Anna Quindlen

Every Last One

Peggy Walker

When I went to add this book to my Kindle, it was apparent I'd read it before, but I didn't remember it at all well. I think it must have been because it was after my accident and surgery, and much of that period is hazy. Also, I think it's because it's a difficult book for a mother to read. It's difficult; not just because of the horrific events that interrupt a fairly normal life, but because of the things that happened before that. We find out that the daughter had survived a period of anorexia/bulimia. We never know exactly what triggered that, but they've all survived. Still, someone who thought of herself as a sensitive and hyper-vigilant mother didn't see the issue right in front of her until she saw her daughter undressed one day and saw that she could clearly see every bone in her torso. She had to have other members of her family and school teachers and counselors tell her that her son was severely depressed. She didn't see that her daughter's former boyfriend had turned into a dangerous stalker whose obsession was ready to leap out of control. Those things are truly frightening. She includes a thought that really struck me as so fundamentally true. She says that everyone who loses someone who dies re-experiences the death every morning as they emerge from sleep. At first, the death hasn't happened, and then as the web of sleep releases them, they have to ask themselves "the question" again, and the death happens all over again. [return][return]All the violence in this book happens in another room, and can only be imagined in retrospect, but it is very, very difficult to experience through reading just the same. The only thing that needs to be noted about an exceptionally well-written book. Highly recommended.

Every Last One

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