Customer Reviews

Every Last One

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

Anna Quindlen captures the pulse of family interactions in a way that is realistic. The narrator can be acutely self-aware without seeming whining or disdainful.

In "Every Last One," the story is narrated by Mary Beth Latham, mother of three. She has a faithful, stoic husband, her own business in gardening, and yet, this mom is feeling the slightest hints of emptiness, loneliness, as her children grow up and away.

The eldest, Ruby, is a writer. At seventeen, she is growing into a young woman known for her quirks, her artistic temperament and her ability at school. Her private manners with her family, however, reveal her to be as headstrong and rude and arrogant as any teen can be.

The twins, Alex and Max, are fraternal. They share very little except a room. Alex is the athlete; Max is the musician. Alex is popular; Max is on the fringes of his school's society. They are not exactly friends though they are brothers.

The book moves through family crisis and angst over Max's depression, Alex's cockiness, and Ruby's insistence that parents just chill when it comes to her personal life. Her personal life includes a lost-puppy boyfriend, Kiernan, who has a special place in the Latham household although as readers we get to know a wide circle of people. Quindlen handles a large cast with clarity and sympathy.

My only reservation about the book is a result of the back cover's blurb, which I felt contained an unnecessary spoiler. For the pure enjoyment of watching a family that seems perfect but that is as dysfunctional as any other, avoid reading the jacket blurb.

I am a big fan of Anna Quindlen's works. "Every Last One" is a quick read, full of emotional moments and insights into the way women bond and think. Some of the setting details seem thrown in to perhaps update the story now and then, but big deal--this is a terrific book.

You'd think, considering how much I actually liked this book, that I would give it five stars. In fact, I almost did.

Despite the fact that the jacket description of this book set me up to be looking for clues as to the shocking event at the center of the story, the book is powerfully well-written and compelling. The characters all seem real, and the first-person narration manages to reveal things about the other characters that even she seems not to be aware of. I really don't know how the author did that, so consistently and well, but I definitely knew things about many of the supporting characters that the narrator did not know. The author's ability to express the essence of a personality in just a single line of dialog or a physical mannerism is impressive, and she even makes it plausible that these "reveals" are unnoticed by the narrator, presumably due to familiarity.

I was deeply impressed with the book, and I find myself thinking about the characters and situations even now, days later. So why not give it five stars? Well, there are a couple reasons, and I can't really tell you what they are. There are two plot points that just irritated me. Both of them are spoilers, so I won't say what they are, but one of them seemed unnecessary and one of them was just clumsy. Both of them stood out in a what was otherwise a tightly plotted and meticulously paced novel. And each of them slammed me out of suspension of disbelief when it happened, which significantly reduced my enjoyment of the novel.

I still highly recommend this book. It feels very real, and there are many layers of meaning here to uncover, all wrapped up in fluent prose and intriguing characters.

I am a big Anna Quindlen fan and have read all her other books. I have enjoyed them immensely, with the possible exception of her last book, "Rise and Shine". That was until now. If you are a middle aged woman who is a helicopter parent, this may be the book for you. Otherwise, not so much.

This is the story of the Latham family, as narrated by the mother, Mary Beth. Her husband is an ophthalmologist and they have three teenage children, Ruby and twins Max and Alex. The jacket says that a shocking act of violence is going to befall the family and while others have complained it is a spoiler, I am glad that it did or I probably would have given up on this book. This first eighty pages or so were incredibly slow going, bordering on boring.

There is heavy foreshadowing of two possible scenarios for a tragic event and I guessed which one it was going to be long before it happened. There will be no spoilers in this review. Suffice to say that Mary Beth suffers from the fallout.

Although I did not care for this book, nor would I recommend it, I am giving it three stars rather than the two stars a lesser writer may have gotten for two reasons. The first is Anna Quindlen is not a lesser writer. Although this is not my favorite work by her, she is adept at writing whole characters and having them express themselves in ways that are true and natural. If I had liked the Mary Beth character more, I may have liked this book more. Second, is that approximately one quarter of the book deals with grief and grieving, but not in an overly depressing way. It sheds a light on the pain people go through when there is a loss, how they are supported initially and then shunned if they are not "better" in a month, and how support can, and will, come from the strangest places. This portion of the book was the Anna Quindlen I know and admire.

I was glad the synopsis included a big hint of what was to come. I had to go back and reread it nearly 1/2 way through the book it to assure myself that I wasn't just reading a laundry list of daily life for nearly any parent out there. The first 150 (of 300) pages are tedious. Had I known the last 130 pages would be as tedious, I wouldn't have bothered finishing the book. There was no build-up (some hints that told you what was probably coming, but nothing suspenseful or compelling) nor resolution. One day we're driving to soccer practice, the next unspeakable tragedy, the next we're driving to soccer practice again - but now we're sad. Not my kind of book.

First of all, I wish the jacket blurb did not reveal as much of the plot of this fine novel as it does. If you are reading my review before you read Every Last One: A Novel I suggest that you skip the blurbs and go directly to the novel and allow yourself the reading enjoyment that comes with of a well constructed plot which unfolds masterfully with beautiful prose.

Anna Quindlen has crafted a truly stunning novel that really speaks to women. The first person narrative of the main character Mary Beth goes straight to the heart. Mary Beth is a very identifiable character with whom many women readers will without a doubt relate. Her story is real and believable. I felt as if I was experiencing real life through the eyes and mind of Mary Beth ~ she and her family and friends come alive on each page of Every Last One: A Novel.

