Maybe it's a 3.5

It felt very repetitive. I swear the FMC mentions wanting kids every other page. She also makes plans based on how she'll have a kid despite the fact that she's getting a divorce, she's 38, she doesn't have a lot of money for fertility treatments, like she just assumes she'll have a kid, so much so that I expected her to find out that she couldn't have kids.
Why do her sisters just randomly have so much money?? Like one of them has a secretary or smth who gets the FMC's plane tickets and then switches the return to her husband's name and blah blah. Who has that kind of money?? And then they're like oh i dont think we can afford to put mom in a retirement home. ?? What.
The FMC and her ex BFF should have taken longer to get back together. I swear they had 5 short convos between her thinking that he thought her mom was a manipulative racist and not having talked to him in 15 years, and then they're dating. And they start dating within a month of her telling her husband that she wants a divorce.

But I do like second chance, already know each other and then fall for each other kind of romance. And I liked the storyline well enough. I enjoyed it as I read it, but analyzing it...I don't love it so so much. ( )

Laine is having a crisis. She’s 38, married, and childless, but her husband doesn’t seem interested in children even though it’s been Laine’s desire since they got married over a decade ago. If that weren’t enough her sister tells her that she needs her to come back to Brooklyn, NY to help with their mom who seems to be exhibiting signs of dementia. Laine isn’t overly concerned. She believes her mother, Sally, misses their deceased father and is lonely, so Laine’s plan is to go to Brooklyn, placate her mother and then return to Michigan. But then her sister informs her that she ran into Laine’s childhood best friend, Ben, whom she had a falling out with many years ago and hasn’t spoken to since college. Her relationship with Ben was complicated then, and her feelings about him now could change the trajectory of her future. Meanwhile, Laine is torn between feelings of anger towards her mom because of a selfish decision her mother made that affected Laine’s life in a substantial way, verses the intense love she feels for her mother as Sally figures out how to navigate her uncertain future.

I really loved this book. It touched me in many ways. There were difficult situations, heartbreaks, relationship dilemmas and other hard realities of life that kept me thoroughly engaged in the story. Camille Pagan’s books speak to me. Everything Must Go took me back to how much I’d enjoyed reading my first Pagan book, Life and Other Near Death Experiences. I was amazed at how funny she could make a tragic situation. Similarly, there were sensitive situations in this book but Pagan managed to keep them from being depressing in that unique way she’s able to accomplish that. The only reason I deducted a half star from it being five stars is because I felt it ended a little abruptly. But maybe there will be a sequel. I sure hope so.

I have to mention that I listened to this book because the main audio narrator, Amy McFadden, did an incredible job. She read in a lackadaisical, slothful tone that fit the main character perfectly. She has a knack for communicating expressions in a way that made me laugh out loud numerous times. I kept rewinding the recording to listen to how some of the characters expressed their feelings. She truly brought them to life. I can still hear their voices in my mind.

Overall, this book was very enjoyable and I recommend it. ( )

Characters are authentic, realistic, imperfect, and relatable
“Everything Must Go” is the story of one family’s experience with dementia and caregiving. (It starts in a risky way for a book; the dog dies.) The story is conversation driven, filled with what people say, what they hear, and what wish they had not seen or heard. Laine Francis relates incidents as an introduction, as if a new neighbor moving in next door, or catching up with a past acquaintance, or perhaps in a therapy session. The narrative goes back and forth in time so readers learn how characters grew into the people they are in the present. Ultimately that past complicates everything; it holds things that were never supposed to be revealed. Sometimes the truth is terrible for people, and so people decide to keep that to themselves.
Laine returns to Brooklyn to care for her mother who needs “help” with the activities of her daily life; to “put things in order.” But that is no easy task; more is needed than just “cleaning out” the assortment of superfluous clothing and unused kitchen appliances. Things are complicated by a past relationship and by the chaos that surrounds the lives of her two sisters, not to mention that of her mother. There is no easy answer for this. However, this might be the chapter in her life when she could shed her identity as the person who gave up her dreams to make other people’s come true. Perhaps the goal is not always to make things simple and painless. Sometimes one must embrace the pain and the mess that it took to get to where you really want to be.

I received a review copy of “Everything Must Go” from Camille Pagán and Lake Union Publishing. “Everything Must Go” is not just a little casual, amusing book even though the title and the cover might suggest that. It is thoughtful, reflective, and sympathetic. The characters are authentic, realistic, imperfect, and relatable.
“Everything Must Go” is now available in print, as an e-book, and on audio from independent bookstores, online booksellers, retail stores, public libraries and anywhere you get your books. ( )

A sort of love story. Mother has dementia. ( )

Thank you to the author, and Readers Coffeehouse (FB).

It was the typical sort of family book I usually read with circumstances like dementia and other things in it. Lainey was the main subject of this plot and Sally, her mother, who had dementia. Family secrets, divorce, sisters are all part of this book.

It wasn't a great book nor was it a bad one either. Just average. ( )