Book Review: Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

A Modern Day Story of a Family - Tragedy Included

In the beginning Mary Beth's life seems almost perfect, albeit a little boring. She is a suburban housewife with an ophthalmologist husband and a life that is set on a schedule. For a hobby, she has a job doing landscaping but for the most part it's all about keeping the family together. There are little problems and hiccups along the way. Mary Beth reflects on the bout of anorexia her daughter had but it seems to be in the past. One of the twin boys seems to be antisocial and needs to see a therapist.

There is a tension you feel even at the beginning of this book that made me feel like something very bad was going to happen as the tension built and it did. The second half of the book focuses on the survivors and how they go on when everything seems to be lost. A family is shattered and those that are left have to find a new definition of family.

This was a hard book to read but it was well written. I can't say I would have picked it if I knew going in what was going to happen but in the end it was a very good story.