In this instant New York Times bestseller and “multigenerational narrative that’s nothing short of brilliant” (People), two sisters’ lives from the 1950s to the present are explored as they struggle to find their places–and be true to themselves–in a rapidly evolving world from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner. Jo and Bethie Kaufman were born into a world full of promise. … were born into a world full of promise.
Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life.
But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for the women to finally stake a claim on happily ever after?
In “her most sprawling and intensely personal novel to date” (Entertainment Weekly), Jennifer Weiner tells a “simply unputdownable” (Good Housekeeping) story of two sisters who, with their different dreams and different paths, offer answers to the question: How should a woman be in the world?
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“Women had made progress – Jo only had to look as far as the television set to see it – but she wondered whether they would ever not try to have it all and do it all and do all of it flawlessly. Would the day ever come when simply doing your best would be enough?”
Mrs. Everything follows two sisters, Jo and Bethie, from their childhood to college to adulthood. It’s a beautiful examinations of the power of women’s relationships and what impact your childhood can have on the rest of your life, from the decisions you choose to the mistakes you make. It also explores the concept of whether women can truly have it all.
Jo and Bethie grow up as a Jewish family in Detroit, Michigan in the 1950s. Bethie is the beautiful, perfect child who does everything right as far as her mother is concerned. Jo is a tomboy, activist who is forever making the wrong decisions in her mother’s eyes. This childhood experience will impact the entire course of their lives in many ways. While Jo transitions from an outspoken, feminist, activist into a suburban housewife and then into a life that falls somewhere in between, Bethie follows a different path. Bethie’s childhood is spent doing all the right things but a series of traumatic events and bad decisions cause her course to change into a more free-spirited, adventurous path. Can the two sisters find their way to a place where they can let go of childhood hurts and support each other’s decisions?
This book focuses on Jo and Bethie’s relationship while also showing how their experiences with their own mother cause them to behave in adulthood. I absolutely loved this book. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking and everything in between. Women’s rights, homosexuality, the experiences of people of color, socioeconomic and education differences, mother/daughter relationships, the sister bond and love are all delved into in a story that spans decades. It is a long book at 464 pages but I finished in a day and cried when I was done for all the things these characters had been through. It leaves you feeling sad for the many hurts along the way but hopeful for the future.
Wonderful book that takes you through the lives of two very different but complementing sisters.
Historical women’s fiction set in the mid decades of the Twentieth Century by bestselling author, Jennifer Weiner. A pair of sisters (Jo and Beth, their names borrowed from Little Women) with different dreams and expectations, find their lives upended by the cultural and historical events of the passing years.
Well written, filled with telling details and narrated without the gauzy overlay of nostalgic reminiscence, Mrs. Everything explores the experiences of contemporary women, where we’ve been and where we’re headed—maybe. If you’re looking for intelligent entertainment, you will definitely enjoy Mrs. Everything!
This is the story of two sisters – Jo and Beth. The book starts when they are young girls in the 1950s, and continues through to 2022. It is told in both of their voices from both of their points of view. Their lives encounter many twists and turns – love, hardship, loss, marriage, divorce, children, etc. Their lives take on two separate paths – neither the girls expected – after a tragic loss in their family. The girls stay in each others lives, but have a lot of ups and downs. In the end, they realize that they need each other and are able to put all their past troubles behind them.
I don’t want to give any spoilers away for this book, so I kept my recap brief. I will say this – I am a big Jennifer Weiner fan – have read all of her books and have enjoyed them. Up until now. This book – be warned – this book contains just about every situation women in the 20th situation could possibly face. The first 25% of the book was really tought to get through. It did start to redeem itself after that, but the book is just way too long. And there are way too many things happening to one family. It was one depressing scene after another through almost 500 pages. I never really felt anything for any of the characters.
I would say skip it. It was disappointing on a lot of levels.
Life’s serious ups n downs of 2 sisters. Some humor.
This is the first Jennifer Weiner book I’ve ever read…. mostly because her usual is not my usual. BUT I heard an interview with her on NPR
about this book and immediately had to read it. It is a great story with wonderful REAL characters.
Real…. because the story is one that needed to be told. Even now!
Love this story!!
I have read and loved all of Jennifer Weiner’s books. I read through it too fast, it was that good! Highly recommend it!
Overall, I enjoyed the themes and prose in the novel. I am a fan of books that span decades and generations and books with strong female protagonists. The first chapter set me up to think a conflict needed to be resolved between the sisters and I was anxious to see what that would be. Regardless- worth reading for the female characters and witnessing what they must bear as they age. I wondered if the names of the sisters – Jo and Beth- were allusions to Little Women?
Best book of the summer!!!
This book follows the lives of two sisters spanning decades. I went into this book with different expectations. I have not read anything by Jennifer Weiner, but I know that she has a reputation as a very popular chick lit author. When this book was picked for our book club, I half expected it to be chick lit in the vein of “The Cactus”, like last month’s pick. But this was NOT that. This book takes a deep dive into women’s issues. It explores what it means to be a wife, mother, sister, and friend as well as what it means to be a woman throughout our lives. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and enjoyed it immensely.
