Every Last One

So, I deviated from the list again. I'm good at doing that . . . which is probably how I ended up with a list in the first place. But, I got an advance copy of Anna Quindlen's new novel, Every Last One, from the First Reads program on Goodreads and felt obligated to get a review up on the site quickly.

I haven't read any of Anna Quindlen's fiction, but, as I said when I read her nonfiction work, Imagined London, I used to want to be her. She was both a journalist and a novelist, and I thought I wanted to be both of those things. Of course, I ended up neither. So, I thought I was in for a good read (no pun intended) when I picked up Every Last One.

And, her prose is good. It's very readable, and I liked the characters she had created. The first half of the book introduces us to the Latham family. Mary Beth Latham has 3 kids: a teenaged girl and twin middle-school-aged boys. She is happily married and owns her own landscape design business. Not too much happens in the first half; we see the family going through everyday events . . . her daughter, Ruby, finds the perfect prom dress, then breaks up with her boyfriend, someone she has known since early childhood. One of the twins, Max, develops depression, and that consumes much of Mary Beth's time and worry--and rightfully so. Except, at the same time, Ruby's ex-boyfriend just won't go away. He leaves her little gifts and keeps showing up, even though Ruby makes it clear she no longer wants to see him.

At almost exactly the midpoint of the book, an unspeakable tragedy occurs. The story was setting up for something to happen, but not an event of this magnitude. The second half follows Mary Beth as she picks up the pieces.

It's an easy read . . . the 300 pages move along at a fast clip. But it felt very Lifetime Movie-ish. I can see certain book clubs enjoying it . . . just the fact that the violence seems to come out of nowhere would offer some discussion. I didn't love it, however. There were some touching moments in the second half, but not enough to sustain the whole book. I think, in the future, I'll stick to Quindlen's nonfiction.