“We lose ourselves,” she repeated, forming each word with care, “but we find our way back.”

This was a good but all encompassing story. It spans quite a time and the twists and turns of children to adults to having their own children. It's a long story with drama and tears, love and laughter. I liked getting to know the sisters so it was tough as they struggled and strained their relationship with each other and others. It was sweet at times and realistic about some of the realities of women having daughters and turning their own struggles into strength to empower their daughters (or at least hoping to do that). I enjoyed this one. ( )

Hmmm....I am going to go with 4 ⭐️’s but there were moments of 2 all the way to 5, so this is a tough one for me to rate!

I went in for a fun, easy read...what I have found Jennifer Weiner to have given me in previous reads. But nope. Not that. Not bad, just not that.

The subject matter made me really uncomfortable at various stages throughout the book; it got hard for me to read at times, but yet I was interested and invested in the characters. I wanted to know how life was going to turn out. I wanted to see them grow. I wanted to see them support one another and learn from one another. I wanted to learn the lessons with them.

How in the world was the author going to end this story in a way that I would feel content with? I still wasn’t even sure if I liked the book yet!

I shouldn’t have questioned JW. She is good. She ended it in the way it exactly needed to end. My stomach feels anxious and sad and content all at once...and I’m ok with that.

But back to the fun, easy read...it was not that. ( )

Every woman should read this book. The common experience in this world is staggering. ( )

4.5 stars

Either Jennifer Weiner's writing has evolved, or I have a very faulty recollection of the impressiveness of her earlier work.

I read a few of Weiner's books year ago, and in my mind I had lumped them into the "chick lit" category -- enjoyable, but not necessarily profound or memorable. "Mrs. Everything" delivers a thoughtful and emotional punch as it shares the stories of several women -- and in particular, two sisters -- over the course of several decades. Weiner's characters have depth and are believable as she uses them to explore what it means to be a woman -- the love, the heartbreak, the compromises, the disappointment, and the redemption.

If you're looking for a page-turner with substance, look no further.

Thank you to Atria Books for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I love many of Jennifer Weiner's books, but this one is truly a tour de force. Told through the perspectives of two sisters, the narrative spans 50 years and lets us experience the lifetimes of joys, sorrows, good and bad decisions, and family dynamics of Jo and Bethie. ( )

A family saga based on the lives of 2 sisters, Jo and Bethie. (In reading reviews, I realized these are names of 2 of the sisters in Little Women!) They cannot be more different as children, or growing up. Chapters focus alternately on each sister. It's interesting how they weave in and out of each others' lives, and also how at different times they each seem to be leading the kind of life you would expect the other sister to live. What I really enjoyed was that the focus is on women. The men in the story are secondary characters, almost props. I also like the significance of the title, that the woman who tries to please everyone "misses everything."
What I didn't love is the way some years in their lives are covered in great, meticulous detail, while other years, particularly toward the end, are rushed over, almost like the author was in a hurry to finish the book. ( )

I guess I’m more of a prude than I’d thought. Sex as the motivation of life adventures doesn’t resonate with me. ( )

I can't remember reading the one other Weiner book I've read, so I went in with very low expectations here and was pleasantly surprised by how feminist of a book this was. Maybe I should have gathered from the title. Beautifully plotted, with characters I was invested in throughout the whole book. ( )

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiOiTv7Dfm-/

Jennifer Weiner - Mrs. Everything: A surprisingly engaging, heartfelt and meaningful novel. (Also that title ain’t half-bad either.) #cursorybookreviews #cursoryreviews ( )

Didn’t finish. Couldn’t get into the story line. Book moved too slow for me. ( )

Ok, but I felt like the author was checking off a list of women’s history milestones, rather than telling a compelling story. I finished it quickly because I just wanted it to be over.

This is probably the last book I’ll read by Jennifer Weiner. ( )

I listened to this audiobook which had two narrators. That worked well as there are two sisters who are quite different so they really needed different voices.

