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Sto caricando le informazioni... Every Last One: A Novel (edizione 2010)di Anna Quindlen (Autore)
Informazioni sull'operaEvery Last One di Anna Quindlen
Family Drama (3) Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Family Audiobook version from Audible.com, read by Hope Davis. This was my first experience with Anna Quindlen's work, and I chose to listen to this book on the strength of the user reviews. It did not disappoint. It has been a long time since I've become so immersed in the emotions of a story that I completely lost my sense of the real world around me. I found myself standing completely still, crying in the middle of a room with my headphones on and no idea how much time had passed. Hope Davis does a fine job reading the story - I found her pacing and emotion fit the main character's voice very well, but I did have some difficulty distinguishing between the voices of minor characters. I highly recommend this audiobook. Mary Beth Latham, who runs a landscaping business, and her eye-doctor husband Glen are the parents of 14-year-old twins Alex and Max and 17-year-old Ruby. The first half of the story is Mary Beth’s biased narration of her family’s life. She's the first to admit that her marriage to dull but decent (her word, not mine), Glen, continues on slow burn. Son Alex, the soccer star, is popular in his own way as is self-confident Ruby, who is finally past her bout of anorexia. Only Max, geeky and socially awkward, seems to still be struggling, although he does seem to like his therapist who specializes in twins and is a twin himself. His only friend is Ruby’s boyfriend, Kiernan. Ruby is sure that she has outgrown Kiernan, but he continues to hang around her house "mooning" over her and adopting her family as his surrogate family since his own parents’ have had a nasty divorce. Mary Beth handles small business crises and her Mexican workman. That could be another story by itself. She and her friends commiserate over their children, in not quite believable language...but not much is said about their marriages, Kiernan, has mental problems that Mary Beth has either missed or simply ignored, although they’ll seem glaringly apparent to the reader. She goes berserk and commits a horrendous act of violence against Mary Beth’s family and only Mary Beth and Alex survive, and the remainder of the book details their road to emotional recovery. Unfortunately, while Anna Quindlen’s a pro at writing of the life of a woman like Mary Beth, the actual plot is hard to believe. The murders are obviously meant to shock.... and they do. Mary Beth’s guilt over a brief affair she had with Kiernan’s womanizing dad years ago just doesn't ring true. The outpouring of support she receives from friends and family is just too sweet and much too redemptive. I didn't hate the story, and I have really liked other books by this author, but this one seemed to be an unsatisfying mix of melodrama and the mundane. Three stars for old times sake. 3.5 Stars CW: Well that was a book of two halves. It's not a spoiler to say that something shocking and violent occurs around the midway point and that the trajectory of the characters lives changes significantly. Whilst I was at no point bored during the first section it was essentially a recount of the day to day lives of this unremarkable family. We learn about the challenges facing some of them and the dynamics between the people in their orbit. Then wham! Everything changes. At first I was glued to the pages following the incident but then the story stretched on a bit and I felt worn down by the emotions. It was still a compelling read though. This was a great exploration of grief after tragedy and I thought the characters felt authentic and relatable.
From reading the summary of this book, I knew that something 'horrible' happens so to be honest, I was waiting for it and started each chapter with a slight anticipation. This likely skewed the beginning of the book for me because I found the pages until 'the event' too descriptive and too... boring, for lack of better word. Once the 'shocking act of violence' took place, the book did a 180 degree turn for me. I began to turn each page with a new vigor and couldn't wait to read what would happen next. As a parent, this was a hard read. The images of the children in the book had the face of my son and as a result, I spent a good part of the book with tears in my eyes. Have you ever tried to read a book with tears in your eyes? It's not very easy. However, I have to say that if a book can make you cry, it has to be well written. To be able to relate to it on such a personal level is a sure sign that the autor, Anna Quindlen, researched her topic well and knew how to relate to her readers. Overall, I feel that this book should be added to the 'to be read' list for most women but especially mothers. It really does make you look at your life and appreciate what you have while you have it right in front of you. Taking each day as it comes and not looking too far in the future! This is Quindlen's sixth novel, and she knows how to build the armature of a story. Yet even as the Lathams become tenderly real to us, Quindlen fails to develop the necessary narrative urgency. Each of Quindlen's characters -- kids, friends, neighbors and relatives -- seems real, and each could conceivably be the victim or perpetrator of the domestic dramas that lie ahead. Premi e riconoscimentiMenzioni
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, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Già recensito in anteprima su LibraryThingIl libro di Anna Quindlen Every Last One è stato disponibile in LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
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