Having millions of dollars in your bank account, having the best cars, the biggest house, being the wife of a soon to be CEO, seems like the best life ever until you add a cheating husband, a meth dealing pool boy, a pregnant teenage daughter and a daughter that owes over a hundred thousand dollars to credit card companies. This book is about middle aged women named Janice Miller and her two daughters Lizzie and Margaret life after their husband/father left them for Janice’s tennis partner, Beverly. This story takes place in Santa Rita during the summer of 2009.The main plot of this story is the divorce of Janice and her husband Paul, who is a soon to be CEO and billionaire. The story shows how Janice loses her perfect grip and at the same time doesn’t realize who her daughters have become. The reason for the divorce is never told in the book, the author makes the readers guess. The divorce/the horrible pre-nuptial agreement about Paul’s money assets for the Coifex pills all happened because of Paul’s trickery and lying to Janice and his family .All We Ever Wanted was Everything by Janelle Brown is a must read book for readers above fifteen, you will never want to put it down, this book teaches you too keep moving on and it makes us look into our lives and wonder if everything is alright.
Sometimes a tragedy can be a blessing is the theme of this book. When something bad happens you have to look for people to find comfort in and sometimes that involves fixing broken family ties and it also means that you have to overcome the obstacles and look back in your life and see what you can fix. Margaret the older daughter left to go live in Los Angeles and start her own magazine called Snatch, however the magazine doesn’t have a huge take off and Margret is left in debt and being harassed by her ex-boyfriend who turned movie star and debt collectors. This huge turn off events left Margaret to go back home and re-connect with her Mom and to find quick cash jobs while helping her mom with the divorce which shows her that family is more important than anything and that they will help her. Another huge tragedy that happened is Janice’s divorce. However Janice’s divorce helped her to see how much she has lost connection with her daughters and that she let her materialistic life change her. For Margaret and Janice the tragedy of everything and having to start from zero helped them realize that family is important and that starting from zero isn’t always bad.
The story’s setting basically triggers the divorce by blinding Janice from the greedy women, the gossipers and the society of elite high schools. If this story would have taken place in the 1700’s in the mid-west the stories plot would be completely different. The need to have the biggest cars and the house wouldn’t be the biggest worry. Another way the story would be completely different is that Paul’s company wouldn’t have taken off or even exist because of the lack of technology that they had back then. Also divorce wasn’t a big thing back then so Paul and Janice would have had to confront their problems and the Miller family wouldn’t be broken up.
` When starting over you sometimes have to change yourself. In this book, Lizzie, the youngest daughter goes from being the fat loser to being the stunning swimmer on the swim team. However for Lizzie losing all the weight and becoming gorgeous attracted the boys in her grade and Lizzie becomes the school slut and even having a scoreboard in the boy’s locker room, where the boys write when they had sex with her. This becomes a huge problem for Lindsey because she feels used and every girl hates her. Lindsey starts going to church and learns about adultery but she becomes pregnant at fifteen. This adds to the conflict by adding extra stress on Janice{ her mom} and requires her mom to think if it is all her fault and all the extra stress makes Janice go back to using meth but as she calls it ,It. Sweet Lizzie isn’t so sweet anymore. Another huge transformation is Janice’s. Janice used to be the super mom. Always cooking the best meals and always knowing what to do. However after the divorce Janice turns into a wreck. She starts using meth which she buys from her pool boy. This adds on to her divorce because some of the gossip spies tell Paul that Janice is seeing the pool boy, who has a record. Janice’s conflict is a mess. She has become a drug addict, she had lost connection with her daughters and she embarrasses herself without burst while being high on meth. Janice went from being the well put mom to being a drug addict struggling to figure out how to get her life back.
The structure of this book is helpful to fully understand the story. The author uses flashbacks a lot in the book. The flashbacks are helpful because they go back and add more clarity to what is going on. Another way the flashbacks are helpful, is that they explain why something is happening. For example when Lizzie was asking Margaret how her and her ex-boyfriend are {Lizzie didn’t know that they weren’t together} Margaret flashbacks to her and Bart’s last fight before he left. Over all, the structure is very organized and clear. The author doesn’t jump around a lot, so it is very easy to follow.