The two sisters are Jo and Bethie Kaufman. Their father died when they were quite young and their mother struggles to make ends meet which means the girls are quite often left on their own. Jo realizes that she is attracted to girls, not boys, while still in school and she has a relationship with a friend in high school. Bethie is more feminine but struggles with her weight and body issues. While Jo caves in to societal pressures to get married and have children, Bethie becomes involved with drugs and the alternate lifestyles of the 60s. When Jo is living in suburbia, Bethie is living in a commune. They care for each other but sometimes can't understand how the other thinks. As time passes each of them accepts their own realities and they each find a satisfying relationship. They even come to terms with their mother before she dies.

It wasn't until I read some online reviews that I realized that the two sisters share the names of two of the sisters in Little Women. To me, that's all they share in common but I suppose that if Little Women had been written in the 21st century it might have turned out to have some similarities to this book. ( )

At first I thought this book was a bit of a soap opera but it grew on me and the ending was lovely-so redeeming that I had to give it 4 stars. ( )

The author dipped her toe in the water of complex emotional writing, but in the end it didn't ring true enough for me. I did enjoy the references to mid-century Detroit, and appreciated the exploration of sexual identity. ( )

This started as an enjoyable Anne Tyler-esque nostalgic family saga about two Jewish sisters growing up Detroit in the 1950s and then growing apart after the death of their father. Jo, the eldest daughter, is the fearless 'tomboy' who disappoints her mother but dotes on her dad, while Bethie is the younger, prettier all-American 'good girl' of the pair, destined for the 1950s vision of feminine success - getting married and starting a family. Jo is not so keen, developing crushes on the girls at school instead. And then, with the heartbreaking discovery that their loving, forgiving father has dropped dead in the bathroom, life starts to fall apart.

There is a lot of flip-flopping of fortune in the girls' lives - Bethie hits rock bottom after two incidents of abuse and Jo's own quest for adventure is brought to a halt when she comes to her sister's aid. Settling for a life - or living death - in suburbia that I wasn't expecting from such a vital character, even in the 1970s, Jo's life then appears to be settled while Bethie joins a commune out of desperation to start again. Then suddenly Bethie is wealthy and happily married and Jo's life comes unstitched at the seams (although I was pleased that she was finally free once again). I enjoyed reading about the sisters' lives more than the second generation, who all seemed rather clichéd - and Lila just plain obnoxious - but did feel like I got to know and sympathise/empathise with the whole cast, over a timeline of fifty or so years. Jo was the stronger sister for me, until she gave into marriage and motherhood for an easy life, but Bethie is also wonderfully resilient: “We lose ourselves,” she repeated, forming each word with care, “but we find our way back.”

And the title, in case anyone is wondering (like I was), is a sort of pun explained by Lila - 'Mrs Everything' 'misses everything'. ( )

It’s been about a decade since I’ve last read a book by Jennifer Weiner. No particular reason, she’s just one of many “casualties” in my ever expanding To Be Read list. But I am so happy that I was able to read this book, and once again be introduced to this author’s voice.
We are introduced to the Kaufman sisters, Jo and Beth. Jo is a rebellious tomboy who much prefers sports over dolls, and her little sister Beth enjoys dressing up and doing what she is told. They come of age in the mid 1950s in Detroit, a tumultuous time in our nations history. Segregation is still legal, and women are conditioned to remain at home rather than the workplace. As someone who grew up a state over in Ohio, reading about certain city landmarks and midwestern ideals really centered the story for me. Jo and Beth’s parents are hardworking Jewish immigrants, who try to install their same values in their daughters. But like many families, oftentimes the ideals of the parents and their children tend to clash.⁣
I don’t want to give too much more about this story away. It’s a sweeping family saga, and we follow the Kaufman sisters as they grow up, decade to decade, experiencing the changing of the times and how events of the past affect the events of their futures. It’s beautifully written, and heartbreakingly realistic. As an older sister, I could more than relate to each Kaufman sister in their feelings towards one another: the envy, the hope, the fear that some siblings share. ( )

Good, but predictable. ( )

I finished Mrs. Everything last night and it was incredible. I loved the relationships and the amazing (and sometimes painful)issues that were covered. Weiners writing is always so relatable and raw and she is just such a gifted storyteller.

