Book Review - Mrs. Everything, Jennifer Weiner

My reason for posting a book review here is simply because I think that all the women I know, my age, would be as moved by this book as I was.

My online review elsewhere read:

Right now, I want to sit down with Jennifer Weiner, look her in the eye, and tell her 100 things. I want to take her hand, to make sure she hears what I say, and tell her how she captured my growing up era. I'm a baby boomer; we all have stories we want to share, and we all think our stories are the most important. Maybe they are.

I finished this book not five minutes ago. The tears aren't dry yet. I don't do a book synopsis but let me just say, this covers it all, from the perspective of two (fictional) sisters just a titch older than I. It's simply but extraordinarily well done. It's been four years since the last Weiner book, and I can see why. This has to be a true labor of love.

To Jennifer Weiner - I know I can't take you by the hand and tell you my 100 stories, so let me just say this, as simply but deeply as I can... thank you.

The depiction of drug use, as well as sexual abuse will be hard for some readers. I had to power through a couple spots; it was so worth the effort. 

It is also notable that my daughter - daughter of a baby boomer - was equally moved by this book.  Here is part of what she said about it:

"This book was exquisite.  I have so many feelings, and just cannot seem to find the words for them.  My mother grew up in the same generation as the main characters of the story, and I feel like Jennifer Weiner did such an amazing job of capturing that era.  I feel like I have a better understanding of my own mother, who I have always been very close to, her struggles, what it was like to be a child of the 60s, with Depression Erar parents and societal expectations pushing her one way, while movements, peers, and the world seemed to be pushing another."

Looks like my daughter is a better reviewer than I!  Also, just in case others are as slow on the uptake as I am, I read an interview with Jennifer Weiner, which caused me to take a closer look at the title.  It's more significant than I realized, because of the pun...  Mrs. Everything, OR "misses everything."

Thanks to Net Galley, and the publisher, Simon & Schuster for the Advance Reader Copy.  I also purchased a final edition, because this one is worth owning.