Title: This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman
Book Beginnings/ First Line Friday quote:
Friday56 quote:
Summary:
When their beloved sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into a decade of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives—divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications, bat mitzvahs and ballet recitals—their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible.
Sharply observed and laced with humor, This Is Not About Us is a collection of interconnected stories of growing up and growing old, the weight of parental expectations, and the complex connection between sisters—a big-hearted book about the love that binds a family across generations.
Review: Sylvia and Helen's younger sister, Jeanne, is dying. The two orchestrate that their whole family -- their children and grandchildren -- come for their last visit with their aunt/great-aunt/mother/grandmother/sister. One day of their vigil, Helen, the baker of the family, makes sweet treats for everyone to munch on. They are over baked and dry. The treats sit on the table untouched. The next day Sylvia, who rarely bakes, makes an apple cake from an old family recipe. Everyone eats it up, practically licking their dishes, for its deliciousness. This act of stepping on the family baker's toes, sets off a feud which lasts for years. Helen refuses to talk to her one remaining sister, Sylvia, even when she seeks forgiveness. That is the partial summary of the first story in the collection, titled "Apple Cake".
Each successive chapter/story picks some member of the family and their doings. The Friday56 quote comes from one of Phoebe's stories, for example. She is Sylvia's granddaughter and she inherited her Aunt Jeanne's wonderful violin, but she had shoved it into the closet, trying to ignore it. There is a family tree on the first page and almost all the members of the family get several stories so that ultimately the readers knows everyone pretty well.
I agree with this review:
As Goodman recounts the Rubinsteins’ sibling conflicts, grievances, and grudges, their parenting triumphs and failures, and the many ways they all love and infuriate, push away and yet crave to connect with one another, she holds up a mirror to us all. This Is Not About Us could have been called This Is All About Us or, perhaps, This Is About All of Us. Like an exquisitely baked apple cake, Goodman’s delicious and deeply perceptive novel is something to savor. (Kirkus Reviews)
I had an odd experience with this book. The story, as a whole, was fine and I liked it, but the reading experience was just about perfect for me. The length of the chapters, about ten to twenty pages each, was just the right length for me to read before bed at night. I could read one story from start to finish and turn off the lights, satisfied with where I left off. Usually when I'm reading I just stop at some point because I'm falling asleep. Not with This Is Not About Us. I turned off the light but had the satisfaction of knowing I had finished another story. I was not only savoring the book, I was savoring reading the book.
Rating: 4 stars
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