All of Us and Everything: A Novel

I have enjoyed Asher's previous books, but I think she was too ambitious within too few pages this time. All of the three Rockwell sisters (not to mention Esme's daughter Atty) could have benefited from longer, more in-depth exploration of their story arcs. There's also a strange self-contradictory tone to the novel - middle sister Liv is a drug addict, Atty has been expelled from school after an incident that may or may not have been suicidal - but nobody seems too concerned about either problem. Then there's matriarch Augusta, whose long-held secret comes to light after Hurricane Sandy and has a huge impact on her three daughters, yet again it's difficult to feel fully invested in the resolution. Asher walks a fine line between farce and tragedy, and she occasionally veers too far in either direction for comfort. All of Us and Everything is definitely not your average Lifetime network women's fiction. I'd compare it to the work of Laurie Colwin, or perhaps Elinor Lipman - not quite as clever, but slightly more heartfelt.