Did not finish at 25%.

Couldn’t get into the story or connect to the characters. Just not for me.

I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-20 from my title feedback view!

This family chronicle about the influence of a toxic male patriach on his family covers all the modern areas of interest, yet there is a crucial factor missing for me in the readability department - to be able to connect with the characters. At least I was not interested in any of them. Which is a pity, because Jami Attenberg has a good writing style, is a good observer of family-related happenings and the feeling of emptiness that comes from this book feels very true. Yet - what is the point when the emotional bond is missing?
I am also missing some catharsis and real growing-up, which can offer some message, reason for this story to be said. Because "what a pity this exists" should not be the message, it is too bleak for that.

I struggled to get into this one and ended up DNF-ing. I think this is more the case of this book not being for me rather than it being a bad book.

Well written book about a dysfunctional family. Definitely for mature audiences. The father in the story, Victor, who is dying, has abused is family for as long as they can remember. The book shows how this has affected his wife, children and people that Victor has come into contact throughout his life. The format of each chapter taking a different character's voice, reveals the overall story in layers like an onion. Thought provoking read with abundant material for book club discussions.

Meh...not a huge fan of this book. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, I didn’t like any of them, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the style of writing with the flash forwards and multi storied characters. And not sure what the point of this story was.

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg is a book where place is another character, and the dysfunctional family is one where the characters are deeply developed. It's that character development that pushes the story forward. This book won't be for all readers, but I am a lover of complex family narratives, and this one and it's exploration of man's foibles was right up my alley.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a jigsaw type book where there are various stories that in the end fit together. the only thing I still can't figure out is where the coroner's story fits in, but aside from that it makes a neat finish. It does shine a light on why women sometimes stay with bad men--even if they abuse theim or their children. The author does not excuse it, but does offer some type of explanation. And the oppressive heat of New Orleans weighs down the story and adds to the atmosphere (and I have been in New Orleans in August and the author portrays it perfectly).

All This Could Be Yours is the story of an estranged family who gather together (or avoid even further, in the case of one) at the family patriarch’s deathbed. This is dysfunction at its best as everyone comes to terms with either being raised by or married to a bit of a Tony Soprano.

Jamie Attenberg isn’t an author for everyone, but she’s an auto-request for me. Her stories aren’t necessarily life-changers, but boy oh boy are they full of characters you won’t soon forget and pages that practically turn themselves. If you like drama of the nuclear family sort, this may be a winner for you.

Sorry for the lack of “oomph” here. What can I say???? "Somebody's got a case of the Mondays : ( "

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

This is a story of a dysfunctional family that is brought back together when the father has a sever heart attack. Victor Tuchman is a hard man to love but his wife Barbra sticks by him and visits the hospital daily. Daughter Alex, a lawyer wants to find out why Victor is so hated and constantly being investigated by police and higher authorities. Son Gary is in Los Angeles trying to get his acting career back on track and could care less about his father. His wife Twyla is trying to help out but she has some issues of her own. This was an ok story with some believable characters but I had trouble staying focused on the storyline. This is the first book by Jami Attenberg I've read and she has a flowing writing style. She doesn't get too bogged down in details. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you netgalley and publsiher for the early copy.

I could not connect with the writing style and decided to put it down.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I put "All This Could be Yours" in the to-read pile and when i got to it I could not believe I hadn't read it sooner. Wish I could go back and read it again for the first time!

All This Could Be Yours is a literary fiction family drama. And what a drama it is! Victor, the patriarch of his family, is on his deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. But Victor is not exactly a likeable guy. He’s a bad guy who was a bad father. So his children and wife have conflicting feelings on his impending death. As the book progresses, we meet his children (Alex and Gary), Gary’s wife Twyla, and Barbra, his long-suffering wife. We learn about the relationships they had with Victor as well as how they are carrying that into their own lives. The book has funny moments, jaw-dropping lines, strong characters, and whip-smart writing.

