Every Last One (Jill)
Every Last One
By Anna Quindlen
Completed March 24, 2010
In her latest book, Every Last One, Anna Quindlen takes her readers to a place where most of us hope to never be. It’s uncomfortable, sad, tragic – but when you’re done with this book, it offers you a chance to reflect on life’s blessings and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Mary Beth Latham was your average American woman – married, mother to three and owner of a landscaping business. Her children were the focal point of her life. The eldest, Ruby, was a recovering anorexic, and one of Mary Beth’s twin sons, Max, was dealing with depression, being in the shadow of his brother, Alex. So engrossed in what was happening, especially with Max, Mary Beth didn’t see the warning signs of a ticking time bomb – until the unthinkable happened. She was forced to deal with a heartbreak none of us would want to endure.
Facing down an unbelievable tragedy, Mary Beth forges on roads unimagined in her previous life. She somehow manages to put one foot in front of the other – but not without stopping, falling and going backwards. As a reader, you want to hug Mary Beth, tell her it’s okay to cry and propel her forward.
Quindlen is a master of holding up an unspeakable thing and making it visible from all angles, forcing her readers to look and acknowledge it. And then she adds fallible characters who are just like us. The whole reading experience is incredibly human.
Every Last One admittedly had a rough beginning with the introduction of many characters – kids, friends, neighbors, relatives– and it took several chapters for this book to hit its pace. Once it did, though, it envelopes the reader, holding you hostage until every last one of the pages leaves its fingerprint on you. That’s the mark of good fiction and a great writer. ( 
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