All of Us and Everything

September 15, 2015
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, three generations of Rockwell women sift through their histories-real, imagined, rumored, and written-and discover that, like storms, life is impossible to control. Three sisters' lives are individually falling apart when they converge on their childhood home to help their mother, Augusta, rebound from the damage of Hurricane Sandy, only to discover that the destructive storm has unearthed a lifetime of secrets. Esme, Liv, and Ru were raised by an eccentric, wealthy single mother who answered their questions about their absentee father with wild stories of an international spy, a secretive family history that the sisters believed to varying degrees but which left them both emotionally isolated and oddly united in their separation. Now, as adults, the psychological effects of their strange upbringing are taking a toll, with each sister facing a turning point even as they wind up together in their mother's home. Esme's marriage is in a shambles, and her teen daughter has created a constant ironic Twitter stream that narrates her life while allowing her to avoid dealing with it. Liv is an addict with a string of failed marriages behind her. And Ru is a successful novelist and screenwriter who used a painful experience in Liv's life as the main plot of her bestselling book but now has writer's block. So when their mother decides to tell them the truth about their father, it will shed new light on some past experiences and force the sisters to re-evaluate the stories they tell themselves and each other about who they are and how they got there. Asher's newest title spotlights her unique voice plus an affinity for quirky, wounded characters that are both realistic and likable. The jerky, ever shifting storytelling perspective among the characters would be disconcerting if it didn't fit so well into the overall narrative and the subtle theme of how changing our stories can change us. An entertaining yet astute look at family, self, story, and connections.

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November 15, 2015
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a box of old letters is discovered, and beliefs about the Rockwell family come tumbling down. Under the mantle of their disillusioned matriarch, Augusta, the three Rockwell sisters take a break from their independently dysfunctional lives to reconnect in Ocean City, New Jersey, and learn the truth about their absentee father. When the letters reveal hard truths about their lives, they must grapple with past disappointments and learn that reconciliation, like family, is messy. Similar to Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down (2005), Asher's (The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, 2011) novel rewards readers with an engrossing plot rich in witty and frank dark humor. The bizarre opening leads to a meditation on personal honesty conveyed with a conversational cadence that lends itself to the characters' frustrations and fears. Readers will linger on the story's web of connections, both known and unknown to the characters, within the familial relationships, and the messes contrived by the individuals' fallibility and pursuits. Thoughtful and provoking.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)