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Every Last One

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 15,938 ratings · 2,981 reviews

BONUS: This edition contains an Every Last One discussion guide and an excerpt from Anna Quindlen's Blessings.

Mary Beth Latham has built her life around her family, around caring for her three teenage children and preserving the rituals of their daily life. When one of her sons becomes depressed, Mary Beth focuses on him, only to be blindsided by a shocking act of violence...more

ebook, 300 pages

Published April 13th 2010 by Random House

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Jun 27, 2011 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, america, domestic-and-relationship-fiction, four-star-fiction

Raw. Powerful. Real. Not for cynics or sissies.
If you have experienced a devastating event that has permanently divided your life into a "Before" and an "After," this book will really speak to your heart. I know it spoke to mine. If you're fortunate enough not to have been through the fire, there's much to be gained here in understanding another person's pain and knowing how best to help them.

For maximum impact, it's best to know as little as possible prior to reading the book. When I brought...more

51 likes · like · see review

Apr 22, 2010 Lisa Vegan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, novel, reviewed, altta

I recommend reading this book knowing very little about it. I always read the cover and inside covers first and what I learn usually whets my appetite and rarely am I disappointed to have the information. However, the inside front cover of this book revealed more than I wanted to know. Perhaps that’s just me; I don’t know.

Quindlen is a fine writer and a skillful story teller; I learned so much about these family members and those they knew incredibly rapidly.

The story is beautifully written, wi...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Laurel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This was my first Quindlen book. I became curious about her after reading her high praise of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones (another book I didn't particularly enjoy). It's sort of funny because I felt these two books were quite similar in tone and even (partly) in subject matter.

Every Last One is hard to describe without giving too much away, but it deals quite intensely with issues of death, tragedy, depression and grief. In that sense, it's not what I would call an enjoyable read. Some of i...more

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Aug 02, 2010 Alecia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 25, 2011 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: highly-recommend, a-through-z-challenge-2010, favorite-authors, favorites

Compelling story! I use this phrase sparingly, as the story has to be one that completely ensconces me into its plot line and characters. Every Last One accomplishes that to perfection. Quindlen has an amazing talent for developing characters in which the reader becomes emotionally invested. I don't want to sound trite, but the characters really do come alive for the reader. Quindlen also has quite the knack for writing about an important issue that exposes it but doesn't preach or judge, a natu...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: highly-recommended, read-in-2012

I think this was another free Kindle book I picked up, and I started reading it solely because the author's surname begins with Q and I need a Q for my list.

I didn't know what this was about other than a family in America and an event ... Looking back I'm glad I didnt know and I'd strongly recommend you learn as little as you can about this book before you read it. With that in mind, I'm going to try not to give too much away here.

Mary Beth is married to Glen, an ophthalmologist. She runs her ow...more I think this was another free Kindle book I picked up, and I started reading it solely because the author's surname begins with Q and I need a Q for my list.

I didn't know what this was about other than a family in America and an event ... Looking back I'm glad I didnt know and I'd strongly recommend you learn as little as you can about this book before you read it. With that in mind, I'm going to try not to give too much away here.

Mary Beth is married to Glen, an ophthalmologist. She runs her own garden landscaping business but she's first and foremost a mum. Ruby is the oldest of the kids; she's in her last year at school before leaving for college, she has a good bunch of friends and is in a relationship with Kiernan, though she's gradually outgrowing him. Then there's Alex, an outgoing lad and budding sports star, and his twin brother Max, who loves drumming and comic books and is a sensitive soul. The first half of the book is languorously slow, beautifully detailed and gradually builds up a portrait of a family who are perfect in their imperfection. They are just an ordinary family - they could be yours. They could be mine.

Then something happens - and it's a really big, life-changing something. The remainder of the novel looks at how the family deal with the event, and once again it's almost luxuriously detailed - this is an author who uses ten words where many would use two, but not a single word is wasted.