The first 100 pages or so, I must admit that the pacing was rather slow for me and I wasn't fully engaged in the story but because I had read the cover blurb and was expecting some kind of intense action, I kept on with the narrative and was looking for hints (and found them) of what was to unfold. The story did become gripping and the action explosive. Still I was impressed with the author's skill in developing her plot and layering it with the intimate feelings of her main character as a wife, a mother, a friend, a gardener, a landscaper with her own business ~ really the life of a sensitive woman who could be any one of us.

I did in fact relate very much to some of the experiences felt by Mary Beth. I don't want to share those for it would be a disservice to the plot but Anna Quindlen really captures the raw, authentic emotion of those intimate moments that I too have experienced and I applaud her for presenting them with such tenderness and insight.

I think Every Last One: A Novel is a remarkable piece of women's fiction that any women can appreciate and cherish for its personal and honest nature. I enthusiastically give my 5 stars.

Mary Beth Latham seems like a typical mom, with normal, well-adjusted kids and a loving, successful husband. Always surrounded by friends, this family is the hub of much social activity. The kids include Ruby, the seventeen year old writer, and Max and Alex, fraternal twins. Alex is an athlete and Max is a drummer who doesn't quite fit in. Then Max becomes depressed, and the family's focus turns toward him. Meanwhile, Ruby's ex-boyfriend, Kiernan, a boy from a dysfunctional family, gloms onto the Lathams in an excessive way. But nobody wants to reject him. He is so needy. Yet he is always there. Staying for dinner, watching, snapping photographs, sneaking into rooms and leaving gifts.

As the story moves gradually toward something that seems to always be there, lurking, and just out of reach, I found myself holding my breath. Thinking "oh, no, don't go there." But of course, events proceed and suddenly, and in unexpected ways, we are on a crash course toward disaster.

Afterwards, in horror, we come to fully understand what has happened. This reveal was done so skillfully, showing bits and pieces to the reader until the full picture has emerged. And then we see the reality slowly seeping into Mary Beth's awareness and watch her as she begins to pick up the pieces.

Looking back, after the fact, we have to ask: what, if anything, could have changed things? Could any of these characters have prevented the inevitable? And what now? As Mary Beth tries to make sense of this changed life of hers, we feel so connected to her and empathetic to her plight.

This author has a way of creating characters that are flawed, yet sympathetic, vulnerable, yet strong. She demonstrates once again that no topic is off-limits or too difficult to handle. With her latest novel, Every Last One: A Novel, she pulls it off flawlessly.

When the "big event" happened in this book I was completely taken aback. I didn't see it coming at all. Therefore I can understand why the mother acted how she acted...I am an educator and I didn't recognize the warning signs (well, maybe a little, but not to that extent.) So for the reviewer who said the mother was "foolish" for not intervening I have to admit that apparently not everyone is as intuitive as her (the reviewer.)

I really liked this book. I knew nothing about it before reading it so I think that worked to my advantage. I didn't know what to expect so I was shocked to say the least. I related well to all the characters and I could find parallels between them and real people I know. They were very realistic to me, therefore the book packed more of an emotional punch than if the characters were vague.

The aftermath of the event was handled well by Ms. Quindlen. I think I would have reacted in much the same way. I hope I never have to find out. Overall, this was a well-written book that I would highly recommend to all readers from high school age on up.

Every Last One is a book that will probably leave you feeling queasy, especially if you are a mother. But the book really rang true to me about what seemed to be major theme: you just cannot see horrible things coming in life, and often you couldn't stop them even if you tried.

I have read some professional reviews of the book indicating that the plot is improbable; that no mother is so clueless about her children's lives; that the book is too dark. I disagree on all points. As much as we mothers might try, we will never know everything about our children. And unfortunately we cannot protect them from everything, either.

To me, the book really showed the life of a busy mother who loves her children from the depths of her soul.When I think back to my teen years, I hid at least as much from my parents as the daughter did in this book. I found the writing to be genuine, gut-wrenching, and in some ways, far too accurate for comfort.

This is a wonderful book that may leave you unhappy in the end. Not with the writing, but with the uncomfortable truths contained within.

I am an Anna Quindlen fan, and I was intrigued by the reviews and abstract for "Every Last One." The first half of the book was extremely redundant and bland. I was just waiting for something to HAPPEN. The main character talks incessantly about her work and children. I just felt like I was listening to a song on the radio in which the chorus was sang over and over again. It was all the same. I was waiting for this "life-altering" event to happen, or I was ready to close the book and put it on the shelf. I felt that Quindlen spent more time talking about this family's every-day life than the actual EVENT that finally happened. I won't give away what that event was, but I will say that is was extremely over the top and I don't think enough development was given to the actual event and the character that caused the event. The ending was extremely predictable and did not come full circle in my opinion. It wasn't a terrible read, but it wasn't one of Qundlen's best either.

I have tried to write without spoiling the plot, but if you are really worried, don't read further. For the first 153 pages the reader reads very fast. Because of the advance word about the book, we know that something bad is going to happen. Since the suburban life described is unutterably boring, you read as fast as you can to get it behind you. My rule is that authors who have a central event in a book that is otherwise undistinguished as literature, such as most mysteries and thrillers, have to have that event in the first 100 pages. The windup here is more than half the book and, since it is certainly not literature, it breaks my rule. The event is extravagantly bad. It has no reason to be as bad as it is. It doesn't make psychological sense for it to be as bad as it is. The remaining 146 pages don't invite the reader to slow down. Now the reader reads very fast in disbelief that our heroine, in less than a year, makes completely unrealistic progress in handling her life. There are a few touching moments. But this is an almost insultingly shallow examination of a critical life experience.