I read everything Jennifer Weiner writes. There is an immediacy to her writing that is extremely rare and completely draws me in every time. Like many of her novels, Mrs. Everything has a truly epic scope and is a multigenerational saga centered around two sisters, Jo and Bethie (whiffs of Little Women). I loved the various themes in this book: family, friendship, homosexuality, self-image, and most of all feminism and its growing impact during the lifetimes of these women. Even though it’s set in the past, Mrs. Everything is an eminently timely read.
Excellent book. Poignant tale of two sisters throughout their lives, experiencing their ups, downs and life changes with them.
A beautiful story of two sisters and what they are willing to sacrifice for one another. It’s also an embodiment of the journey many women go through to find themselves, how we cram ourselves into boxes to appease those around us, at our own expense. It seems every generation has something to overcome.
I have loved ALL of her books but this wasn’t up to her norm.
Love Jennifer Weiner. Really liked this book. A bit autobiographical disguised as fiction.
It featured the 50’s and 60’s until present and these were my growing up years. I could relate to the characters.
Loved this book! Great story with realistic plot about Jo and Bethie! Must read!
Ambitious (in Jennifer Weiner’s words) story of two sisters finding their way in a changing world. This book thoroughly engaged me through the decades it covered. Would be a fantastic book club book, especially for a group with members of varying ages.
I highly recommend this adventure between Jo and Bethie who are sisters. The characters flip which is quite what you expect the other character to be. Jennifer Weiner is an excellent author and I will definately be reading more of her books. This book is a great read for LGBT community also.
Bestselling author Jennifer Weiner says she has been thinking about the story of Mrs. Everything “for a really long time.” She always knew that she wanted to pen a historical novel with “a lot of sweep and a lot of heft that would cover not just women in the present, but would cover generations. That started to feel a lot more urgent after the 2016 election and rise of the MeToo movement.” Her goal was to use her characters to explore “the story of women in America — where we’ve been, where we’ve gotten and, as the mother of daughters, where we still need to go.” With Mrs. Everything, Weiner has achieved her goal in entertaining and absorbing fashion.
Mrs. Everything is a saga that plays out across more than six decades and examines the journeys of Jo and Bethie, two sisters who are, of course, total opposites. Bethie is pretty, feminine, and loves to be in the spotlight. She learns at an early age how to get what she wants from boys using her female charms. In contrast, Jo is athletic, political, and although she, like Bethie, has boyfriends, they don’t interest her much. At an early age she discovers why, painfully aware that she will always have to keep her desires secret, hidden away from a society that won’t accept her as she is.
Jo is a constant source of exasperation to their long-suffering Jewish mother, Sarah. When their father dies suddenly, Sarah is forced to take a job in the local department store to support the family. Jo feels their father’s absence acutely and it strains her relationship with Sarah further since he ran interference between the two of them. But both girls step up to assist with Jo taking a job as a camp counselor while Bethie signs on to perform household tasks in their uncle’s home after school.
A horrific event forever alters the course of both of their lives. Jo comes to Bethie’s aid, scuttling her plan to travel abroad with her girlfriend when she uses the money she had saved to help Bethie. Shattered, and so unsure of who she has become or what the future holds for her, Bethie wanders the country and eventually ends up living on a commune, while Jo decides that convention is the safest route. Through the years, the girls’ lives are beset by molestation by a relative, gang rape, abortion, an eating disorder, drug use, sexual harassment in the workplace, a shocking betrayal by a friend and spouse, and cancer, all against the backdrop of sociological changes. including the sexual revolution, women’s liberation, and the fight for reproductive and civil rights.
Weiner’s portrayal of the sibling relationship is believable and sometimes makes for painful reading. Typical of sisters, they go through periods when they barely communicate with or see each other, but remain bound together in the mysterious, inexplicable way that only sisters can be. They harbor grudges, resentments, and anger. At one point Bethie exclaims to Jo, “You think that I ruined your life? Well, I think you ruined mine.” They confound each other. But they also come together when one needs the other, their loyalty forceful and, ultimately, unbreakable. Both characters are fully drawn and empathetic — deeply flawed and aggravating, but also endearing. Just like members of one’s own family.
Mrs. Everything is an ambitious, compelling, and unsparing look at sexism, stereotypes, conventional roles, and women’s ongoing drive for the freedom to unashamedly be true to their own spirits. In 2016, now in her 70s, Jo ponders all the strides made by women during her lifetime, wondering, “Would the day ever come when simply doing your best would be enough?” Through Jo and Bethie’s experiences, Weiner challenges readers to consider how a woman should be in the world while remaining true to herself. To emphasize the conundrum, Weiner concludes the book in 2016, a watershed year for women by any measure. But a year in which it became obvious just how much farther women have to go.
Weiner says she hopes her readers will find everything they have come to expect from her writing in Mrs. Everything: “That it will be funny and engaging and observant; that it will have characters who feel like women you know.” In many ways, Mrs. Everything feels like quintessential Weiner, but it is much more. With Mrs. Everything, Weiner has clearly stepped out of her comfort zone and into edgier, more controversial topics and a deeply moving examination of her characters and their motivations. Mrs. Everything constitutes a strong declaration about the current state of womanhood in the United States. It is sure to be deemed one of the best books of 2019.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.