Everyone Is Beautiful: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: mean witch, Everyone Is Beautiful, Katherine Center, Baby Sam (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Lanie Coates moves from Houston to Cambridge, Mass., with her musician husband, Peter, she loses her support system and quickly becomes overwhelmed by her three small boys and a self-image that's sagging both literally and figuratively. In this agreeable mom-lit entry from the author of The Bright Side of Disaster, Lanie, a former painter, finds beauty in everyone but herself, and especially adores Peter, even though the two of them seem to be drifting apart. The early chapters nearly sink beneath the weight of routine housekeeping details and scenes describing the children's bodily functions and fascination with their body parts, matters most parents have experienced, but which don't necessarily make for great fiction. However, as Lanie begins to find herself through a newfound passion for photography, the story gains traction, and the tension grows as her photography teacher turns out to be a smitten kitten. Like real-life marriage with children, this book offers enough sparkling moments to compensate for the tedium. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Everything in Lainie Coates’ life is changing. Her husband receives a scholarship to a prestigious music school, so the family moves from her native Houston to Cambridge, Massachusetts. While Peter is involved with his studies, Lainie feels lost and alienated caring for her three young sons until she meets Amanda, an acquaintance from high school, at a local park. Lainie is at her frumpiest—in sweatpants, still carrying the weight from her baby—when a stranger asks when her baby is due. Mortified, she lies. How does one explain her error to gorgeous Amanda with her perfect daughter? This embarrassing incident starts Lainie on the path to her own self-discovery, that is, if she can find the time and the outlet. Center takes a woman at her most vulnerable time and sets her on a journey to find herself without losing what she holds most dear in a superbly written novel filled with unique and resonant characters. --Patty Engelmann

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400066433
• ISBN-13: 978-1400066438
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,872 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, February 19, 2009

By	Tender Moon (New York) - See all my reviews

A wonderfully written, laugh out loud book about life, love, and motherhood. I don't think there's a mother alive who won't be able to identify in some way.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving, Funny, Family Pageturner, February 19, 2009

By	Rachel Kramer Bussel "Cupcakes Take the Cake ... (New York City) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Katherine Center has done it again - created a novel about family, motherhood and sense of self that is gripping, humorous, and dramatic enough to keep me reading right up until the end. Lainie is much more than simply the downtrodden, neglected wife and mother (though she is also that) and her fight for one hour of gym time is the start of her growing up a little and discovering who she is beyond the confines of her family.

Where that discovery takes her is something Center lets unfold with the help of some characters who are quirky enough in and of themselves. One little white lie that will be horrific and family to anyone packing on a few pounds plays a major plot point later on (I don't want to give too much away). Lainie's attempts to hold her family and marriage together, while also finding her own artistic impulses and inspirations, is at the heart of this book. Tender and touching, it makes me hope there are many more such novels in Center's future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars honest, wise, and hysterically funny, February 17, 2009

By	Brené Brown (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Katherine Center's writing is so honest that I spent a lot of time wincing and thinking "I'm so glad it's not just me." The book is also so funny that I found myself laughing hysterically in almost every chapter (which is rare for me).

Everyone is Beautiful is for every woman who has ever struggled to find, hold on to, and nurture authenticity in the midst of that wild, messy, wonderful thing called motherhood.

This is the perfect book club book. It's also the kind of book that you hand to a close friend and grin when you say, "I think you'll relate."