Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of the book. This was the first Jennifer Weiner book that I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed it and I want to go back and check out her earlier books. Oh wow!! This book broke my heart in so many ways. Jo and Bethie both took my heart and ran with it. I love how the author took their lives and took us on a journey. The sisters were so different and so much a like. They just wanted to be loved. Don’t we all just want to be loved? Sometimes I had to put down this book, and walk away. There were triggering moments, but I would come back to jump back into the lives of Jo and Bethie. I loved this book so much. It will be on my mind for a while.

Jennifer Weiner has written an amazing, intriguing, riveting, page-turning, emotional, intense, and thought-provoking novel. The Genres for this Novel are Women’s Fiction, Fiction, and Domestic Fiction. The timeline for this novel starts in the 1950s to the present in Detroit. I love the way the author describes her characters, events, and landscape in the story. The author describes her dramatic characters as complex, complicated and dysfunctional.

Several questions and themes can be seen in this novel. What exactly is a woman’s role in society? As the timeline progresses, do women have more choices and decisions to make? Can one be a better mother than their mother was to them? Will women ever be considered equal to men, in education, salary, the workplace, and the family?

I appreciate that Jennifer Weiner discusses the relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters, and domestic partnerships. Also discussed are the importance of family, love, emotional support, forgiveness, acceptance, second chances, and hope.

Jo and Beth Kaufman are brought up in the 1950s and are very different. One is considered “different” and acting too “boyish” for a girl, and the other feels that being pretty is about power. One challenges the fairness in the world, and the other is more concerned with what other people think of her. Their mother shows her disappointment and favoritism. This is a traditional time when father’s work, mother’s stay at home, and everything seems to be in black and white, with little room for areas of gray.

As the years pass, and things seem to get “more” modern, there are more confusing choices and decisions for women. That area that was black and white, has expanded with more gray. Do women have to get married and have children if they don’t want to? Can women work and have a family? I highly recommend and reflect on this amazing book. I still have a book-hangover and am deep in thought!! Kudos, Jennifer Weiner for such a well-written and descriptive book!




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PUBLISHED BY LINDASBOOKOBSESSION

Rating: 4.0/5.0

"We lose ourselves, but we find our way back"

Mrs. Everything is the story of two sisters from their childhood until their old age. We follow Josette (Jo) & Elizabeth (Bethie) through their lives, their happiness, hardships, and sadness. The time frame ranges from the 1950s until 2022.

Pros:
- The book tackles many important issues concerning minorities like race, religion and sexual orientation. How family should stand with & support sexual harassment victims. Be warned there is also rape & drug use.
- I loved the relationship between the two sisters and how they were there for each other. The two girls/women were always in a balance situation. When one of them was down the other was up and ready to pull her out from the slump.
- The tale spans over a long period & the author did a great job in showing how the characters matured over time. There is no good or bad here, no hero or villain, just normal people who screw up their own lives and then try to fix things up themselves or by the help of others.

Cons:
- I felt that there was not much balance between the narration and dialogue. The narration was a lot longer and even when there is a dialogue you will find a big narration paragraph between two lines of dialogue, that takes your mind out of it. I feel this was excessive a bit. It made me focus less when there was an important dialogue between the different characters.

Final Thought:
Mrs. Everything is an excellent book that has both enjoyment and substance as well. I give it a solid four stars out of five. Grab it when it is out on June 11th 2019.
Many thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an ARC copy of the book and this is my honest unbiased review.

The times, they were a changing…
Author Jennifer Weiner takes her readers through the tumultuous changes in the 1950s through the 1970s and beyond. Many reviewers are touting this book as every woman's book; by including just about every injustice and situation any woman could have experienced, it makes women want to rally. In addition to covering a myriad of women’s issues, it is a detailed work of {recent} historical fiction that your history class didn't cover.

Even though I didn’t feel overly connected to any of the characters, I was engaged with the story and felt the characters sacrifices and losses. Much of Jo and Bethie’s young lives are constrained by social mores. As Bethie and Jo mature, they get involved in various social issues of their times, but hypocritically, they hold their mother in disdain without a thought of the socio-political challenges she faced and how they influenced her. The lives of the next generation of sisters-- Kim, Melissa and Lila—are defined more by their choices. Each of the next-generation-sisters' lives reflects a different path—having it all, choosing career over family, and wanting only to be a mother. Just as Bethie and Jo didn't appreciate the prior generation's challenges, Kim, Melissa, and Lila do not appreciate the challenges of the prior generation or how they benefit from the many advances their mother's generation.