Throughout the first half I felt a sense of loss - loss of childhood probably, because the family is at the stage where the children start to become adults and are no longer so dependent on their parents, and I really identified with the characters, because I'm at the same stage with my own children.

Then the Something happened ... And strangely, I felt there was a real emotional disconnect, because though I was shocked by what happened it didn't affect me emotionally. I've tried to work out why and I can think of three possible reasons - either the disconnect is deliberate so I experience the numb denial of the characters after the event, or that to feel the raw pain of the characters would be just too painful to bear so the author spared me it - or that though I felt like I knew the characters I didn't feel for them, so couldn't connect with their pain. I'd like to believe it was one of the first two reasons, though I fear it may be the third.

That aside, I felt this was a tremendous read and I would recommend it to others - though if you like action you'll probably be disappointed.

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Jul 21, 2011 Judie Holliday rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of my first e-books (read on my ipad with Kindle for Mac) and it was an amazing experience. Almost more interesting than the book itself was the whole e-book experience. I realised about a third of the way through that I didn't know anything about the book: I'd not given the cover more than a glance, I'd not read any blurb (back cover or inside cover), no biography of the author, no list of her other books. I read the book - just the book. And it was WEIRD.

I was reading thinking "whe...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Roxanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I recommend you do not read the book's jacket, or, any book reviews. Just read this book! Be patient, the first half of the book builds to the climax of the novel.

I did not pick a very good time to personally read this book. Our family has recently been rocked by a "before" and "after" event and it was very emotional to actually read this. Some reviewers describe Anna Quindlen's novels "dark." They are anything but, they are honest and real. Maybe you have just been lucky enough to have not exp...more I recommend you do not read the book's jacket, or, any book reviews. Just read this book! Be patient, the first half of the book builds to the climax of the novel.

I did not pick a very good time to personally read this book. Our family has recently been rocked by a "before" and "after" event and it was very emotional to actually read this. Some reviewers describe Anna Quindlen's novels "dark." They are anything but, they are honest and real. Maybe you have just been lucky enough to have not experienced any life altering events. But, for some parents, their worst fears for their families do come true.

I felt early on that something very bad was going to happen. I thought I figured out what that was going to be, but I was wrong. It was four times as worse as I had guessed.

If you have children the ages of Ruby, Max and Alex, you immediately fall into the pattern of daily life very easily. I paid close attention to every word that was written. I felt every conversation was a clue to the reader.

This book reminded me of another one I recently read -- Long Drive Home. After I was done reading, the book was on my mind for days.

You question all of your actions from the "before" and then you try to find a new "normal" in the "after." I thought this novel handled grief well and honestly, but being there myself, I felt Mary Beth was a little distant in the second half of the book. Actually, she seemed too calm and collected. However, as in my real life, everybody grieves differently. There is no right way. Grief does ebb and flow but more importantly, you have to adapt to what your new "after" is. It helps to surround yourself with people when you would rather crawl under a blanket and sleep. It is also important to physically do something. Mary Beth's trip to New York seemed to breath a new ray of sunshine into her life. I felt so happy for her and Alex when they seemed to have reconnected and had an opportunity to share in a smile.

In the end, this novel reconfirms that while we are told to have goals and dreams, those can be changed in a blink of an eye. The plans we have are sometimes disposed of by ourselves, or others. We just don't have the control that most of us like to have. The real learning point for me is how can we better prepare ourselves for these horrible life altering events?

If you have never had to deal with an "unexpected, horrible death", you are fortunate. If a friend or loved one does, what will you do for them? What will you need to do for yourself?

I look forward to reading more of Anna Quindlen's novels.

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May 02, 2010 TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-authors, family-dramas

Books that depict family life in US suburbia really aren’t my cup of tea. I find most of them boring or predictable, or worse, both. Anna Quindlen writes books about family life in US suburbia. That’s her specialty. So, why did I read her latest, Every Last One? Several reasons, the primary one being the fact that Anna Quindlen is no ordinary writer. She’s a very gifted, excellent writer, and after a hiatus of several years, I thought it was time I read one of her books again.

