Before Everything

April 17, 2017
In this touching story of friendship and loss, five very close friends come together to relive a lifetime of memories when a member of their close-knit tribe enters hospice care after a long battle with cancer. Each woman has a resonant relationship with Anna, the dying math teacher and musician who was always the group’s most adventurous spirit, but the story of the five women and how they share their lives with each other over decades of friendship is what gives the novel its greatest power. Weaving together a cinematic montage of moments both life-changing and mundane, Redel (Loverboy) paints Anna’s life as seen by others: her closest friends, who are always at her side; her husband, from whom she has separated; her brothers, who want her to fight the illness and refuse to accept her decision to enter hospice care; her children, grieving her impending loss even as they embark on exciting lives as young adults; and the many other characters who populate this richly realized novel. The result is an unflinching and affecting look at how one woman’s final days change the lives of those around her.

April 15, 2017
Friends and family gather to cajole, comfort, and/or castigate a dying woman.In a nonlinear accumulation of vignettes spanning several decades, Redel (Make Me Do Things, 2013, etc.) presents the life of Anna, whose charisma and beauty have, over the years, made her an icon in many lives. When, in middle age, Anna's rare lymphoma returns, she foregoes treatment and chooses home hospice. A swirl of friends descends, and their individual stories are woven into the fabric of her waning days. There are the Old Friends, women she's known since grade school: recovering addict Helen, now a famous, globe-trotting painter; Ming, a high-powered lawyer whose daughter has a seizure disorder; Caroline, caregiver of a perpetually needy bipolar older sister; and Molly, a lesbian, daughter of a drunken, cruel mother. The Valley friends, women who for the last 20 years have shared Anna's life in shabby-chic Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts, are feeling displaced. Her two brothers, both physicians, and her separated-but-not-necessarily-estranged husband, Reuben, are also in attendance, as well as her oldest son, Julian, who confides a secret only to Anna: she is going to be a grandmother. Valley and Old friends alike urge Anna to stay alive, and occasionally she rallies, eating a quart of ice cream and dragooning the Old Friends into an impromptu road trip. In this teeming cast of high achievers, individual personalities are hard to distinguish. Despite being constantly reminded that Anna is a queen bee, a mathlete, and a rock star whose blues band mates adore her, we learn little about her, specifically how she has managed to amass such a vast and loyal following. The prose is accomplished and the images are striking even if Redel can't resist two descriptive phrases when one will do. Only one scene in the novel lifts it, and us, out of our comfort zone: when Anna crashes a Canyon Ranch-type spa, bringing home to its patrons just how ephemeral "wellness" can really be. Though Redel has chosen a difficult topic, too often she opts for "a-w-w" moments rather than unflinching confrontations.

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June 1, 2017

Having spent years battling cancer, Anna [what is her age?] makes the decision to enter hospice care. Her lifelong "old friends" Helen, Caroline, Molly, and Ming gather to love, laugh, and support one another, as they always have done. From upcoming weddings to rebellious children, each woman faces her own challenges. As both the present and future are described, so, too, is the past that brought these friends together. They each must find a way to accept Anna's decision to stop fighting and provide her with comfort and strength. Redel's (Loverboy) story weaves the lives of five different women, and more than the tale of one woman's fight with cancer, captures the struggles of everyday life. Jumping through multiple perspectives and time periods is confusing at times, but the plot and tone portray the hardship of illness realistically. VERDICT This complicated novel of friendship is not for everyone. Fans of Jodi Picoult may find it appealing. [See Prepub Alert, 12/19/16.]--Kristen Calvert, Marion Cty. P.L. Syst., Ocala, FL

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