This was another ARC I received from NetGalley (released 2/27), and I read it very slowly all winter… In the first chapters, the title character (Annie) dies suddenly and the rest of the book follows her husband, four young children, and best friend through the year following… It is a book is about grief, so it is - predictably - very sad. At times, I thought it was maybe too sad for “pleasure” reading; but I thought the writing was excellent, and I found the depictions of all the ways people cope after a tragic loss to be nuanced and realistic while still ending - mostly - on a hopeful note.

Wow. This was an incredible book--the emotions are so raw. All of the characters are so strong and so real. The end is really beautiful and realistic. I would suggest this book to anyone. Raw and real.

4.5 stars

This is a beautifully written story about a young wife and mother, Annie Brown, who collapses on the kitchen floor one night and never gets up again. In the aftermath, her devastated family, swimming in grief, try to cope with the loss of the person who was the center of their universe — her husband Bill is shellshocked and buries himself in his work; her daughter Ali, only 13 years old, yet as the eldest, takes up the responsibility of caring for her 3 younger brothers as well as her father; Ant, at 11 years old, becomes angry and silent; the two youngest boys, Jamie and Benjy, don’t understand what is happening and constantly ask when their mommy will be returning from the hospital, only for their questions to go unanswered; and then there’s AnneMarie, the best friend since childhood who was dragged back from the brink of her own drug-fueled self-destruction by Annie, and now is in danger of spiraling out of control again after losing the one person who was her anchor and kept her on solid ground.

The narrative is divided up based on seasons, starting with the winter day when Annie dies, then follows the family through the subsequent spring, summer, and autumn, at the same time alternating between the perspectives of Bill, Ali, and AnneMarie as they are forced to navigate a world without Annie in it. The story is so sad and heartbreaking — I especially felt for Ali, who had to take up so much on her own while the adults in her life were adrift and didn’t pay her much attention. All the kids, in fact, I felt so much sympathy for that the entire time I was reading, I just wanted to reach out and hug them, comfort them.

The writing here is so moving and heartfelt — Quindlen captures the nuances of ordinary life so perfectly; at the same time, the way she has her characters navigate grief and loss felt so realistic that, at various points, I found I had tears streaming down my face.

I know Quindlen is a prolific author but this is actually the first time I’ve read any of her books. It definitely won’t be the last time however and with such a huge backlist, I’m glad that there will be plenty of her books to explore in the future.

Received ARC from Random House via NetGalley.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of After Annie by Anna Quindlen.

Anna Quindlen is totally hit and miss for me. I've loved some of hers, and other's I put down after only a few chapters. This one fell higher on that spectrum, it's heavy and hard, but very good.

The title is apt because it's about the loss of Annie, the wife and mother of a family of four. It covers their life before Annie, but primarily after Annie, their grief, their experiences, and how they move forward. I especially loved reading about Annamarie, and how she struggled to stay in recovery after losing her slightly codependent friendship. Mostly though, I loved the resounding message that the family, though cracked and devastated at their loss, will be okay, that life is full of magic that somehow fills the voids and makes us whole again.

Anna Quindlen has done it again--no surprise to anyone!

After Annie beautifully explores grief, family ties, and the relationships that change the course of our lives. I love a sweeping family saga, and After Annie delivered. Looking forward to rereading Quindlen's backlist titles!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

BOOK REVIEW: After Annie by Anna Quindlen
2024 Publication Date: March 12

⭐️⭐️

Domestic Fiction Books
T.I.M.E. Most Anticipated Books Of 2024

T.I.M.E. BOOK REVIEW:
In the emotionally stirring pages of After Annie, Anna Quindlen crafts a poignant narrative that captures the heart of the domestic fiction books genre. This gripping story explores the tumultuous yet tender aftermath of loss within a family suddenly bereft of its young maternal linchpin, Annie Brown.

Quindlen's deft exploration of love's resilience weaves through the lives of those Annie left behind, as her husband, children, and best friend grapple with the void she's left and the life lessons that echo in her absence. With an uncanny ability to draw upon the threads of adversity, revealing the unexpected strengths it begets, After Annie is an ode to the unbreakable bonds of family, lifelong friendship between two women and the indomitable spirit of human connection.