Every Last One revo...more Books that depict family life in US suburbia really aren’t my cup of tea. I find most of them boring or predictable, or worse, both. Anna Quindlen writes books about family life in US suburbia. That’s her specialty. So, why did I read her latest, Every Last One? Several reasons, the primary one being the fact that Anna Quindlen is no ordinary writer. She’s a very gifted, excellent writer, and after a hiatus of several years, I thought it was time I read one of her books again.

Every Last One revolves around suburban housewife Mary Beth Latham. Mary Beth is busy with her growing landscaping business and the joys and sorrows of her family – her ophthalmologist husband, Glen, her teenage daughter, Ruby and her sons, Max and Alex. Though Max and Alex are twins, they are fraternal, rather than identical. They neither look alike nor act alike. While Alex is athletic and bursting with confidence, Max, who is fond of music, is shy and depressed. It’s Ruby, however, who throws the Latham household into chaos and changes life forever when she ends a long standing romantic relationship with Kiernan, a boy Mary Beth likes and has come to regard as her “fourth child.”

The first half of Every Last One is, essentially, set-up. It’s not a spoiler (you’ll see it coming) to tell you that the middle of the book vividly details a heartbreaking and life-changing tragedy, while the second half of the book explores how the characters adjust to this tragedy.

I’m not sure Quindlen even meant for the tragedy that befalls the Latham family to be a huge surprise. The set-up for it is so good we can see it coming even if none of the characters can. We just don’t know the details until the tragedy actually occurs. In the hands of a lesser writer, this tragedy no doubt would have come off as far too melodramatic, but Anna Quindlen is definitely not a “lesser writer.” The tragedy seems real, not really surprising, but still shocking and still, very, very real. I did feel two incidents surrounding it relied too heavily on coincidence, though. This certainly didn’t ruin the book for me, but it did cause me to shake my head and think, "No, no. That would never happen."

Every Last One is, overall, a wonderfully written book, and it’s a sensitive portrayal of love and loss and how we adjust and cope with devastation. If you like family dramas – dark family dramas set in suburban USA – then Every Last One is probably just the book for you. Whether or not you end up loving it will no doubt depend on how much you like and identify with Mary Beth. I think it’s safe to say that Anna Quindlen fans won’t be disappointed.

3/5

Recommended: Definitely for fans of Anna Quindlen and for fans of dark family dramas.
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Apr 19, 2010 Marcia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, x2010

The first half of Every Last One by Anna Quindlen is best described with the adjective quotidian. Mary Beth Latham and her family (husband, Glen; daughter, Ruby; twin sons, Alex and Max) go through the daily routine so familiar to anyone who has had kids in middle school and high school and who remembers (fondly or not) the soccer games and practices, the having to be at opposite ends of the town at the exact same time, the crises of young love, etc. And so, the first half of Every Last One lull...more

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Jun 30, 2010 Kristina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you intend to read this book, don't go fishing around on the internet unless you want to know what happens. I liked not knowing. This is the second book I've read by her and thought the first was okay, but this was totally different and kind of blew me away. The author is obviously a mother and wife herself to garner the dead-on insights into her main character. Even though my children are still small, I could appreciate her descriptions of mothering teenagers. It reminded me how being the mo...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Gwendolyn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 06, 2012 Barb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Anna Quindlen's books. This is not my favorite (One True Thing will always be!), but very good. It doesn't go where I expected it to!m

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Dec 21, 2010 Kris McCabe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 20, 2010 Chris Antenen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, kindle

I just finished this book and am again in awe of Anna Quindlen's ability with the written word. I don't believe her novels have the same appeal to me as her essays, but in her fiction she has a way of walking slowly through reality. She builds the characters in such an intimate way that when the story unfolds, the reader feels and thinks with them. In spite of foreshadowing, I didn't see events unfolding as they did. The very trite 'couldn't put it down' fits here. Highly recommend reading Every...more

