Mrs Everything by Jennifer Weiner is the story from
two sisters, Josette “Jo” and Elizabeth “Bethie” Kaufman. From the idyllic
1950s through the turbulent 1960s to today, the sisters face choices as women
in the society around them. Jo is the tomboy who turns into a wife and mother
without much thought if she really wanted to and Bethie is the princess who
turns to drugs and a vagabond lifestyle when events in her life throw her for a
loop. As time goes on, the sisters learn to embrace who they really are and
live their lives as they find that suits them. Through infidelity, divorce,
sexual assault, eating disorders and drug use, the sisters struggle to find a
purpose or meaning in the event of their lives. After her divorce, Jo reunites
with her first love. Bethie finds peace with herself on a farm. It is a book
about woman who try to be everything to everyone and finds out that you simply
can’t.
I’m not a big fan of Jennifer Weiner. I have read a few of
her earlier books so when I had the opportunity to read this book, I thought,
why not? From the open pages to the closing chapter, this book was hard to
read. It is overwhelming and I’m not just talking about the number of pages. At
460 pages it is a long book, but I’ve read longer books that I sped through,
captivated by the story. Mrs Everything is not that book. The story is
divided into 7 parts with most of the book dragging along with the events of
these sisters’ lives and speeds up as the book is ending as if the author
realized she was running out of room. The sex scenes were graphic for me, who
is a fan of romance novels, to put the book down and say “yikes.” I’m no prude
when it comes to sex and sexuality, but it wasn’t necessary and felt out of
place. There are just way too many social issues crammed into the book that it
becomes less a story about two sisters navigating the changing social climate
and becomes a political tirade. Plus, there were so many historical
inaccuracies that a simple Google search would fix. Songs Jo listened to in
college that could not have been playing as they were not released yet. Sloppy
research with a bogged down plot, I did not enjoy this book. I do not recommend
Mrs. Everything.
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