In general, the writing is good and the attention to detail regarding everything from products and clothes to attitudes and language is perfect. Ms. Wiener fairly portrays the social and political turmoil of the decades as well. I appreciated the detailed research and Ms. Weiner’s inclusion of so much pop culture—from Prell shampoo to Jane Fonda’s workout videos; however, I felt the author tried too hard to include everything in her latest novel. Granted that period of time was chock full of events and fads, but Bethie and Jo experiencing every possible woman’s issue during the decades covered in this novel was too much for me. If some of it could have happened to friends not just the sisters, it might have been more palatable.

Readers who love to be immersed in a period and/or who like socio-political novels will love Mrs. Everything. Ms. Weiner covers corporal punishment, unwanted sexual advances toward a child, closet homosexuality, drug use and peddling, rape, the rebirthing phenomenon, interracial relationships, equal rights protests, women’s liberation, abortion, and even #metoo. I’ve probably left some issues out, and all of that is on top of all the iconic pop culture included.

Mrs. Everything is a fantastically detailed and well-written book of history and women’s history over several decades, and it is well worth the read for young women. They might appreciate how much has changed and how much they benefit from the women who pushed for those changes. More mature women will appreciate the trip down memory lane, perhaps seeing with fresh eyes all that they and their mothers lived through.

Genre: Literary Fiction/Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Atria Book (Simon & Schuster)
Pub. Date: June 11, 2019

This multigenerational novel spans the 1940s to the present. The weight of the novel is devoted to how women’s roles in society have changed and yet remained the same over the decades. The author states in her prologue that after the 2016 election she wanted to write about a woman like her mother. A woman, who married, had children, divorced, fell in love with another woman and married her. This reviewer applauds Weiner for her honesty and ambitious effort. The novel takes on many issues: ethnicity, race, bias, class, religion, sexual assault. Most of all, the relationships between mothers, daughters, and sisters—shades of “Little Women.” The reader will go through the civil rights movement to the #MeToo movement. Fittingly, Weiner tries to work everything into “Mrs. Everything,” but the result often feels bloated with detail and explanation. Overkill.

The novel is narrated by two sisters, Jo and Bethie. The reader will follow them from their childhoods until they are senior citizens. Jo is a tomboy. She prefers playing sports rather than with dolls. Her choice of clothing is masculine. Bethie is content with being pretty, loving all things girlie, and being her mother’s favorite. The family is Jewish, and the parents’ immigration, due to persecution in Europe, plays a large role in the novel. The religious and cultural parts of their lives did not read like overkill. Weiner manages to ‘show’ their heritage, rather than ‘telling’ it. Meaning it doesn’t feel jammed in. If all 500 pages were written in this manner, the book may have become a classic as well as a (probable) bestseller.

Sometimes Weiner seems to struggle with making her characters' arcs believable, or how the story's developments can feel forced, at times, by the author's desire to subvert expectations. (Spoiler: In the early 1970s, Beth will find drugs in college, drops out, and worst of all, for her mother, Beth gets fat.) Since Joe marries and has children she now becomes the apple of her mother’s eye. This is hard to swallow because the mother is cringe-worthy cruel towards Jo as she was growing up. The mom always guessed Jo’s sexuality and couldn’t make peace with it.

Oddly, with so much packed into the story, it is still a fast read. The novel is marketed as Literary Fiction/Women’s Fiction. It is really more Women’s Fiction—good women’s fiction, well researched. If you enjoy the genre you may feel this critique is too hard on the author. Indeed, there are parts in this sweeping saga where Weiner nails women’s personal struggles spot on. She especially shines when writing about sexual assault or how hard it can be for females to like their bodies or simply like themselves for who they are. Her book has a very important message. If you can get through the information overload, it is worth the read.

loved this book. so fast and an easy read! loved it as much as all her other books. loved the characters. the dynamics of the sisters. ow their characters seem to switch roles. hope she writes many more!!!

I absolutely love Jennifer Weiner and jump to consume her books in a matter of hours. Mrs. Everything is totally different from her usual Chick-Lits. That being said, I just couldn’t connect with these characters and the plot. I’m all for reading about controversial issues but not so much this read. Although the reviews were great so this tells me that maybe this one just wasn’t for me. That doesn’t mean it’s not a great read!
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Jennifer Weiner knows how to paint a vivid picture featuring engaging characters and her talents were on full display with this novel! Having grown up in Michigan, I loved how accurate her depictions of familiar landmarks and cities were. The characters were emotionally engaging; I laughed and cried with them and their struggles were very tangible. Parts of this were very sensitive and personal, but Weiner handled delicate details with respect and did not belittle her characters. I couldn't help but be pulled into Jo and Bethie's lives and stayed up late many nights to spend more time with them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC.