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May 12, 2013 Sarah Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought I was going to hate this book by Anna Quindlen. In all honesty for the first half I was a little bit bored and then as I'm sitting in waterstones cafe with a pot of tea trudging my way through it (ok that's a little harsh) something so shocking, so unexpected happens I gasp loudly enough that at least two people turn round to look at me. In hindsight the author had done the work in the first half to build up to the shocking thing that happens so although fairly extreme it was completel...more

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May 04, 2013 Bibi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mary Beth Latham is married to an ophthalmologist and is a self-employed landscape gardener but she is first and foremost a mother. The Lathams have three children:

Ruby is seventeen -she is smart, artistic and hopes to be a writer. She is a model teenager to strangers but can be rude and headstrong to her own family. Mary Beth is therefore very careful around Ruby; a behavior most parents can readily identify with when dealing with this age group.

Alex and Max are fraternal twins. While Ruby is...more Mary Beth Latham is married to an ophthalmologist and is a self-employed landscape gardener but she is first and foremost a mother. The Lathams have three children:

Ruby is seventeen -she is smart, artistic and hopes to be a writer. She is a model teenager to strangers but can be rude and headstrong to her own family. Mary Beth is therefore very careful around Ruby; a behavior most parents can readily identify with when dealing with this age group.

Alex and Max are fraternal twins. While Ruby is nearing her last year in high school, Alex and Max will start in the following year. The twins share a room where a line and colour define their respective boundaries. They are very unlike each other - Alex is outgoing, popular and a promising athlete; Max is withdrawn, clumsy and a drummer. Typically, they are not earnest friends but they are brothers.

The book portrays a normal family in every way. Quindlen devoted a few chapters to cement what seems like ordinary domestic tranquility – soccer games, school meetings, recitals, dinner, laundry, not enough hours in a day, and kids acting out. Despite the banality of everyday existence, Quindlen skillfully embed worrisome undercurrents into this seemingly happy home which is warm and inviting to all.

Max is exhibiting signs of depression and Ruby, who is emerging from her bout of anorexia, is now contemplating ditching Kiernan, her cloying, needy boyfriend.

Kiernan is the only son of an acquaintance and once-upon-a-time friend of Mary Beth. He rarely sees his father who is divorced from his mom and he is a constant presence in the Latham household where he seems sustained by the love and stability of the Latham Family.

Mary Beth is focused on the well-being of her family and on being a devoted mother and wife. Her husband, Glen Latham thinks she is over-involved in the inner lives of their children. Along the way, she must also attend to her business matters and problems – a large landscaping job vandalized; her plants uprooted and carried off - and the demands of her migrant Mexican workers.

Amidst this background, tragedy struck.

The second half of the book deals with Mary Beth’s attempt to come to terms with what is left of her shattered life. Her close friends help and support her and her mother, whom she has held at arm’s length, becomes a wise counselor. Mary Beth must cope with the shock and grief and in the aftermath of this great upheaval, hidden aspects of her life come to light.

Every last one is a book that touches on a multitude of topics: parenthood, death, tragedy, depression and grief. It also hits home on the illusion of what appears as security and control and the fact that as parents, we are not always intuitive; we do not always see what’s coming. In any event, the book clearly demonstrates the power of a woman’s love and determination, and the invisible line of hope and healing and the one thing we must do, that is, to keep on trying.

Readers can easily identify with Mary Beth and the parenting story line. Quindlen also did a super job with the cast of supporting characters she painted for this novel. I enjoyed this book despite the fact that I thought that a lot of detail went into making the point of the ordinariness or average-ness of the family. It is an easy read and I would rate it 4 stars out of 5.
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Apr 26, 2013 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am not sure if I read a description of this book or not, but I agree with one reviewer that the less you know before reading this, the better.

