“The flowers depressed her, especially those already wilting. When she looked at the mums, she felt like she wasn’t dying fast enough.”
Allegra Goodman’s This is Not About Us ( The Dial Press 2026) is a sprawling family saga, beautifully highlighting the meaning of family, the ties the bind, the jealousies, the pettiness – the sheer humanness of the relationships we are born into, we marry into, and we fall into. Told through interconnected short stories, the novel follows numerous members of the Rubinstein family and quasi-family (a divorced wife and the sister to the girlfriend of one of the sons), beginning with the death of Jeanne, the youngest of the three matriarchs. While Jeanne is dying, there is falling out between her sisters, Sylvia and Helen, that is all about apple cake while also being nothing about apple cake. The fallout splinters to the rest of the family members, who are dealing with their own sibling rivalries, disappointments, divorces, ballet, being fired, faith, college applications, custody battles, etc. There are several dogs, two of which show up in more than one story – Max the Samoyed and Rosie the Irish setter.
I really enjoyed this book. My favorite “chapter” was likely “Ambrose,” which is from the POV Lily, the youngest Rubinstein, Sylvia’s granddaughter, who is struggling with anxiety and insomnia, followed by “Days of Awe,” which is also about Lily. “Sheba” is a bit of outlier because Jamie is on the fringe – she walks Rosie, but the story isn’t about setter. Jamie’s also Heather’s sister, but we don’t meet Heather until later.
The novel is beautifully rendered – what it does with faith, family, frustrations, failures, and fulfillment is an achievement. If you’re expecting this to be plot driven toward a positive resolution, you’ll need to let that go. The novel grabs human nature by the throat and lets life (and death) play out. I really enjoyed it.
A Girl Named Tommi 