The author’s syntax is very up and down. Sometimes you have to stop and think about the sentences and sometimes you have to re-read the sentence, but sometimes the sentences are really clear. “For a moment she considers chasing her mother down to tell her about her confrontation with Paul-I gave it all up for you!-just to see the stunned look of guilt on her face, No, she thinks. Let her find out on her own!”(pg.261, Brown). The sentences like this in the book are very confusing because you don’t know who said, “I gave it all up for you”, you have to use context clues. Another sentence is “Janice feels the crunch of the gravel through the think rubber of her slippers, the slap of her purse against her satin bathrobe as she jogs toward the car, the dimple the remote lock under her finger.”(372, Brown). Sentences like this show how the author uses details to clarify the sentence and to make you feel like you are there, the imagery in the sentence is huge. However the author still uses easy sentences that you don’t need to think about because there is so much detail. “Her father rolled his eyes and muttered something about” throwing away her potential” and the fortune they’d wasted on her education.” This sentence clearly states that her parents are disappointed in her and they are not shy to say that. (pg.151, Brown)
In the life when you do something there is always an effect and sometimes the effect can be positive and sometimes it can be negative. In the book the first cause and effect story is when Bart persuades Margaret to leave New York {Margaret left to go to college in New York} and goes to Los Angeles. This is when Margaret’s life becomes to go downhill because she starts taking money from Bart and she becomes in debt because a few months after she moved with Bart, he left her. Another story is when Janice see’s that her pool boy James came to work high Janice sees how happy he is and she wants what he has so that she can finally be happy again. This is when Janice starts using Meth. The effect of this is that Janice becomes addicted fast and she is seen a lot with James and her neighbors start talking and the news gets to Paul and he looks into James and sees his record. Her relationship with James complicated her divorce. Lastly there is Lizzie. After Lizzie lost all her weight, she wanted to lose her virginity as soon as possible because all the other girls where calling her prude. So Lizzie lost her virginity Johnny while they were both drunk. After guys heard about what she did, they made her drunk at parties, so that she will sleep with them. This made Lizzie the school slut and she lost respect from everybody because of that mistake that she made when she way drunk with Johnny. Her becoming the school slut also resulted in her becoming pregnant after she drank way to much one night and slept with Mark Weatherlove, the son of the mistress that Paul was cheating with while being with Janice.
When picking a book reviews are very important. After reading this book, I am happy that there are people who liked it too. “The book seems a bit long, but it’s a great page turner that would be a great summer or vacation read. It had more substance that your typical “chick-lit” book because it focused on the real problems of the 3 Miller women,”-(Kelly, Good Reads.) I totally agree with this quote. This book might be long but you cannot put the book down. “I read this book in one sitting through an overcast Saturday afternoon and evening. The praise on its cover describes "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" as the perfect summer read, and I would agree.”(Alexandria Baca, Good Reads.) I also agree with this quote. This is definitely a book that you can read during the summer by the pool because no matter what the weather, during summer when you are not doing anything, this book is a choice! “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything is not all rainbows and ice cream sundaes as the cover of this novel depicts, but more closely resembles a train wreck that also catches on fire, blows up, and then drowns.”(-Sarah, Good Reads.) I disagree with this book. Even though the cover can be deceiving it all makes sense at the end, so clearly this person didn't finish the book. Also this book isn't really all that depressing, there are parts where you just sit and laugh for a minute.
After reading this paper you are probably thinking, so what? This book teaches you about triumph and how to overcome the biggest obstacles, when you don’t expect them. The lessons that you learn in this book can help you solve your family and friendship problems. This booking is funny and has its hidden humor. Who doesn't want a book filled with gossip and with events that can happen to anybody. Everybody loves a good story that takes them away from their problems and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything does that.
Sometimes a tragedy can be a blessing is the theme of this book. When something bad happens you have to look for people to find comfort in and sometimes that involves fixing broken family ties and it also means that you have to overcome the obstacles and look back in your life and see what you can fix. Margaret the older daughter left to go live in Los Angeles and start her own magazine called Snatch, however the magazine doesn’t have a huge take off and Margret is left in debt and being harassed by her ex-boyfriend who turned movie star and debt collectors. This huge turn off events left Margaret to go back home and re-connect with her Mom and to find quick cash jobs while helping her mom with the divorce which shows her that family is more important than anything and that they will help her. Another huge tragedy that happened is Janice’s divorce. However Janice’s divorce helped her to see how much she has lost connection with her daughters and that she let her materialistic life change her. For Margaret and Janice the tragedy of everything and having to start from zero helped them realize that family is important and that starting from zero isn’t always bad.
The story’s setting basically triggers the divorce by blinding Janice from the greedy women, the gossipers and the society of elite high schools. If this story would have taken place in the 1700’s in the mid-west the stories plot would be completely different. The need to have the biggest cars and the house wouldn’t be the biggest worry. Another way the story would be completely different is that Paul’s company wouldn’t have taken off or even exist because of the lack of technology that they had back then. Also divorce wasn’t a big thing back then so Paul and Janice would have had to confront their problems and the Miller family wouldn’t be broken up.