Mrs. Everything covers the life of two sisters, Jo and Bethie, as they struggle to find their place and identity in an ever-changing America. This would make an amazing book club discussion and I can't wait to discuss further as we get closer to it's June publication date.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Mrs. Everything is the highly anticipated release from women’s literature legend, Jennifer Weiner. Mrs. Everything covers the life of two sisters, Jo and Bethie, as they struggle to find their place and identity in an ever-changing America.

Weiner’s ability to transport you to a totally different time and place makes this book so engrossing There is a Judy Blume vibe in her writing that brought me right back to one of my very favorite adolescent reading favorites, Are You There God It’s Me, Margaret.

I loved the relationships and the powerful(and sometimes painful)issues that were covered. Weiners writing is always so relatable and raw and she is just such a gifted storyteller. If you are looking for a book that will inspire a great conversation with a reading friend, or are looking for your next book club pick, this is it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I first read Jennifer Weiner's Good in Bed many years ago and enjoyed it a lot. I have read some (but not all) of her books since then and have mostly liked them too. So when I saw that this was billed as being her most ambitious book, a sprawling family saga about sisters, I was excited to read it. In retrospect, the title really tells you everything you need to know about this book: it's going to be about absolutely everything, which turned out to be just a bit too much.

Jo and Bethie Kaufman live in 1950s Detroit. Jo is a rebellious tomboy while Bethie is the pretty, compliant sister, at least at first. But they are growing up as the country is changing and they change and grow too. Spanning from the 1950s to 2015, this novel is a microcosm of the changing societal expectations of women neatly wrapped up in the characters of these two sisters. Framed by a 2015 narrative that signals to the reader where Jo is in her life now, the story goes back to 1950 to move through the decades, following Jo in her relationship with her mother, especially after the death of her father, her time at college, her wish to live an authentic life that gets squashed with her marriage, her own motherhood, and more. Jo is stifled in her life, by her mother's expectations, by her husband's expectations, by society's expectations, and most importantly her own vision of what her life should look like. Meanwhile, Bethie is growing up too, feeling abandoned by her sister when she needs her most, changing from the picture perfect child into a free spirited hippie drifting through her life until she finally finds safe harbor. Each sister's road twists and turns echoing the growing pains of the nation.

There is a lot of change in the years between 1950 and 2015 and this novel touches on all of them. The sisters are almost Forest Gump like in their involvement or proximity to so many of the major events of the second half of the twentieth century. And all of the social issues that have been (and continue to be) in the forefront of the nation's consciousness make their way into the women's lives as well: feminism, civil rights, illegal drugs, abuse, violence against women, eating disorders, abortion, divorce, mental illness (depression), religion, capitalism, LGBTQ, interracial marriage, immigration, and more. It's a more than 450 page book but that's still too much ground to cover even if the title warns that this will in fact encompass everything. And although there's too much crammed into the narrative, it still feels overly long and drags in places. The historical timeline is completely off and some of the facts, especially about Detroit, are not accurate, taking the reader out of the story. For me, it was the fact that Jo takes a Greyhound bus from Southfield to the camp she works at in the Upper Peninsula in the 60s in an amount of time I can personally make now, with my lead foot and a speed limit of 70-75 but which would have been impossible at the time she's doing it. Small inaccuracies like this caused me to question a lot more (and discover that this was not the only one), keeping me from ever sinking completely into the story. I wanted to love it. I wanted to appreciate the grand sweep of women's history through Jo and Bethie. I wanted to see Jo and Bethie grow and mature and be happy in their own skin, learning to embrace themselves. I wanted to be transported. But I wasn't. I just wasn't. If you read it, I hope you will be though. ( )