Readers will find not only a testament to the enduring power of love but also a clarion call to cherish the voices of those we hold dear... With an ultimate understanding that their influence transcends the boundaries of their physical presence... ✨😎✨

Pages: 273
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Sub-Genre: Domestic Fiction | Literary Fiction | Women's Fiction
T.I.M.E. Jalapeno Rating:️ Closed Door Romance
Time Period: Contemporary
Location: Pennsylvania (US)
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: Take Me Home by Beth Moran ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️
Movie: Steel Magnolias ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION:
• The Power of Family and Love... Throughout the story, we see how the characters lean on each other for support and find strength in their bond as a family and friends... Highlighting the importance of familial relationships and how they can help us navigate through difficult times in our lives.
• Overcoming Loss and Adversity... After Annie's sudden death, her loved ones are forced to confront their grief and find ways to move forward... Showing how resilience and determination can help us overcome even the most challenging situations and darkest secrets in life.
• Cherishing Our Loved Ones... After Annie reminds us of the importance of treasuring our loved ones while they are still with us... Encouraging readers to not take their relationships for granted and to make the most of the time they have with their loved ones, while simultaneously understanding that their presence in our lives goes beyond the loss.
• Book Club Kit Available from Penguin Random House Books

BOOK QUOTE:
"The hardest thing about friendship, she'd sometimes thought, was accepting that your friend wants what you think is not worth having..." — After Annie by Anna Quindlen

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All my book reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at thisismyeverybody.com/blog/what-book-should-i-read

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

After Annie hooked me from the start. I love books like this - ordinary people living their lives. The storyline is character-driven and real, nothing flashy, just a beautifully portrayed family dealing with the life-changing event of losing their mother/wife/best friend. The story unfolds during the 4 seasons of the year after their loss, and I loved the evolution of each character. Well done, Anna Quindlen! I loved this book.

This book touched my heart and left me emotionally raw. A book about grief and learning to live again after a death that leaves a gaping hole in the lives of those left behind. I recommend this book but recommend it be accompanied by a box of tissues. After I finished I revisited the other couple of Anna Quindlen books I have read and was reminded how deeply they made me feel. Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

*Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. *

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

Within the first few pages of this book, Annie dies. She is under forty years old and the mother of four children 13 and under. She is wife to Bill and best friend to Annemarie. The book basically is the response to Annie’s death from Bill, Annemarie, and Annie’s 13 year old daughter, Alexandra.

This book is very character driven. I realized that I am very much more a ‘plot person’. I could never get into this book and it took a great deal of effort on my part to finish it. After reading the first 20 per cent of the book, I did not have any great expectations for it. It ended with a whimper, not a bang.

Perhaps some readers could relate to the characters in the book. I could not.
Therefore, this was not the book for me.

In AFTER ANNIE, wife, mother, and best friend Annie is always there, working at the nursing home, carrying the mental load of which kid needs new shoes and what supplies the household is running low on, making dinner, and myriad other tasks when she dies suddenly of a brain aneurysm, leaving everyone floundering as to how to pick up the pieces. The novel is an elegant exploration of the aftermath of sudden loss, and the gradual uplift of hope as we learn to live with the absence of someone vital to life as we have always known it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. We find out in the first sentence of the book that the title character Annie has died. It's a sudden death and hits everyone in her family hard - Bill, her husband; her four children, and her best friend Annemarie. Through these characters we not only learn about the deep impact Annie had on them but she as the main character is fleshed out through each of these characters' journey. Each character is of course change by this loss and most of the book is the negative impact but there is a bit of hope at the end. The story was interesting enough but I didn't connect with any of the characters even though I have lost family members. There was something missing for me. 3.5 stars.

The opening sentence of Anna Quindlen’s latest family drama reads, “Annie Brown died right before dinner.” We quickly learn that Annie was a 37 year old wife and the mother of four who was, on the surface, as ordinary as her name. She worked as an aide in a nursing home when her ambition to become a registered nurse was derailed by an unplanned pregnancy. Yet, she had the life that she wanted “except that she wanted it with more money, better cars and more bedrooms and bathrooms.”

Annie’s sudden and unexpected death irrevocably alters the lives of her survivors. Her husband, Bill, who fears that no one will ever know him the way that Annie did, is adrift. A plumber by trade, Bill is so trusted that customers would brave the cold until he is available to tend to their furnaces, and he is so well liked that the neighbors gossiped at Annie’s funeral that “[e]very single woman in town will be all over Bill Brown like a bad rash.” Annie’s closest friend since first grade, Annemarie, tells Annie’s eldest child, Ali, that Annie “saved my life.” Yet, without Annie, Annemarie feels vulnerable to the addiction that Annie helped her overcome and sees her relationship with Bill “curdling” because Annie is not acting as an “interlocutor between them.” Thirteen year old Ali, the other perspective from which we view Annie’s death, is charged with caring for her younger brothers and even her father and “[w]aiting for the rest of life, whatever that was, a future that felt like a betrayal.”

