Every Last One

By: Anna Quindlen

Narrated by: Hope Davis

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In this breathtaking and beautiful novel, the number-one New York Times best-selling author Anna Quindlen creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.

Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, one whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence. What happens afterwards is a testament to the power of a womans love and determination, and to the invisible line of hope and healing that connects one human being with another.

Ultimately, in the hands of Anna Quindlen's mesmerizing prose, Every Last One is a novel about facing every last one of the the things we fear most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel, to live a life we never dreamed we'd have to live but must be brave enough to try.

©2010 Anna Quindlen (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

“Spellbinding.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

“In a tale that rings strikingly true, [Anna] Quindlen captures both the beauty and the breathtaking fragility of family life.” ( People)

“We come to love this family, because Quindlen makes their ordinary lives so fascinating.” ( USA Today)

Every Last One

This was an excellent telling of a miserably painful story. After listening to this book I had to listen to Janet Evanovich's Sizzling 16 to lift my mood. This may not sound like a good reveiw but I will probably listen to Every Last one again, it was so well written as is the Anna Qindlen style. 5 Stars!!

Excellent book

I love every thing Anna Quindlen has ever written. This was no exception. Having suffered a personal tragedy of my own, I related to the main character. The narrator was fabulous. Highly recommend this new treasure from Quindlen.

Haunting and Lovely

For a long time, I wasn’t going to read this book because of a little fight I was having with Anna Quindlen. (The fight, of course, was all one-sided. She has no idea I exist or had a problem with her.) First of all, I thought Quindlen’s Rise and Shine was sub-par (Strike 1). Then I read her tiny little book of “wisdom” called Being Perfect and thought it was (to quote myself) “a money grab.” (Strike 2.) Then I saw she did ANOTHER money grab book (defined as a very short book sold for quite a bit of money) and that was it for me. (Strike 3.) So Anna Quindlen was out (like a strike-out in baseball in case you weren’t following my metaphor). But I kept seeing reviews for Every Last One popping up on various book blogs. Everyone kept praising it, but there was a Fight Club-esque feel to the plot (every review alludes to something Very Bad but you never really get a sense of what it is). The more reviews I read, the more my curiosity was aroused. What was this Bad Thing that happened to the main character in the book—a small-town wife and mother named Mary Beth Latham? I needed to know exactly what happened. So I decided that Anna Quindlen hadn’t actually struck out with me … it was more of a 3 and 2 pitch situation (to use another baseball metaphor) and this book Every Last One would be the final pitch—the pitch that would decide my future relationship with Anna Quindlen’s novels.

So I downloaded the book from Audible and began listening. With a pitch-perfect narration by Hope Davis, I quickly found myself drawn into the story of the Latham family—Mary Beth (worried, busy mom), Glenn (her ophthalmologist husband whose as perplexed by their children as she is), 17-year-old Ruby (who is flowering into a vibrant young woman full of a healthy sense of self and her place in the world), and the 15-year-old twins Max and Alex (Alex is the popular, outgoing jock while Max is the artistic recluse who seems to have fallen into a depression). Knowing only that something Very Bad happens, I listened to the book with a sense of dread; with each phone call or event, I was sure I had figured out what was going to happen. (Not one of my guesses panned out … though I did start to sniff around the edges at one point.) As Hope Davis (who really became Mary Beth for me) shares Mary Beth’s view of her world, I found myself relating to her more and more. She felt so real and lived in. Life in the Latham household felt authentic and true, and I was getting involved in their lives. Then the Very Bad thing happened (and don’t think I’m going to tell you either … listen or read the book yourself) and it was like I was punched in the stomach. I was just stunned. Tears sprang to my eyes, and I remember inhaling sharply. “No,” I thought. “This can’t be.” The book after the Bad Thing (it almost dissects the book in half) was equally well done and believable. You find yourself in this dark place with Mary Beth, and when I got to the end of the book, I was in tears.

As you may have guessed, the 3/2 pitch ended up in a home run. Every Last One was a brilliant book. It was emotional, wrenching, lovely, true—all the things that I used to admire about Quindlen’s writing before our little spat. I’m so glad I gave her one last shot as this was one of the most powerful books I’ve read this year. I also suspect that audio is the way to go with this one. Hope Davis’s narration was simply marvelous. She gave Mary Beth a real voice—full of sighs, hesitation, questioning and emotion. She made an emotional book come alive in a way that it might not have done on the page—proving, once again, that a well-done audiobook with a talented narrator can elevate a book and make it something even more special than it already is.

Well done, Ms. Quindlen and Ms. Davis. Well done.

What if this happened to me?

Any additional comments?

This subject matter of this book is very dark and troubling.

Mary Beth is a well-off, suburban housewife who seems to have it all. She has a devoted, ophthalmologist husband and three vibrant teenage kids. She has spent years building a snug, comfortable life full of structure and familiarity. The plot strolls along as we are led through the pleasant, albeit mundane, family routines. Then in one devastating act of violence and horror, everything is shattered, and will never be the same again.

This was a very thought-provoking book that had me asking myself some tough questions. If you are a parent of teenagers, you will likely put yourself in this woman's shoes. I kept wondering, "Could something like this happen to me? To my family? How would I cope? Would I have been able to prevent such an event? What would I have done differently? How do I parent differently than the mother in this book? etc.. etc...

Compelling

Anna Q is my favorite columnist, but I have not been equally impressed by her fiction. That is, not until now. I will remember this book and the characters in it forever. It's truly hard to believe that this is fiction because the characters are so real. Compelling -- after listening, I also bought the book to keep on my bookshelf.

Haunting!

The description and self dialogue of the main character, Mary Beth is so realistic of our thoughts as a mother, wife, friend! I finished this book over a week ago and cannot get the characters and events out of my head! It stays with you and really makes you appreciate the everyday and mundane gift of family.

My first book by Anna Quindlen

The first half of the book was interesting enough to me, a nicely written story (with humor) about the life of a mother and wife. There is a violence that happens to the family in the middle of the book, and this is when it both gets emotionally tough to go on, but I also found it impossible to stop listening. As someone who has worked with teenagers for years, I found it believable in a number of ways, although heartbreaking. It is sad, but is also uplifting, at least to me.

Every Last One. . .

Any additional comments?

I would not have chosen this book if I had known what was going to happen, but I'm not sorry that I read it. It gives hope that with the help of skilled professionals and supportive family and friends, we can survive anything. The title was a brilliant choice!

Grieving in all it's pain written like poetry

Loved this book. Beautifully written and narrated. The author's descriptive passages about grieving and it's process are powerful,
pain-filled, and at the same time beautiful & poetic.

Beautifully crafted, poignant piece

Another Quindlen masterpiece.

I was not able to put down this story. From the start, the writing pulled me down, bringing me along the twists and turns, and the