The ending fits perfectly with who the characters are, unforced and completely real.

[☮Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of sadness in this book and it comes out in so many different ways. Following a car accident where her daughter hits and kills another teenage girl, the mom struggles with how she can deal with the after effects and how it is damaging her daughter's life. Because the mom's own mother did not know how to show love or affection properly, the mom's own attempts to do so often fall flat. There is a very poignant moment when she realizes she does act like her own mother, despite attempts specifically to not be like her. 3.5 stars.

[Sidney Kricheldorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book kept me interested- first time reading a Laura Moriatry book! I expected there to be a bit more detail towards the end but not used to her style.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rest of Her Life takes the reader into the life of a family whose lives are turned upside down in an instant. The book opens with Kara, a teenager who is about to graduate from high school and while driving makes a terrible mistake that changes the course of her life and those around her. This mistake also affects another teenager, Bethany and her family. I don't want to share all of the details of the story as it would give too much away.

The story is actually told through the eyes of Leigh, Kara's mother. Leigh was a complicated character but one that you got to know intimately as the story unfolds. I found the character development of this book outstanding. Leigh, grew up with her sister Pam and a narcissistic single mother who did her best which was truly not good enough for Leigh and Pam. As the story unfolds, we realize that as a mother, you may want what you "think" is best for your children and in reality you just may be repeating your own mothers mistakes. Leigh chose to go down a different path than her mother and made choices to go to college and married a respectable man, Gary who is a college professor. Leigh is a high school teacher and has a daughter, Kara and son, Justin who is twelve.

I found Leigh's character brutally honest and could relate to her as a mother and the depth of her honesty. She has isolated herself over the years and is not trusting of people and she has to confront all of her emotions when in one instant her daughters actions change the course of their lives completely. She must look at why her relationship with Kara is strained and why Kara instead turns to Gary, her father, for comfort instead of Leigh. Leigh must look at why her sister Pam is able to break through Kara's wall and even connect with Justin in a way that Leigh cannot. Justin is an awkward child and struggles socially and he is closer to Leigh who seems to understand him more than his father does.

This is a wonderful book about the complexities of motherhood, the relationships between mothers and daughter, mothers and sons and sisters. There is so much to this story that holds your attention as you read each page. I found the book enthralling and wanted to know what would happen next as we follow Leigh on this heartbreaking but cathartic journey. I found myself often stopping and wondering...What would I do in this situation? This is the kind of book that makes you think and assess your own choices and actions and how women grow and change from our roles as daughters to mothers.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The angst of the mother-daughter relationship is thoroughly examined in this novel through the telling the story of a family in a time of crisis. The reader is informed at the very beginning of the story that the daughter was the driver of a vehicle that struck and killed another young girl. The mother wants to be supportive to her teenage daughter to help her through the crisis. But her daughter doesn't want to talk to her. It seems to the mother that everything she says is taken in the wrong way. The story's narrative then proceeds by delving into the mother's own childhood history, and we learn that she has managed to escape from a disadvantaged background by being everything that her own mother wasn't. She has done a very good job of fostering a supportive family environment for her own husband and children. But now in this time of crisis some the psychological scars from her childhood are coming back to haunt her in her relationship with her daughter.

The book is easy to read, and the reader's interest is maintained. The story is told in first person by the mother so the reader is pulled into the story in a very personal and introspective way. Another nice thing about the book is that all members of the immediate family (father, mother, daughter and son) are nice people who are easy to identify with. They don't have all the personality problems that so many characters in novels need to have in order to make the story interesting. Even the husband of the family loves his wife, is loyal to her, and goes out of his way to be a present and good father to his children. I mention the husband in this case because it seems to me that there are too many novels that describe unfaithful or absent fathers in order to make the story interesting. Now I'll admit this story does contain some characters outside the immediate family who make the story interesting by being a bit less civilized and prudent in their behavior. But overall, this story is more of an exploration of the psychological dynamics of family relationships than a story about physical actions taken. It's a credit to the author to be able to write a book about good people working through their problems, and still manage to make the story interesting to read.

