A Break in the Fog

A Break in the Fog is a beautifully written story with themes of love, addiction, post-traumatic stress, and the true meaning of family. In this book, Author Molly Salans writes with a prose that dances in the reader’s ear as she tells the story through the points of view of the three main characters, Joe (or Yosev), the father, and Clara and Wendy, the adult daughters. What I find interesting about the way this book was written is that the chapters written through the eyes of the daughters are written in first person and the chapters written through Joe’s eyes are in the third person. Each method is effective, however, but I think if it wasn’t for the large amount of swearing that Wendy does in her chapters, I may not have even noticed this.

A Break in the Fog mainly follows Clara as she is trying to find her way through life in the city of San Francisco during the mid-1970s. She finds herself torn because her father wants her to dance ballet yet she really wants to try modern dancing. Joe’s harsh words often send Clara to think about her mother Anna, who died several years back. Throughout the book, Clara also conjures up the voice and advice of her Aunt Miriam, who died during the Nazi invasion many years ago. Clara finds herself being sucked into a cult called ASI, in which she becomes deeply involved. This cult is very abusive and takes everything from Clara. These scenes are very graphic and realistic. While reading the book, it was hard to see why Clara didn’t see that she was being used and taken advantage of; however, when looking through her own eyes, she is very naive and clearly does not understand what is really going on.

While Clara is being taken in by this cult, Wendy is on the streets and is a drug addict. Ironically, Joe is an MD, but cannot help his own daughter until she hits rock bottom. Then Clara goes missing. The heartache that each character explains all stems from their pasts, and they all find themselves thinking about Anna and the day that her body was found. The author does a wonderful job of describing each scene with dancing and layers of fog and poetry that is rewritten over and over again to fit the current narrative. Happiness and violence co-mingle in this story and the reader may experience many emotions while reading.

This book has some very serious topics but is written in a way that is easy to understand from different points of view. Well-written with beautiful scenery and complex characters, A Break in the Fog will have its readers wide-eyed and hoping for the best.