I was completely unprepared for where this book went, and I won't give it away here, but wow. The book starts slowly, but that makes sense. It's told in first person by a mother of three children. I was going to say a wife and mother of three, but I feel that her primary focus at this point in her life is certainly her children. I think that is how it i...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Debbie Hantusch rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I maybe being harsh with this rating, because there were good points to this book - it's well written in terms of language and structure, but I took a major dislike to the narrator almost from the start. She is hugely judgmental about everyone else, but never takes a critical eye to her own behavior. Every time she introduces another character she makes a catty reference to their weaknesses, while at the same time casting herself in a good light. Her husband suffers particularly for this, she is...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Megan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 100-books-in-2012, 2012-rrrc-s-books-i-read-for-a-chal, read-fall-2012, read-in-2012, the-challenge-factory-s-120-books-i

Every Last One is the worst book I have read this year, and perhaps, the worst book I have ever read. It was SO boring that I fell asleep reading it...three different times! I always try to start a review with the positives of the book, but I am coming up with nothing.

There were several things that caused my dislike of the book, and they are:

1)The constant flashbacks. Without warning all of a sudden it wasn't the present anymore, but Mary Beth's memory and then after a short while, again with o...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Chaitra rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tcf-wordplay-r2, tlc-team-scavenger-r4, oprah-book-club-crap, life-affirming, literary-fiction, set-in-a-small-town, set-in-vermont, contemporary-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've never read an Anna Quindlen book before. I'm not too sure I'll read one again. I don't want to go off on a rant, because it's very easy for me to do that with such so-called "life affirming" books. But, this novel tries to manipulate my emotions by blatant tragedy, those that I don't feel by the writing that came before that, and I don't enjoy that. I read it fast though, and for that I give it two stars.

The plot is this. Mary Beth Latham is a suburban housewife, with an ophthalmologist hu...more I've never read an Anna Quindlen book before. I'm not too sure I'll read one again. I don't want to go off on a rant, because it's very easy for me to do that with such so-called "life affirming" books. But, this novel tries to manipulate my emotions by blatant tragedy, those that I don't feel by the writing that came before that, and I don't enjoy that. I read it fast though, and for that I give it two stars.

The plot is this. Mary Beth Latham is a suburban housewife, with an ophthalmologist husband and three kids - the beautiful poetess who used to be anorexic Ruby and the twins golden boy Alex and moody but genius Max. Ruby has a boyfriend who intensely loves her, called Kiernan. She pushes him away for some boring reason, he doesn't take the hint. He stalks her, makes nice with her brother, asks MB if he can stay in their house, keens under Ruby's window, gets drunk and abuses her, sends her a photograph that he's taken with a zoom lens while stalking, keeps going into her room (in her house) to put a ring under her pillow. One fine day he stabs/strangles all of them and kills himself. He misses Alex, the good brother, because he's gone off skiing. MB lives, everyone else dies. This happens midway through the book. The rest of the book is much of the same thing, with MB trying to not deal with the tragedy, until, in the last chapter, she does. By the way, all that stalkerish creepy stuff Kiernan is doing? MB knows all along.

It isn't a good book. The first half of the book is filled with boring details about Mary Beth's perfect life with a perfect husband perfect kids with one or two off-the-page problems. But she still mopes, still takes time to drive in the car and cry (for no reason at all), she still keeps telling herself that she needs to count her blessings in a totally phony way. I didn't feel that she needed to undergo a major attitude adjustment because of her grief, because even then it was much of the same part 1 bull, with more crying and moping involved. She knows that her child is depressed, but only after several separate teachers warn her does she take the child into therapy. She knows Kiernan is lost, and he doesn't have a stable home (convenient this), she still doesn't do one single thing to help him out. And when she learns that Kiernan stalks her daughter - her daughter even tells her that she finds him creepy now - what does MB do? She says 'Oh honey, I'm sorry'. That's it. The kid stays in the room behind her garage for crying out loud! I refuse to see how a woman that mostly stays home (yeah, she has phony gardening business) and someone as keen in her children's welfare as she supposedly is, can fail to notice that.