[Joy H. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Added 6/15/15 - I read to page 62 of this book but didn't read further because I found the story too depressing. The story concerns a daughter who fatally hit a pedestrian while driving. I don't enjoy reading about the terrible things which happen to people but I suppose that's the stuff of novels. The book seems to wallow in depressing situations. Here's a sample from page 61 & 62:
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"...Leigh had woken up with her pillow and sheets covered in her own vomit. Waking up to the smell of it had made her vomit again, and then it was in her hair , on her blanket but she was too weak to stand up and get away."
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I bailed out after that. I don't need to read that kind of writing. For me the story has a value of only one star. The book seemed to "wallow" in the depressing situations. It wasn't the theme of the story so much as the "wallowing". There's just too much concentration on descriptions of the sad happenings and their effects. It seems to be indulgence to an immoderate degree, over and over, just wallowing in sadness.

PS-I found some good use of words on page 45 of this book: "... a kind of heightened conciousness, a heightened sensitivity to truth."
To me the words refer to seeing or realizing the reality of a situation for the first time.

PPS-I originally chose this book because I had enjoyed reading Moriarty's The Chaperone. I didn't find that depressing.

[✿Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those stories that makes you realize you have to be careful about judging people because you never know what life will bring or how you will handle a certain situation. This was a good story, but I have to admit it felt like it was quite a bit different than the jacket of the book described. I thought the majority of the story would be about the accident with the daughter and how the family and town deal with it, but a large portion of it was a back story on the mother's life while growing up and her very strained relationship with her mother.

[AddyF · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was primarily a book about mother-daughter relationships, and the protagonist in this book was, basically, a secular me. Reading this book was sort of an exercise in getting to know myself better and how my own relationship with my mother affects how I relate to my daughter. This was an enjoyable read, and I thought the book was well written.

[Mac Daly · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a moment of inattention leads to tragedy in impacts the lives of, not just the people involved, but of everyone around them. The book reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live skit - Debbie Downer. I could almost hear the familiar two-note wa-wa theme at every scene. Warning - do not read if you're feeling depressed.

[Patty Schneider Swalley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed in this book. The author never develops the characters enough for you to make this story believable.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, I really did, but it just had nothing surprising and the main character totally grated on me. Not a fan of the ending.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

What we want for our children isn't always what they need. A mother/daughter story with a painful twist.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard one for me to get through? The last part of the story was good, but the first half was dry, depressing and boring.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. The writing style is the type I enjoy....you get to really know the characters even if you don’t like them (a sign of good writing and character development?) the relationship between mothers and daughters is complex and this story did not sugarcoat. In fact its back story revealed some insightful and thoughtful explanations for why and how these female bonds form (or don’t). Easy and enjoyable to read even if the main premise is a bit uncomfortable.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. It was mostly about a mother reflecting on her own past and her relationship with her own mother in the midsts of a tragedy caused by her daughter. It’s interesting to see how the main character’s own past and upbringing caused her to have such a strained relationship with her own daughter. I liked how not everything was neatly tied up at the end, but overall it wasn’t a book that constantly held my attention.

[Lindsay Underwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Solid meh on this one. Kept thinking something cool was gonna happen. Never did. Guess the point was that mothers and daughters are selfish? Whatevs.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and engaging. I found it hard to put down. But certainly a more introspective novel rather than action-filled.

[Beatrice Followill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotionally , heart wrenching read. Told from the mothers perspective ,telling the story of how one moment in time ,an accident caused by her daughter that will alter life as they know it. Lee speculates on her past , present and future in this gripping read. Would recommend all to read .

[Shari Plump · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a story of a family. Thats it. Kind of reminded my of We Were the Mulvaneys. I think it was the way it moved. I would give it 31/2 stars.