So, Barbra and Victor have been married for a long time, she in her sixties and well tended, he seventy-three and lying on life support in a New Orleans hospital. Barbra has time to reflect on these years as well as the sacrifices she has made to love such a man as Victor. I don't want to say too much because there is so much character development and family history here that should be taken in without it being spoiled.

Jami Attenberg really knows about dysfunctional families. She is able to write about the crises that affect many middle-class families in the U.S. As in The Middlesteins, the theme is similar. Husband, father, grandfather Victor’s overall badness, his criminality, his brutality, his avarice, and his philandering affect his family in such ways as to transform them into a dysfunctional mess. The story moves along at a steady clip, with all revealed by the end in a sort of answer to daughter Alex, who wants to know what happened between her mother Barbra and father Victor. Alex, a lawyer, with a daughter, Avery, months out of a broken marriage, travels from Chicago to New Orleans not to make amends with her father, as her mother urges, for Alex’s own well being, but to learn this thing. She pursues her mother on the subject, but can’t seem to pierce her mother’s emotional carapace.
Gary, the adult son, has been estranged from his parents for years because he despises his father for reasons he reveals. A director, a second AD really, he found happiness with Twyla, originally from Alabama, whom he met in L.A. where she did makeup. He gave up his L.A. dreams for her and moved to New Orleans, well before his parents showed up from Connecticut, after Victor got out of financial and criminal problems and fled to The Big Easy. He adored Twyla and all was good until Victor appeared and Gary made the mistake of reading Twyla’s diary.

This is not the happiest story, but it is one that's realistic, raw, and beautifully written. Fans of the HBO show Succession will definitely enjoy this book as you see the ties to the Logan family. Fans of New Orleans will enjoy the details of the setting. I recommend whole-heartedly!

3 stars. Victor is very much a not nice man, ok, maybe a lot worse than that,. He is dying as the story starts. His wife Barbara is with him, but his children have a tougher time of it. Daughter Alex is pressured to forgive him for his past nastiness to her. Son Gary is "getting around" to getting there, but his anger towards his father is not to be forgiven. Why does Barbra stay with him is the major question for Alex. After all, he is a criminal who battered them and cheated and was an overall bad person.

The story goes in depth into the stories of these family members and some extended family who play roles in this disaster of a marriage/family. It was well done, but overly long as far as I was concerned and I found myself skimming several times as I just didn't care.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The writing is clear, concise and very good considering the subject matter. The main character in the book is Victor-a gangster, abuser, philanderer, liar and basically a horrible man who also happens to be a husband, father and grandfather. Lest you think differently his toxicity extends to his family as well which has profoundly negative effects on their relationships. As I remember the phrase “what goes around comes around” I can relate it to this book because as Victor lays dying after suffering a heart attack all the hatred, violence and dysfunctionality he visited on his family comes back around and ultimately he gets what he deserves. Thanks to net galley for providing me with this book.

All This Could Be Yours is the story of a rich, dysfunctional family told mostly through the eyes of the matriarch Barbra, her daughter Alex, and her daughter in law Twyla. Barbra's husband Victor is in the hospital, dying, and the family is reflecting on their unhappiness - much of which they consider Victor's fault. This book is beautifully written and the characters are fully realized. That being said, I didn't find it all that compelling. These people are unhappy but I couldn't make myself care about them. They're well developed but not all that interesting - they're super privileged and all varying levels of selfish. (I found Twyla to be the most sympathetic by far.) I started reading this one and put it down for a couple of months. When I picked it up again I was able to finish it really quickly, but I think if I had put it down a second time I wouldn't have finished. I did like the narration (especially when it interjects somewhat judgmentally, particularly in a chapter about the son, Gary, near the end). Overall I enjoyed this book but I didn't love it; it was mostly just fine.

Sometimes I have a hard time reading books focusing in dysfunctional families, but this book was just so fascinating and well written. The writing is just done SO well, and solidified Jami Attenberg on my must-read list.

Jami Attenberg's writing is simply phenomenal, but I just couldn't get through the story. It may be personal, coming off a book hangover from reading a really spectacular book. I will probably try reading this one again at another time, but right now I just can't get through it.