4.5 for bellbottoms and Beatles--but oh so much more!!

What a great surprise! I thought I was signing up for some nice-and-light chick lit, but oh, was I ever wrong! We follow two sisters, Jo and Bethie, from childhood to seniorhood. Their lives are anything but nice and light, and I got pulled in immediately. There’s drama coming out their ears, yet it’s not gratuitious, overdone, or unrealistic. Weiner, who I’ve always thought was a good writer but definitely on the light side, created a more serious and expansive story here (which was her plan, as she says in the Intro). Her storytelling chops are on full display. The plot is well paced and nearly flawless. And it’s juicily unpredictable; I loved having no idea what was going to happen next and getting slapped in the face with some dramatic, unexpected turn of events. The characters are complex and vivid, and they pressed my emote button. I even cried once!—and I’m not a crying kind of reader. Although the language isn’t jazzy, I liked how clear and smooth it is—not pretentious or convoluted. And her descriptions, they’re something else!

Women baby boomers, you MUST read this book! Down memory lane we go! And if you were in the counter-culture (especially if were wild and crazy), you will really get your mind blown. Weiner has the 1960s and 1970s down pat; I was transported! Remember putting your pajamas under the pillow when you made the bed? Remember the deep pink indentations that your garter do-hickies made on your thighs? Does Metrecal ring a bell? All these images (and hundreds more) from a long-ago past are apparently stored on the hard drive inside my skull, and it was a kick to make them dance. I had no idea they were still up there in the old noggin’, just waiting to be reactivated!

And of course, the images stirred up memories and that was when I’d daydream for a bit, taking little side trips of my own. (Maybe some of our senior ADD happens because we get distracted by our memories?) Weiner really did her homework; she’s not a baby boomer herself. You’d think she was, based on how well she understands that time period. I’m betting her mom was the key source, as Weiner mentions her in the Intro and it seems that the story is loosely based on her life.

So yes, the descriptions are out of this world. I usually whine relentlessly about writers’ detail-itis, but here, I’m not poo-pahing it one bit. I was glued to the page. I couldn’t take my eyes off any of it—the clothes, the rooms, the colors, all the spot-on pop-culture references. Weiner is one of those excellent writers who makes you feel like you’re watching a movie. Usually, a writer talking about the color of bellbottoms would annoy the hell out of me. Here, I appreciated being able to see the movie in technicolor. (I’d love it if they took this story to the big screen. They’ve made one of Weiner’s books, In Her Shoes, into a blockbuster movie, so maybe it will happen again.)

So it was the first third of the book, where Jo and Bethie were kids and teens in the 60s and 70s, that made me crazy happy. I was hopping around on my pogo stick while wearing my bellbottoms and holding a transistor radio blasting the Beatles’ “We All Live in a Yellow Submarine.” (Pretty impressive that I can hold a radio while hopping on the pogo stick, huh?) I couldn’t stop talking about the book; it was magical. I give that part of the book 10 stars, hands down.

Don’t’ worry, I’m not saying that the rest of the book was bigtime inferior; it just wasn’t as intense, and I didn’t have the memory game going so much. I still loved it.

But there was one thing that kept me from giving the book 5 stars, and it’s that the women’s lib part was too pushy. I don’t think the book needs an agenda. Sexual abuse was a topic, and Weiner handled those scenes expertly—and they got my dander up like they were supposed to. But there was a consciousness-raising scene in the early part of the book that I found embarrassing—way too cliched. I know Weiner was going for authentic, and authentic it was (women really did attend official consciousness-raising meetings). I just was bored and annoyed reading it. She could have left out the dialogue, which in its rhetoric seemed sophomoric. Later in the book, there’s more sexual politics, and it felt a little male-bashy—not terribly so, but I didn’t like it.

It was so exciting to take this long journey with the two sisters and to watch their internal turmoil. I liked how realistic the book was, and I enjoyed their complex and intense relationship. Some of their choices made me cringe, others made me sad—oh please don’t do THAT! Do you really think that’s a good idea? Don’t you see you’re messing up?! Only a great writer can make me get so wound up about characters in a book! They’re not real people, Debbie, take it easy! She also made me shut my mouth and not rail against angsty teens. You won’t hear a peep from me this time, even though there was ample angst. Maybe it’s because she made Jo and Bethie so likeable. And their angst seemed so real and justified and understandable.