Quindlen has crafted a moving portrait of a family coming to terms with life and shattering loss. No moment feels contrived or false as the characters process their momentous grief. Perhaps because she lost her own mother when she was 19, Quindlen is expert at elevating material that might seem mundane into a novel that is emotionally satisfying and absorbing. Catherine Newman, writing for the New York Times, aptly referred to Quindlen as “an anthropologist of domesticity” and Quindlen has once again demonstrated that she is one of the great chroniclers of family. “After Annie” is about loss and renewal and the unexpected power of adversity to change us in profound ways. Thank you Keilani Lum of Random House and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this portrait of a family from the master of the form.

This wonderful story explored the tragedies of losing a young, wife, mother, and friend. It's a sad story, one we all can relate to as everyone has lost someone who was special to them and definitely was loved.

The unexpected death of Annie, left a family bereft of so many things and as they come to terms with loss, remembrances of a wife and mother and friend are difficult and filled with sorrow. Later, as time moves on, there is definite hope that the family and friends will never forget, and through Annie, they come to realize that hope for the future will carry them through.

Wonderful story for everyone to enjoy. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

After Annie is a tale of a family who deals with the lose of their mother at a young age. Over the course of the year, the family faces the hardships, loss and her legacy with family, friends and the community. This slow-moving story is very melancholy read.

Thank you, Random House.

A heavy, heartbreaking and mostly bleak look into the lives of a woman who dies & the people she left behind. This story mostly centers on three people, the daughter, the husband and the best friend. Each person is dealing with their grief in their own broken ways. Each story is hard to read but very human and real. I found this book both hard to keep reading and impossible to put down. I felt frustrated at times with the way the adults in the book handled themselves and my heart broke for the children who had to deal with a deeply flawed support system. In the end, the support comes from outside the home and helps allude to more hope in the future. This was a character based book, simple and slow but at times beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was so grateful when Random House reached asking if I had interest in Anna Quindlen's newest novel, After Annie. Many years ago, I read Quindlen's Every Last One, and I STILL see the events of that novel unfolding in my mind's eye. She just has the ability to bring her work to life - the tragedy, the resilience, the forever-altered lives that follow.

This story follows the same pattern and yet is completely unique. The author captures the human spirit in a way that makes the reader contemplate their own life. As in her previous novel, Ms. Quindlen's writing is simple, yet profound.

It's so sad to witness a mother's life come to a tragic end, and even more sad to watch events unfold as her closest family members and friends handle her loss. However, Quindlen manages to tie in a message of hope and redemption, through beautifully-rendered characters and truly impactful situations, ultimately leaving the reader inspired.

Many thanks to partners, Random House and NetGalley for this gifted review copy!

Annie Brown dies suddenly, leaving her husband, and four young children behind. Her best friend, who leans heavily on Annie for honesty, and tough love, is devastated. Her husband, Bill, is overwhelmed by everything that his wife made look so effortless. Annie’s daughter, Ali, steps up as the eldest daughter is wont to do, and tries to fill her mother's shoes. The story takes place over the course of the first year without Annie.

Annie Brown has the plainest name, and lives a simple and unassuming life, yet the hole she leaves in the wake of her passing is larger than life. The small town rallies around the family because they loved Annie so much. Ali, especially, has to grow up so fast and finds herself facing some very confusing and difficult situations that could use her mother's guiding hand.

A moving story of love, loss, grief, and getting through that first difficult year without the glue that holds the family, friendships, a community, together.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After Annie is a novel told from the perspective of Annie's 14 year old daughter, her best friend, and her husband the year following Annie's untimely and tragic death. The death of Annie was heartbreaking to me (not a spoiler) especially as the mother to three young children. We follow along with the 3 people closest to Annie as they learn to navigate life After Annie. From a young girl on the verge of becoming a teenager without a mother to guide her, to her addict best friend on the cusp of relapse without the best friend who saved her from addiction, to the husband who doesn't know how to begin parenting alone.

I loved this book. It was well-written, it gave me all the feels. My heart ached for all of the people who meant so much to Annie. This was the first book I have read by Anna Quindlen, but it will not be my last!