Christina Reviews *Black and Blue* by Anna Quindlen

          In Black and Blue, a woman and her 10 year old son flee her abusive husband.  With the help of a protection program, they get new identities and move to Florida.  However, the protagonist, Fran, is not convinced that all is well.  She still thinks about her husband Bobby.  She sees him in the flashes of anger her son exhibits from time to time.  Her son Robert misses his father and is not altogether happy with the move.  But soon he is making friends, and Fran is making the transition into Beth.  Beth has friends of her own, as well as a new love interest.  But how long will their newfound happiness last before it is shattered by the inevitable?
          Black and Blue is certainly a captivating story.  I enjoyed it while I read it, but then I read it when I was sixteen.  Anna Quindlen is a great writer; there’s no denying that.  I will say, though, that One True Thing was in a league of its own, and Black and Blue doesn’t even come close to being as good.  The real issue with this book is that it is, in essence, a problem novel, and I don’t think it ever rises above what it is at its heart.  
          I took a writing class once where the teacher forbid us from writing about domestic abuse.  This wasn’t the only thing we weren’t allowed to write about, but her point was that when authors structure a story or novel around an issue, their writing often suffers as a result.  And I could definitely see her point.  We could include domestic abuse in a story---we just couldn’t write about it.
        I think that a flaw in this novel is that the characters never really rise above the stereotypes.   Fran/Beth is the tough girl who finds herself in an abusive relationship, but it’s never really clear what she ever saw in Bobby who is little more than a caricature.  He’s even a cop, as if an abusive husband could ever have a bland job.  I liked the fact that Robert wasn’t a perfect little angel boy and that he does have conflicted emotions, and I have to admit that it’s been a long time since I read this book, so my memory may be flawed, but it seems to me that the characters were, for the most part, two-dimensional.  For example, there’s evil Bobby and saintly Michael (Beth’s new boyfriend).  Clearly Anna Quindlen was trying to make a point with this novel more than tell a truly compelling story, though it‘s a good book if you want something to read while on a plane or at the beach.  Just be warned, though, the ending is a real downer.