Quindlen’s ‘Every Last One’ a tear-jerker

Readers should have a box of tissues and possibly some Xanax handy before cracking open Anna Quindlen’s heart-wrenching new novel, “Every Last One.”

Mother Mary Beth Latham looks after her husband and children while running a landscaping business. She has her struggles: a busy doctor husband, a daughter who has battled an eating disorder, a depressed son and his athletic twin, who’s at risk for being neglected because of his normalcy.

The Latham house is the one where the neighborhood kids gather, and Mary Beth fosters the security found in their home and strives to make sure everyone’s happy.

Yet at times, like most women, she cries, not quite understanding why.

I have no excuse for my own tears. In the way of women my age, I increasingly count my blessings aloud, as though if other people acknowledge them they’ll be enough: three wonderful children, a long and happy marriage, good home, pleasurable work. And if below the surface I sense that one child is poised to flee and another is miserable, that my husband and I trade public pleasantries and private minutiae, that my work depends on the labor of men who think I’m cheating them — none of that is to be dwelled on. Besides, none of that has anything to do with my tears. If I were pressed, I would have to say that they are the symptom of some great loneliness, as free-floating and untethered to everyday life as a tornado is to the usual weather. It whirls through, ripping and tearing, and then I’m in the parking lot of the supermarket, wiping my eyes, replacing my sunglasses, buying fish and greens for that night’s dinner. If anyone asks how things are, I say what we all say: fine, good, great, terrific, wonderful.

The first half of “Every Last One” fleshes out Mary Beth, her family and their relationships. But at the midway point, an act of shocking violence turns this average home upside down.

Mary Beth faces the biggest challenge of her life, questioning and blaming herself with every step. Her journey, filled with doubt and guilt, becomes one of hope and resilience as she tries to survive her darkest days.

Quindlen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and an “Oprah” author, poignantly captures the beauty and brutality of life. “Every Last One” will touch readers’ hearts and maybe move them to hold their loved ones a little bit closer.