She isn't such a great person even otherwise. She had a close friendship once with Kiernan's mother, a nutso called Deborah. It's heavily hinted from the beginning that there is some history behind why they don't talk. We learn:

Deborah: Mary Beth, you're my best friend. I'm in a hopeless condition right now because I lost my little child in a swimming pool accident. I can't take care of Kiernan just now, can you do it for a couple of days.
Mary Beth (with a patient voice): Oh honey, you know that's not such a good idea! He needs to be with you and your husband now.
Deborah (almost falling down with grief and medication for grief): Look at me, Mary Beth. Do you think I'm in any position to handle him? He says he wants to stay with you guys...
Mary Beth (still with the patient voice): You know that's not such a good idea...
If I were Deborah, Mary Beth would get a fist in her face, but she gets lucky as always. Deborah (snarling): Fair weather friend!

Soon after this, Mary Beth has an affair with Deborah's husband. And after her tragedy, guess where her son stays? With a friend. Phony, isn't it? One of her friends comes to know about her affair and calls her out on it, and she's made out to be the bad guy. Her surviving son turns into a man overnight, goes to therapy all by himself because Mary Beth is too full of herself. Even when she's going around saying "I still have a son", she doesn't actually consider the fact that the kid might need some help. Why would he, he's the golden boy right? Never any trouble! And he isn't, one drunken day is all she has to deal with - the kid has a girlfriend who is the loveliest thing ever, her dead daughter's friends hang out with her, another friend steps in to replace the one she was snooty with. She doesn't even blame anyone; not Deborah, not Kiernan, not her daughter's friends who knew all about Creepy, not her son who knew about Creepy staying in the garage. In the end, she prays that her son gets a wife who's nice, who's like herself, a good mother. It must be nice to have such certainty about oneself.

*Sigh*, I did go off on a rant after all.(less)

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Sep 28, 2012 Pat Scanlon added it · review of another edition

Terrifying as a reader to think how you would survive the loss of a child:

In this breathtaking and beautiful novel, the #1 New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.

Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Cari...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This is a novel about an ordinary family that forever is changed by an unspeakable tragedy. The protagonist, Mary Beth Latham, is a wife and mother of three. Her life is hectic; she craves mornings, “the only time [she] can rest without sleeping, think without deciding, speak and hear [her] own voice.” Mary Beth is ordinary, “the sharp edges of youth ground down by life.” She believes that her family, marriage, and life will stay routine and ordinary, safely secured by the love and sacrifice sh...more

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Sep 15, 2012 None rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Trite. Manipulative. Infuriating. Anna Quindlen is a good writer and comes up with a ridiculous story in order ( I think) to reflect on the intricate nature and imbalances inherent in friendships between mothers of children who are friends in a small idyllic town. The story uses the murders of three people to show what a super fabulous woman Mary Beth ( the protagOnist is and how everyone in town just cant stand to be near her absolute perfection.

It seems as if Mary Beth enjoys collecting friend...more Trite. Manipulative. Infuriating. Anna Quindlen is a good writer and comes up with a ridiculous story in order ( I think) to reflect on the intricate nature and imbalances inherent in friendships between mothers of children who are friends in a small idyllic town. The story uses the murders of three people to show what a super fabulous woman Mary Beth ( the protagOnist is and how everyone in town just cant stand to be near her absolute perfection.

It seems as if Mary Beth enjoys collecting friends who make her feel better about herself, places them
In neat little boxes so she can pity or manipulate them, and then treat them
as if they were simpletons when they call her on her BS. When Kieran ( who gies from troubled kid to complete psycho in 3 minutes) murders her entire family except conveniently, the golden boy- we are supposed to just nod sadly about how we saw this coming because his mom was such a loser and could never be as fab as MB.

I am rewriting this story to give poor Kieran a break- he goes off to a " big state school"= failure in Quindlan's self centered life- and then does really really well because he has had to fend and advocate for him self for years. He does fantasize about killing the family but doesnt and insteads goes off to law school in the Midwest, marries a lovely girl from a nice family, comes for a visit in his SUV w/ Illinois plates and blond toddlers and truly gets even. By succeeding despite the insistence that he was a loser and therfir not worthy. By telling these pretentious a-holes that happy families don't follow one linear model and that who you were as a child of an angry mother living in constant comparison to someone who was truly the wosr friend imaginable does not doom you to failure. It can propell you out into the world and to success.

