Every Last One

April 12, 2010
In her latest, Quindlen (Rise and Shine) once again plumbs the searing emotions of ordinary people caught in tragic circumstances. Mary Beth Latham is a happily married woman entirely devoted to her three teenaged children. When her talented daughter Ruby casually announces she's breaking up with her boyfriend Kirenan, a former neighbor who's become like family, Mary Beth is slightly alarmed, but soon distracted by her son Max, who's feeling overshadowed by his extroverted, athletic twin brother Alex. Quindlen's novel moves briskly, propelled by the small dramas of summer camp, proms, soccer games and neighbors, until the rejected Kirenan blindsides the Lathams, and the reader, with an incredible act of violence. Left with almost nothing, Mary Beth struggles to cope with loss and guilt, protect what she has left, and regain a sense of meaning. Quindlen is in classic form, with strong characters and precisely cadenced prose that builds in intensity.

Three or four times in her reading of Quindlen's latest family drama, Hope Davis, as the novel's protagonist, Mary Beth Lauren, pronounces the word "astonishing." She gives the second syllable a slight extra oomph, but that tiny emphasis delivers a potent charge. The word comes alive not only with meaning but also with sensory force. This is just one small example of how much in command this gifted actress is in a novel that moves from the subject of ordinary discontentment in family life to devastating loss. The novel is wholly interior, told from the perspective of Mary Beth, who assesses with a surgeon's precision the minor frictions in her affluent, loving marriage and family and then struggles to hold onto meaning when everything changes. Davis not only captures a full-blooded, flawed woman but also makes listeners care deeply about her as well. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine