First she introduces a vast array of characters: Mary Beth’s husband Glen, children Ruby and Alex and Max (these last two fraternal twins), Ruby’s friends Sarah and Rachel and Kiernan, Mary Beth’s friends Alice and Nancy and Olivia. Quindlen takes her time getting to that point, though. When “This is my life” serves as a book’s opening salvo, it’s a safe bet that that life is going to change. To her credit, the author avoids the obvious snares and manages to tell a compelling, emotionally charged story. It’s an ambitious book that sets out to talk about important things using big ingredients-family, love, death, redemption. “This is my life,” she announces in the very first sentence of Every Last One, a novel by Anna Quindlen ( Rise and Shine, One True Thing) that’s part domestic drama, part domestic hell. Mary Beth Latham is a devoted mother of three, a loving wife, the successful owner of a Vermont landscaping business who worries a bit, but not too much, about her employees.
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