There’s probably something in the book that every female can relate to—I found several things, including living with a hyper-critical mom. And of course, I identified with some of the unsavory choices made during the hippie days. And the kind of bizarro scenes that you’re thrown into, and which catch you off guard and leave you speechless and sometimes traumatized. There was at least one harrowing scene that had me by the throat and will stay with me a long time. It reminded me of the trouble you can get in when you make bad decisions in your early 20s (before your prefrontal cortex is fully developed).

There were a couple of super minor things that should have been resolved and a couple things that didn’t ring true. (For example, a character paid their bills when they went bankrupt, even though bankruptcy means you don’t have to pay your bills.) Oh, and I ran across a joke that I recently heard Jay Leno make! The writer should have referenced it as a public joke; instead, I felt Weiner was trying to pass it off as an original funny. But we’re talking picky picky picky here. This was one satisfying read.

I’m surprised that this book isn’t touted as an LGBT book, as Jo is gay. The beginning of the book chronicles her trying to come to terms with her budding sexuality; it was so well done and very intense. I really got a feel for how insanely difficult being a lesbian in the 60s and 70s would have been.

Also depicted: life in a Jewish family, sexual abuse (and its aftermath), weight issues, drugs, the good and bad of the free-love days. It made me think about the death of dreams, what people want versus what they settle for, the wandering lost souls of the young, the price of bad decisions, the loss of innocence, longing, discontent, internal conflicts.

What a book! I’m still reeling and it has been a while since I finished it. Definitely a favorite book of 2019! Grab it when it is published in June.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

In this decidedly unsentimental look back at the 70’s of her youth, and the 50’s and 60’s of her mother’s generation, Weiner writes a novel about women trying to meet expectations, and somehow find a way to find themselves in a society that is changing fast. Jo, at the center of the story, is a tomboy child, who realizes as a teenager that her attraction to other girls will put her far from the mainstream of Detroit suburbia. Her sister, Beth, on the other hand is a perfect child who waits until college to step off the well-worn track her parents expect for her. Both women make both conventional and unconventional life choices that ultimately create a family they will love and choose as they age and die.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Publishing for providing me with an ARC of Jennifer Weiner’s newest novel. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

As a long time reader, I have come to enjoy and appreciate Ms. Weiner’s artistry, humor and insight. Unfortunately this book didn’t quite work for me. This is a story of two sisters, Jo & Bethie as they navigate childhood, adulthood, motherhood and beyond. Starting in the 1950’s and ending in the present day, numerous topics are explored and covered but almost all as cliches. I found the book too long, some parts really dragged and other topics were tossed in and dealt within a single paragraph. I felt by trying to be so ambitious and relevant, Jennifer Weiner overplayed her hand.

I’ve seen many glowing reviews for this novel, which leads me to believe that perhaps my reading tastes have changed and my expectations are unfair. If you are looking for an encompassing fully charged story, covering a host of hotbed topics like feminism, race, religion, sexual orientation, assault, and illness this book will definitely keep you turning the pages.

I did enjoy this book, but I feel like it could have used more depth. I feel like the characters could have gone a little deeper, it read like a timeline as opposed to a sweeping narrative. Not as good as her other ones.

What a wild ride......This is a book that covers many complex topics; relationships, sex, drugs, marriage you name it.
We meet 2 sisters, polar opposites and travel thru their lives with them. Over the span of about 70 years we learn about their love and their bond.
Great character development!!! Love these 2 sisters!

Completely engrossing book about a family that spans the 1950’s through 2016. We intimately meet them and learn of their history and motivation. They don’t grow linearly but take some steps forward and more steps back. This author truly knows people and pop culture. It is such a wonderful trip down memory lane. Also, part of it takes place in Detroit and Ann Arbor which is near me so that was another layer of fun. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Baby boomer women should rush out and grab a copy of Weiner's latest novel that follows the lives of two sisters from the 1950s to the present, a journey through not only personal change but also social change in the United States. Jo and Bethie grow up in an average, middle class, Jewish family in Detroit. Jo, the older sister, is often at odds with her mother as she does not conform to the female norm of the 1950s; she is athletic, rebellious, and a budding social and political activist. Bethie, the younger sister, is the perfect daughter - feminine, pretty, and popular. The sudden death of their father when they are still teens leaves the sisters and their mother in a state of financial and emotional upheaval. Jo feels unloved and unnatural for her sexual orientation while Bethie feels lost. When a traumatic experience spins Bethie into a downward spiral, the sisters and their mother struggle with the consequences, sending Jo and Bethie on very different paths, paths that change their lives.