There worst part of this novel was the creepy climax- not the conveniently obscured murders- Quindlen shies from describing them at all, choosing to focus on the inadequate reactions of this self centered woman's strange friends- but the fact that an angelic therapist tells her it's ok to cry! In fact that's all she needed- to express her emotions because that's what's wrong with suburbia! No emotions! F off Quindlen. This is such nonsense. Mary Betb is an unsympathetic character who we never feel got and her friends come across as the biggest group of losers immaginsble. Quindlen almost acknowledges this when she has MB fantasize about moving away to NYC. I can forgive the pretension that only in NYC would she be able to find intellectual and emotional equals, if it weren't for the fact that she can not seem to fathom the die that there might be communities just like her own filled with people who wouldn't envy or pity her- but MB decides for all the false pretense of anonymity she likes being superior so she will stay put.

I keep hoping someone more insightful will start writing novels like Quindlan's does without it having tp be actual literature a la Jonathan Franzen and this piece of s$&@ has gotten me so inspired. (less)

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Jun 21, 2012 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first half of Every Last One by Anna Quindlen follows an ordinary suburban family in the mundane routine of their everyday life. Mary Beth Latham is the narrator. She runs a landscaping business and is the wife of Glen, an ophthalmologist. Most importantly, however, she is the doting mother of seventeen year old Ruby, and fourteen year old twins, Max and Alex. When Ruby breaks up with her long-time boyfriend, Kirenan, Mary Beth is concerned, but she is much more focused on the depression of...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Dale Harcombe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I saw an Anna Quindlen book in the library recently I pounced on it. I read One True Thing years ago and found it to be one of the most honest accounts of living with and caring for a close family member who has cancer. Since then I have read several other Anna Quindlen books and found them all interesting reading.

I deliberately left this new book till last in my pile of reading, because I knew once I opened it I would want to keep reading and often, after having read a good book, others pa...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-struggles

In this breathtaking and beautiful novel, the #1 New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.

Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so,...more

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May 22, 2012 Heidi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

Without giving too much away:

The story is being told by the character of Mary Beth Latham, a happily married mother of three teenagers , whose central role in life revolves around her family and keeping her children safe. Being a mother is not an easy job. Mary Beth incessantly worries about her son Max, always quieter and more troubled than his twin brother Alex, when he becomes withdrawn and depressed, and about her vibrant and talented daughter Ruby, who has finally recovered from an eating d...more Without giving too much away:

The story is being told by the character of Mary Beth Latham, a happily married mother of three teenagers , whose central role in life revolves around her family and keeping her children safe. Being a mother is not an easy job. Mary Beth incessantly worries about her son Max, always quieter and more troubled than his twin brother Alex, when he becomes withdrawn and depressed, and about her vibrant and talented daughter Ruby, who has finally recovered from an eating disorder but is now in the process of splitting with her long-term boyfriend Kiernan. When Mary Beth's life is turned upside down by a tragic event she must pick up the pieces and keep going as best as she can for the sake of her family.

There were parts of the book I really enjoyed and some that I didn't. Firstly, about half of the book is spent describing Mary Beth's life as a mum, the often mundane routines of cooking, shopping, kids' sports and agonising over little family dramas. Having teenage children myself I could relate to the author's descriptions and observations, and Mary Beth seemed genuine and believable, but I admit I got a bit bored and was waiting for something to happen - anything!

When something did finally happen, it came out of nowhere for me (because I had the ebook I had not read the jacket description or any reviews) and was duly shocking and awe inspiring. Not wanting to put in any spoilers, the event turns Mary Beth's life upside down in a way no mother would ever want to imagine.

