Kate Says: "Reading Is Fun!"

This book is about a very flawed midwest Jewish family. The book hinges on two events; the twins b'nai mitzvah, and Edie and Richard Middlestein's thirty plus year marriage falling apart due to her not taking care of herself and eating way too many processed foods all hours of the day and night. It's a book about humanity, loss, and on some level desperation because life hasn't turned out the way any of the characters thought it would. Each of the characters handles their sadness and desperation in their own unique ways: Edie eats, Richard denies, Benny and Rachelle smoke pot, Robin drinks, and the twins act out.

As a reader, I really liked the flow of the book as you get the present, past and future stories in each chapter through the narrators point of view, as well as, his or her inner thoughts. I liked the way Jami Attenberg writes, as she says so much in just a few pages. She trusts the reader will bring his or her own experiences to the table as well, which is impossible not to do, and it's even harder to put this book down once you get attached to the Middlesteins because every family is flawed in one way or another.