` When starting over you sometimes have to change yourself. In this book, Lizzie, the youngest daughter goes from being the fat loser to being the stunning swimmer on the swim team. However for Lizzie losing all the weight and becoming gorgeous attracted the boys in her grade and Lizzie becomes the school slut and even having a scoreboard in the boy’s locker room, where the boys write when they had sex with her. This becomes a huge problem for Lindsey because she feels used and every girl hates her. Lindsey starts going to church and learns about adultery but she becomes pregnant at fifteen. This adds to the conflict by adding extra stress on Janice{ her mom} and requires her mom to think if it is all her fault and all the extra stress makes Janice go back to using meth but as she calls it ,It. Sweet Lizzie isn’t so sweet anymore. Another huge transformation is Janice’s. Janice used to be the super mom. Always cooking the best meals and always knowing what to do. However after the divorce Janice turns into a wreck. She starts using meth which she buys from her pool boy. This adds on to her divorce because some of the gossip spies tell Paul that Janice is seeing the pool boy, who has a record. Janice’s conflict is a mess. She has become a drug addict, she had lost connection with her daughters and she embarrasses herself without burst while being high on meth. Janice went from being the well put mom to being a drug addict struggling to figure out how to get her life back.
The structure of this book is helpful to fully understand the story. The author uses flashbacks a lot in the book. The flashbacks are helpful because they go back and add more clarity to what is going on. Another way the flashbacks are helpful, is that they explain why something is happening. For example when Lizzie was asking Margaret how her and her ex-boyfriend are {Lizzie didn’t know that they weren’t together} Margaret flashbacks to her and Bart’s last fight before he left. Over all, the structure is very organized and clear. The author doesn’t jump around a lot, so it is very easy to follow.
The author’s syntax is very up and down. Sometimes you have to stop and think about the sentences and sometimes you have to re-read the sentence, but sometimes the sentences are really clear. “For a moment she considers chasing her mother down to tell her about her confrontation with Paul-I gave it all up for you!-just to see the stunned look of guilt on her face, No, she thinks. Let her find out on her own!”(pg.261, Brown). The sentences like this in the book are very confusing because you don’t know who said, “I gave it all up for you”, you have to use context clues. Another sentence is “Janice feels the crunch of the gravel through the think rubber of her slippers, the slap of her purse against her satin bathrobe as she jogs toward the car, the dimple the remote lock under her finger.”(372, Brown). Sentences like this show how the author uses details to clarify the sentence and to make you feel like you are there, the imagery in the sentence is huge. However the author still uses easy sentences that you don’t need to think about because there is so much detail. “Her father rolled his eyes and muttered something about” throwing away her potential” and the fortune they’d wasted on her education.” This sentence clearly states that her parents are disappointed in her and they are not shy to say that. (pg.151, Brown)
In the life when you do something there is always an effect and sometimes the effect can be positive and sometimes it can be negative. In the book the first cause and effect story is when Bart persuades Margaret to leave New York {Margaret left to go to college in New York} and goes to Los Angeles. This is when Margaret’s life becomes to go downhill because she starts taking money from Bart and she becomes in debt because a few months after she moved with Bart, he left her. Another story is when Janice see’s that her pool boy James came to work high Janice sees how happy he is and she wants what he has so that she can finally be happy again. This is when Janice starts using Meth. The effect of this is that Janice becomes addicted fast and she is seen a lot with James and her neighbors start talking and the news gets to Paul and he looks into James and sees his record. Her relationship with James complicated her divorce. Lastly there is Lizzie. After Lizzie lost all her weight, she wanted to lose her virginity as soon as possible because all the other girls where calling her prude. So Lizzie lost her virginity Johnny while they were both drunk. After guys heard about what she did, they made her drunk at parties, so that she will sleep with them. This made Lizzie the school slut and she lost respect from everybody because of that mistake that she made when she way drunk with Johnny. Her becoming the school slut also resulted in her becoming pregnant after she drank way to much one night and slept with Mark Weatherlove, the son of the mistress that Paul was cheating with while being with Janice.
When picking a book reviews are very important. After reading this book, I am happy that there are people who liked it too. “The book seems a bit long, but it’s a great page turner that would be a great summer or vacation read. It had more substance that your typical “chick-lit” book because it focused on the real problems of the 3 Miller women,”-(Kelly, Good Reads.) I totally agree with this quote. This book might be long but you cannot put the book down. “I read this book in one sitting through an overcast Saturday afternoon and evening. The praise on its cover describes "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" as the perfect summer read, and I would agree.”(Alexandria Baca, Good Reads.) I also agree with this quote. This is definitely a book that you can read during the summer by the pool because no matter what the weather, during summer when you are not doing anything, this book is a choice! “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything is not all rainbows and ice cream sundaes as the cover of this novel depicts, but more closely resembles a train wreck that also catches on fire, blows up, and then drowns.”(-Sarah, Good Reads.) I disagree with this book. Even though the cover can be deceiving it all makes sense at the end, so clearly this person didn't finish the book. Also this book isn't really all that depressing, there are parts where you just sit and laugh for a minute.
After reading this paper you are probably thinking, so what? This book teaches you about triumph and how to overcome the biggest obstacles, when you don’t expect them. The lessons that you learn in this book can help you solve your family and friendship problems. This booking is funny and has its hidden humor. Who doesn't want a book filled with gossip and with events that can happen to anybody. Everybody loves a good story that takes them away from their problems and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything does that.
RSS Feed