Despite the author's very astute observations of the aftermath of tragedy and how people cope, there was something missing for me in the second part of the book, which I cannot quite put my finger on. I do believe that we all deal differently with tragedy, but Mary Beth does so too smoothly somehow, too seamlessly fitting into her new life, considering that her whole identity had been built around her perfect family. One family secret which comes to light in the later part of the book also seems totally out of character, and did not need to be there.

Anyhow, I loved the author's descriptive writing style and vibrant dialogue, which kept me reading on to the end and which made the characters real and believable. Though the novel did not quite live up to its full potential, it was a more or less enjoyable read, giving insights into modern family life.(less)

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Mar 28, 2012 Carre rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To be honest, I'm torn between whether I should award this book 3 stars or 4. The two halves of it are almost like two different books. The first half is slow-ish; ordinary. The main character, Mary Beth Latham begins the book by lamenting the predictability of her life, and that's exactly what the first half is about: everyday life in the Latham family. Three teenagers, each with his or her own teenage problems; a good marriage that has dulled around the edges; small concerns at work and among...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Florinda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"This is my life: The alarm goes off at five-thirty with the murmuring of a public-radio announcer, telling me that there has been a coup in Chad, a tornado in Texas. My husband stirs briefly next to me, turns over, blinks, and falls back to sleep for another hour. My robe lies at the foot of the bed, printed cotton in the summer, tufted chenille for the cold. The coffeemaker comes on in the kitchen below as I leave the bathroom, go downstairs in bare feet, pause to put away a pair of boots left...more "This is my life: The alarm goes off at five-thirty with the murmuring of a public-radio announcer, telling me that there has been a coup in Chad, a tornado in Texas. My husband stirs briefly next to me, turns over, blinks, and falls back to sleep for another hour. My robe lies at the foot of the bed, printed cotton in the summer, tufted chenille for the cold. The coffeemaker comes on in the kitchen below as I leave the bathroom, go downstairs in bare feet, pause to put away a pair of boots left splayed in the downstairs back hallway and to lift the newspaper from the back step."

The opening lines quoted above exemplify one of the notable qualities of Anna Quindlen's novel Every Last One - the details, every last one. The author uses the proverbial thousand words, and then some, to create a fully realized picture of the day-to-day life of the Latham family - mom and business owner Mary Beth, doctor dad Glen, and their three busy teenagers, daughter Ruby and fraternal-twin sons Alex and Max. The Latham house is a second home to many of their children's friends as well, particularly Ruby's. The family has its issues, but for the most part they're close-knit, functional, and weren't at all difficult for me to understand and relate to. They're so everyday, in fact, you might begin to wonder why they even merit a story.

I'd read a few reviews of Every Last One before I read the book, and I knew something happened partway through that turned the story on its head, but I didn't know the details - and I won't spoil you with them, either. I tried to anticipate and guess what would happen, though; I was wrong - and utterly stunned. But what didn't change from that point on was Quindlen's focus on the details, as she continued to build and develop her characters and make their situation feel convincing and real.

It feels like a lot of the books I read specifically for review are first and second novels, but when I choose books for myself I have many favorites I like to come back to, and I appreciate being brought through a story by a seasoned pro. For my money, this is Quindlen's best novel in some time, and may turn out to be among the best fiction I read this year - the story was riveting, I cared about the characters, and the writing was accomplished and somehow unobtrusive at the same time. I read almost two-thirds of this on an airplane; while it's probably the opposite of "escapist" fiction, it's excellent vacation reading.(less)

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About Anna Quindlen

Anna Quindlen is an American journalist and opinion columnist whose New York Times column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992.

She began her journalism career in 1974 as a reporter with The New York Post. Between 1977 and 1994 she held several posts at the New York Times. She left journalism in 1995 to become a full-time novelist. She currently writes a bi-weekly colu...more

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“Here is one of the worst things about having someone you love die: It happens again every single morning.” — 49 people liked it

“Sometimes I remind myself that I almost skipped the party, that I almost went to a different college, that the whim of a minute could have changed everything and everyone. Our lives, so settled, so specific, are built on happenstance.” — 18 people liked it

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