Book Review: "Every Last One" by Anna Quindlen

As mothers, there are times when we focus the most on the child in our family that needs the greatest amount of  help or attention at that moment in time.  As we do this, sometimes our vision becomes clouded to see what is happening with the rest of our family members and their needs can become secondary. In this new release from New York Times best selling author Anna Quindlen, we are invited into the lives of the Latham family. A typical suburban family with three children, a beautiful and unique teenage daughter, and two twin sons just about to enter high school who could not be more different from another. Told from the perspective of the matriarch of the family Mary Beth, the story reveals the worry and struggles she faces while trying to help one of her twin boys that has become depressed and withdrawn. While all of her attention is aimed at him, a shocking and tragic event happens that completely changes every last bit of her life.

Maybe it is because I now have twin sons of my own, but this book drew me in and really tugged at my heart. I felt for Mary Beth as her and her husband walked a fine line of praising and congratulating one twin on their accomplishments, while the other struggled and felt like the misfit of the family. There is also a part of the book that focused on the older daughter and her boyfriend, and not just their relationship but the boyfriend's relationship with the family. The sympathy Mary Beth feels for her daughter's boyfriend because of his past makes the lines blur a bit on what starts to be inappropriate behavior and signs that something bad could occur. As a reader, I could see the signs and think to myself, "how as this girls mother can you not see what is happening?" But I think that is an important element of this book, that sometimes we try to see the best in people and think that we can help them when we truly can't and that we choose to see what we want to see.

Mary Beth Latham had to face every last one of the things she feared most and was forced to set out on a path that she never intended to travel to discover if there really can be happiness after tragedy strikes at the heart of everything you held dear. Can you create a new and fulfilling life? Can your heart begin to heal? Will your new life ever feel normal? Ultimately, "Every Last One" tells the story of how the effect of small and simple acts can have the ripple effect to make the most dramatic changes we never saw coming, but how with determination and hope there is a new life to discover where happiness awaits if we let it.

Overall rating:

4 out of 5 bookmarks