Mrs. Everything

I first discovered Jennifer Weiner when my college roommate lent me Good in Bed, so I’ve been reading Weiner for a long time now. Ok, so I didn’t love the musical-theater interlude in All Fall Down, but in general, these are great character-driven, culturally Jewish fiction, about developed characters doing their best in the face of setbacks.

Her next novel, Mrs. Everything, is a family saga, beginning with two sisters in 1950s Detroit.  (But did it really begin with them, or with, Sarah, their mother? Or her mother in the old country?) In Good in Bed, and then in Certain Girls, she explored some generational themes, showing how Cannie was reflected in her daughter. In Mrs. Everything, we see family relationships grow and evolve over the years.

Big sister Jo is a tomboy, uncomfortable in the mandatory skirts and dresses. The novel opens with a reference to Jo’s wife, so I knew going in that she’d eventually find happiness in a relationship with a woman, but the path isn’t smooth. Bethie seems like the pretty, pliable daughter, but as she gets older, she discovers the men, music and drugs of the sixties. The story takes us through the twists and turns of the sisters’ lives from there. Each time a new phase started, I didn’t exactly see it coming, but I though, oh, yeah, she’d do that. Bethie living in an all-woman commune? Jo teaching fitness classes? Ok, I can see that.

I had serious hopes for Jo’s first marriage, even if Bethie didn’t. Dave seemed like a friendly neighborhood boy who liked and respected Jo, and didn’t want too much intimacy so she could keep her secret. Also, Nonie Scotto?!?!?! (Don’t click that until you read the book.)

The secondary characters are so well-developed, too.  There are the commune women, who don’t want to participate in capitalism by making too much money from their hugely successful homemade jams.  The ex-husband who won’t pay for college, but will pay for a nose job. The immigrant against affirmative action because she worked and struggled, everyone else should too. 

Near the end of the novel, Jo has her beloved wife, a mature relationship with her sister, and three daughters.  When they watch Hilary Clinton in her white pantsuit, there’s such a feeling of hopefulness for women and the future. It really highlights how much has changed over the course of the novel, both for Jo and Bethie personally, and for the expectations on women. Of course, the 2016 election showed how much our country really hates successful women, so I guess that’s not quite an uplifting ending. Still, there’s a feeling that Jo’s daughters and their children, and their children will continue the story.

 

Mrs. Everything will be out on June 11, 2019 from Atria Books