All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

by Janelle Brown

In the heat of a west coast summer three very different women, each poised for success, find themselves failing spectacularly. Janice, a devoted mother and housewife who's approaching fifty, is cold-heartedly abandoned by her husband; her elder daughter Margaret, a magazine editor, is driven back home by towering debts; and her teenage daughter Lizzie is humiliated by the boys whose affections she has unquestioningly embraced.At first they hide their downfalls - bankruptcy, addiction, promiscuity - from one another, but as the curtain-twitching world they inhabit begins to intrude, they find their secrets exposed. And in the midst of the manicured lawns and country club whispers, the Miller women cloister themselves in their suburban home and confront first their individual crises, then each other..."All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" is an astonishing portrait of modern-day women trying to stay afloat, of secrets and lies, and of what happens when the world you know comes crashing down.

• ISBN10: 0385524013
• ISBN13: 9780385524018
• Publish Date: 30 May 2008 (first published 1 January 2008)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 28 August 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Spiegel & Grau
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 401
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

For the Miller family, mo' money definitely equals mo' problems, because after patriarch Paul's stock options make him an obscene amount of money, he quickly files for divorce and runs off with wife Janice's tennis partner. He then disappears for most of the book, but that one decision has wide-reaching ripples.

The Miller women are a mess. Janice, caught unaware by Paul's decision, begins soothing her despair and fueling her need to fill her life with something with little baggies purchased from the pool boy. Adult daughter Margaret, who was already a broke mess on the verge of eviction, takes the opportunity to travel home, neglecting to share that her magazine has gone bust, her Hollywood boyfriend broke up with her, and the creditors have been calling, non-stop. And Lizzie, a high school freshman that seems to be finally finding her place in the world through the swim team, accidentally becomes the school "slut".

The book follows the three women, alternating through their viewpoints, as they try to navigate this new world and figure out what is next for them. The women all have their flaws, though Margaret is probably the most insufferable. She clings so hard to her need to feel independent and like a "true feminist" that she tends to act very selfishly and ignores the harm she's doing to others. Thankfully, with the exception of Margaret, the choices they make largely harm only themselves. Both Janice and Lizzie wallow in their own brands of naivete.

This was a well-done audiobook, and pleasant to listen to, despite the darkness. I ended up enjoying this story more than I expected to.