All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

In spite of all of the terrible things that happened in this book, I really enjoyed reading it (or in this case, listening to it). The characters in a book are important to me. The three women rang true, and I identified in some way with each of them: Janice (the mother), unable to face unpleasant truth and doing anything to avoid it, even within herself; Margaret, the smart older sister, for whom failure is not an option; and Lizzie, feeling lost and on the wrong path in her high school years. I also liked the interplay (or lack thereof) between the characters.The book grabbed me on a personal basis, from being a child in a family that divorced (with some real parallels to the story), to having seen the excitement of startups and the show more IPO process-- as a spouse.In my book club, we talked about the likelihood of all of these things happening to a family at once. Since the events (or their root causes) are interrelated, it isn't as unlikely as it first seems, but the book is larger than life.This book left me with a lot to think about. I also am a little unsettled by the feeling there is more to explore about this book. We had a good discussion at my book club meeting, making it to our benchmark hour of book talk before our hour of personal chat. I did get some additional insight in that time. I just feel that we could have talked longer-- if only someone had the right questions to ask. show less

Spoiler Alert!





I had a hard time rating this book because I found it good and bad at times. The characters are kind of flat and cliche. The mother who is so concerned about money and appearance. The older daughter who is a hippie feminist vegetarian, and the younger daughter who is just lost.

But the book was unrealistic. After getting divorce papers from her husband, the trophy wife mother gasps at the thought of downsizing her lifestyle. Why she simply MUST have organic salmon at $15 a pound and a Porsch and an 8 bedroom villa and regular Neiman Marcus trips. All three women lead expensive lifestyles, including the hippie daughter who drops her last $300 on a salad in order to not tell her friends she has financial troubles. When the show more ex-husband offers the wife about $20 grand a month with a car and house the wife refuses and instead pursues him for $200 million dollars. I find it ironic that early on the husband accuses of her of being after nothing but his money. That point is never directly mentioned or addressed again and instead the author goes out of her way to make the husband appear greedy for NOT wanting to give his ex wife $200 million dollars. Give me a break. I was hoping for a nice book about women realizing life isn't about money or cars and instead growing from these experiences but that simply did not happen. In the end the only one who learned a lesson was the 14 year old who found religion.

There are a few good moments and some funny jokes, but overall I was disgusted with the book. show less

Spoiler Alert!





I had a hard time rating this book because I found it good and bad at times. The characters are kind of flat and cliche. The mother who is so concerned about money and appearance. The older daughter who is a hippie feminist vegetarian, and the younger daughter who is just lost.

But the book was unrealistic. After getting divorce papers from her husband, the trophy wife mother gasps at the thought of downsizing her lifestyle. Why she simply MUST have organic salmon at $15 a pound and a Porsch and an 8 bedroom villa and regular Neiman Marcus trips. All three women lead expensive lifestyles, including the hippie daughter who drops her last $300 on a salad in order to not tell her friends she has financial troubles. When the show more ex-husband offers the wife about $20 grand a month with a car and house the wife refuses and instead pursues him for $200 million dollars. I find it ironic that early on the husband accuses of her of being after nothing but his money. That point is never directly mentioned or addressed again and instead the author goes out of her way to make the husband appear greedy for NOT wanting to give his ex wife $200 million dollars. Give me a break. I was hoping for a nice book about women realizing life isn't about money or cars and instead growing from these experiences but that simply did not happen. In the end the only one who learned a lesson was the 14 year old who found religion.

There are a few good moments and some funny jokes, but overall I was disgusted with the book. show less

A literary masterpiece...

This riveting story started out like a modern Virginia Woolf novel and escalated into the collapse of a nuclear family upon the cusp of attaining the American Dream.

As things went from bad to worse for the Miller family, I wanted to put the book down but couldn't. I now understand why people slow down to watch the wreckage of an automobile accident on the side of the road. That's what this novel was like for me.

A must read for anyone interested in modern literary novels.

Despite the fact that the cover blurbs promise "a razor-sharp critique of the absurd expectations" of modern affluence, this is merely a story of three women who each loses something of value and has to figure out whether it was really worth all that much to begin with.

Janice loses her husband of 29 years and her title of World's Perfect Silicon Valley Wife, and then is threatened with being denied half her soon-to-be ex's windfall IPO profits.

Eldest daughter Margaret loses her boyfriend and the magazine she has struggled to start goes down the tubes when an anticipated merger falls through.

And 14-year-old Lizzie loses a ton of weight, her virginity, and her reputation.

After setting this triple-play into motion, Brown slows down the show more pace until the last 50 pages or se drag on interminably. If you've already invested your time up to this point, you might as well hang on for the final denouemont, but you probably ought to pack a lunch. It's a long haul. show less

Sweet revenge tale of 40-something woman whose husband takes off with her best friend, without saying a word, on the day that his company goes public, netting him billions. The writing is better, the story more convincing and the cast of characters much more interesting, than in your average ditched-wife novel. A compelling, juicy read.

I read this book on the recommendation of an employee at my favorite local bookstore. And if you think the cover looks yummy, just wait til you get a taste of what's inside!

The book alternates point of view among the three main characters, and I found myself most looking forward to the 20-something daughter's sections. I'm no longer 20-something (sigh) but I identified with her character most of all. She grew up in Quintessential Suburbia but developed into a feminist, liberal woman with aspirations of success in the publishing world.

Even though I was drawn to that one character, I loved all the main characters and could see myself in each of them.

This is one of those books that made me into Bad Mommy because I couldn't resist the show more temptation to sneak a passage here and there while "playing" with my 8-month-old daughter. (It's good for her to see me reading books, right?) show less