The story of two sisters and the paths they take from growing up in 1950’s Detroit, attending tiger games to college in Ann Arbor & protests is a fascinating look at the roles women play in all the relationships. The two sisters are often at odds with each other as they face all the struggles life throws at them, only to come together to support one another in unlikely ways when tragedy strikes.
You will laugh, cry and want to embrace the sisters as this absolutely absorbing family saga unfolds. ( )

The story of two sisters and the paths they take from growing up in 1950’s Detroit, attending tiger games to college in Ann Arbor & protests is a fascinating look at the roles women play in all the relationships. The two sisters are often at odds with each other as they face all the struggles life throws at them, only to come together to support one another in unlikely ways when tragedy strikes.
You will laugh, cry and want to embrace the sisters as this absolutely absorbing family saga unfolds. ( )

Meh - middle of the road women's fiction. This reminded me a lot of [b:Clock Dance|36645972|Clock Dance|Anne Tyler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530555151l/36645972._SY75_.jpg|58417089]: it follows a woman's life (well, two sisters) from midcentury through the present, focusing on her lack of fulfillment until an AHA moment when she finds her truth/purpose/etc. I guess it wasn't bad? But it didn't add anything of value for me.

(Summer reading: an audiobook.) ( )

I first discovered Jennifer Weiner when my college roommate lent me Good in Bed, so I’ve been reading Weiner for a long time now. Ok, so I didn’t love the musical-theater interlude in All Fall Down, but in general, these are great character-driven, culturally Jewish fiction, about developed characters doing their best in the face of setbacks.

Her next novel, Mrs. Everything, is a family saga, beginning with two sisters in 1950s Detroit. (But did it really begin with them, or with, Sarah, their mother? Or her mother in the old country?) In Good in Bed, and then in Certain Girls, she explored some generational themes, showing how Cannie was reflected in her daughter. In Mrs. Everything, we see family relationships grow and evolve over the years.

Big sister Jo is a tomboy, uncomfortable in the mandatory skirts and dresses. The novel opens with a reference to Jo’s wife, so I knew going in that she’d eventually find happiness in a relationship with a woman, but the path isn’t smooth. Bethie seems like the pretty, pliable daughter, but as she gets older, she discovers the men, music and drugs of the sixties. The story takes us through the twists and turns of the sisters’ lives from there. Each time a new phase started, I didn’t exactly see it coming, but I though, oh, yeah, she’d do that. Bethie living in an all-woman commune? Jo teaching fitness classes? Ok, I can see that.

I had serious hopes for Jo’s first marriage, even if Bethie didn’t. Dave seemed like a friendly neighborhood boy who liked and respected Jo, and didn’t want too much intimacy so she could keep her secret. (Also, Nonie Scotto?!?!?)

The secondary characters are so well-developed, too. There are the commune women, who don’t want to participate in capitalism by making too much money from their hugely successful homemade jams. The ex-husband who won’t pay for college, but will pay for a nose job. The immigrant against affirmative action because she worked and struggled, everyone else should too.

Near the end of the novel, Jo has her beloved wife, a mature relationship with her sister, and three daughters. When they watch Hilary Clinton in her white pantsuit, there’s such a feeling of hopefulness for women and the future. It really highlights how much has changed over the course of the novel, both for Jo and Bethie personally, and for the expectations on women. Of course, the 2016 election showed how much our country really hates successful women, so I guess that’s not quite an uplifting ending. Still, there’s a feeling that Jo’s daughters and their children, and their children will continue the story. ( )

I ordered this book from Kindle and Audible. The woman in the story is from Detroit and grows up in Detroit and lives near Southfield. It is a book about two sisters and I thought that would be great for me to read. But, it was nothing as expected. The book was very drawn out an boring and I just started it. The book discussed issues like the me too movement and lesbian relationships and Hillary Clinton winning the election, near the end. I had to stop reading and skipped to the end to see if it got any better and was disappointed. I have never stopped reading a book and returned it, until now. ( )