Weiner skillfully charts a journey through decades of social upheaval and change, all through the lens of the lives of Jo and Bethie. The sisters' experiences will touch a chord with Baby Boomers as the sisters go through familiar social and cultural rites of passage for women during the past sixty years: college, dating, sex, drugs, rock and roll, social and political actiivism, communes, consciouness-raising, marriage, motherhood, careers, divorce, sexual harassment, and the struggle to reconcile finding yourself with societal expectations for women. Jo, Bethie, and all the women in their families struggle to find that sweet balance between happiness and the exigencies of life as a woman. The stories of Jo and Bethie bring home the truth that women have come a long way in the last six decades but not far enough. Jo hopes her granddaughters will be the generation to realize that doing your best is better than trying to be the perfect woman who can do it all. Readers, whether Baby Boomers or not, will identify with Jo and Bethie and their journey through life. #Mrs.Everything #NetGalley

I've read Jennifer Weiner for years, starting with her debut novel, Good in Bed, and have kept up in an on-again, off-again fashion with her work since then. Given that long term attachment to her writing, I have to honestly say that this upcoming novel may truly be her masterpiece.

That may sound like hype but trust me, it's not. Weiner's heartfelt saga of two sisters, Jo and Bethie Kaufman, is told with her usual blend of humor and love of family, following these very different yet connected siblings throughout the decades.

As Jo comes to grips with her sexual identity during the 1950s and into the later eras, her sister struggles between her need to be seen as "the good girl" and being part of the new social changes all around her yet seemingly out of reach. While their differences do divide them at times, the deep love that binds them can't help but bring them back together at some point.

Granted, I may not be of the generation of these characters yet the emotional resonance from each sister feeling trapped in her own situation, from Jo's deep longing for her deceased father as the one person in the world who completely understood her to Bethie's inner loathing due to a family member taking vile advantage of her that leads to the early stages of an eating disorder, is palatable and poignantly portrayed.

This book feels emotionally personal to the author and I have no doubt that readers, old and new, will feel the same.

As a long time fan of Jennifer Weiner, I was eager to get my hands on an early copy of her latest novel, Mrs. Everything. Her books never disappoint, but Mrs Everything exceeded my expectations. It’s a page-turning character driven family saga featuring strong women and I couldn’t put it down. I found myself relating to so many moments in this book, even though their story wasn't like my own. Mrs Everything is an emotional book that covers hard topics but was a pleasure to read. I personally think this is Jennifer Weiner's best book yet!

Thank you Atria and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the lifetime saga following two sisters through out their lives and their relationships. With each other, their mom, their significant others, and children. This story encompasses so much on the relationships along with gender equality, woman's rights, love, same sex relationships, abuse that I felt it spread itself a little too thin on trying to throw too many points into the story. I wish she had used a bit narrower focus to let us get a better feel on the characters. I just didn't feel very connected to them. I think because it spanned so much time and so many issues it didn't have enough time to get that deep connection. Overall I think it was wonderfully written and would make a great book club discussion book but I missed Weiner's usual humor that is typically found in her books.

I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book as it brought back a lot of memories of my own childhood. The divergence of the lives of these two sisters echos the lives of a lot of siblings who grow up in the same household and go on to lead separate and often secret lives. I thought I could predict how Weiner's characters would end up but I was wrong and that kept me reading to the end.

Overall, the character development was engaging and the references to the changes in culture of the times well-thought out. It seemed as though the ending was a bit rushed but that shouldn't be a deterrent to reading this thought provoking novel.

Mrs. Everything was at the top of my list and I was thrilled to receive an ARC! Jennifer Weiner writes yet another fantastic, entertaining and compelling novel. I was instantly connected to the story following two sisters, raised in the same family and yet living very different lives. Jo and Berthie grow up in Detroit with parents chasing the American Dream. Weiner explores deep story lines involving complex relationships with family members, rape, drugs, sexuality, and marriage. Mrs. Everything realistically demonstrates the various paths that our lives take and how they are shaped by our peers, our loves and our community. Jo and Berthie’s lives are complicated, but I loved how they were always in each other’s corner, trying their best (even when they failed). Jo and Berthie have stayed with me long after I turned the final pages, as the story drew me in and I felt involved and privileged to witness their journeys. Mrs. Everything is for every woman, there is a part of each of us, somewhere in Jo and Berthie.
A sincere thank you to NetGallery for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.