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bumblebeekip23's review
5.0
I received an advanced copy of "All the Best People" and feel honored! It was a fantastic read and I encourage you to read it when it comes out next year! A story told by four different women from the same family. So much happens and I did not want the book to end! Taking place during the depression and then the 1970s the story has so much to it and is told wonderfully! I look forward to reading more by this author!
krissymartini's review
2.0
This was Vermont. I did not find much to like about this book. Some of the characters were absolutely despicable! Also other than saying it’s set in Vermont, I didn’t get any sense of it.
theocbookgirl's review
4.0
I really liked Sonja Yoerg's latest book. The author places her characters in her beautiful hometown state of Vermont in this family-driven look at mental illness, betrayal and secrets. I loved her characters, Solange, Carole and Alison, (while Janine was a lot harder to love.) The story is told in three parts, with most of the "family history" in part two. There are themes of betrayal and loss, and mental illness and heartbreak. The men in the story, Osborn, Walt, Warren and Lester each had their place and personalities. Walt was my favorite with his kindness and loyalty to Carole. The descriptions of Carole's illness and how it was affecting her were so well drawn, I felt her desperation and confusion so clearly. Janine, Carole's sister never really redeemed herself and in fact she was unapologetic and selfish and manipulative.
Favorite quote: "Each time someone recognized her and shared a memory, she remembered pieces of herself she'd buried or cast aside. It was if a part of her, a substantial part, existed in these people, in their memories and in their hearts."
(What Solange felt when she was among her people, her family.)
Favorite quote: "Each time someone recognized her and shared a memory, she remembered pieces of herself she'd buried or cast aside. It was if a part of her, a substantial part, existed in these people, in their memories and in their hearts."
(What Solange felt when she was among her people, her family.)
yetanothersusan's review
4.0
A mother, Carole, a sister, Janine, a daughter, Alison, and a grandmother, Solange are all narrators in this book about mental illness, family, love, and trust. The reader is held victim as mental illness creeps up on Carole, just as she is held victim to watching her own destruction. The reader is engaged in Solange’s fight with society over social class and women’s lack of rights in Depression America. The story bounces back and forth in time and between the four women. It got a bit too much. The drawback, in what was an otherwise well told story, was the addition of the other two voices: Alison and Janine. Alison, Carole’s daughter, did offer a valuable outsider’s view of what Carole’s condition looked like. But there was too much time spent in her world. Janine, I felt, added no value and in fact detracted from the central focus of the story. These minor distractions aside, Ms. Yoerg presents an incredibly personal story of mental illness.
A copy of this book was provided by Penguin First to Read in exchange for an honest review.
A copy of this book was provided by Penguin First to Read in exchange for an honest review.
smartgirlsread's review
4.0
Set primarily in the early 1970s, All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg centers around Carole, a loving mother of three, a wife helping run her husband's car repair garage and the oldest daughter of a woman who has spent the last three-and-a-half decades locked in a mental institution. When Carole begins hearing voices, the fear that she is following in her mother's footsteps is more than she can stand. Having seen first hand what happens to people who lose their grip on reality, Carole's only option is to pretend it isn't happening to her and to hide it as best she can. Carole's young daughter, Alison, sees that something is wrong with her mother, but she can't understand what is happening. Though she wants to help and tries talking to her father and her aunt about it, Alison feels helpless.
This book is an interesting exploration of family dynamics, the barriers that often exist between rich and poor, especially in the years following the Great Depression, and the realities of mental illness in a time when so little was understood about it. Told in the three perspectives of Carole, her mother Solange, and Alison, we also see three different time periods. We meet Solange when she is young and are allowed to watch as events lead up to her commitment to the nearby mental hospital. We see Carole as a young child forced to deal with the loss of her mother in a situation that she can't understand and of which no one will speak, let alone explain. And we see Alison leaving childhood, becoming a young woman and not having the motherly support she needs. Written in such a beautiful way, I was touched by not just the words Yoerg used, but their rhythm. For instance, this section when Carole is hearing voices:
Voices pursued her. She couldn't make out the words and was almost inside the side that was in not the side that was out inside out like a sock pulled off in a hurry. Keep your insides in. Keep your outsides out. Sounded simple simple Simon Simon says touch your nose touch your head. Touched head. Dead.
The first section I encountered like this briefly confused me, but it took only a moment for me to find the pace and to understand that the author was bringing the reader into Carole's madness, sharing her thoughts with us. That is what I enjoyed about this book. There were a few characters that seemed almost unnecessary to the story, characters that might make sense if they had more development. There were a few tangents I wish she had explored more deeply, but overall I really liked this book. This isn't a light, easy read (it does focus on mental illness, after all), but neither is it too heavy. Interesting and beautifully written, this is a book I think you would enjoy.
This book is an interesting exploration of family dynamics, the barriers that often exist between rich and poor, especially in the years following the Great Depression, and the realities of mental illness in a time when so little was understood about it. Told in the three perspectives of Carole, her mother Solange, and Alison, we also see three different time periods. We meet Solange when she is young and are allowed to watch as events lead up to her commitment to the nearby mental hospital. We see Carole as a young child forced to deal with the loss of her mother in a situation that she can't understand and of which no one will speak, let alone explain. And we see Alison leaving childhood, becoming a young woman and not having the motherly support she needs. Written in such a beautiful way, I was touched by not just the words Yoerg used, but their rhythm. For instance, this section when Carole is hearing voices:
Voices pursued her. She couldn't make out the words and was almost inside the side that was in not the side that was out inside out like a sock pulled off in a hurry. Keep your insides in. Keep your outsides out. Sounded simple simple Simon Simon says touch your nose touch your head. Touched head. Dead.
The first section I encountered like this briefly confused me, but it took only a moment for me to find the pace and to understand that the author was bringing the reader into Carole's madness, sharing her thoughts with us. That is what I enjoyed about this book. There were a few characters that seemed almost unnecessary to the story, characters that might make sense if they had more development. There were a few tangents I wish she had explored more deeply, but overall I really liked this book. This isn't a light, easy read (it does focus on mental illness, after all), but neither is it too heavy. Interesting and beautifully written, this is a book I think you would enjoy.
eileen9311's review
2.0
Remembering how much I’d liked Still Alice, by Lisa Genova, I decided to give this a try. The afflictions were different, as Still Alice dealt with early onset Alzheimer’s, while this novel revolved around a family who must come to grips with a gradual onset of mental illness. Having read half the book, though, I lost patience with the preposterous plot development. Furthermore, the novel seemed much too long and lacked holding power. There were many favorable reviews, though. Just me. 2 stars
amothersmusings1's review
5.0
"All The Best People" is an outstanding piece of contemporary fiction focusing primarily on a family's struggle with mental health whilst incorporating a brilliant family saga including social class issues that covers many decades.
There's some really likeable and realistic characters in this story who are warm, engaging and very compelling to read about - I was gripped with Solange's story of her younger years leading up to her confinement at a mental institution and I just loved little Alison. Set in Vermont in 1972 the story covers three generations of Carole LaPorte's family, going back in time to the 1920's and Solange's story.
With the main emphasis of the story on mental health and a family's struggle, it's obvious the author has done a lot of research into this area and it was saddening to read that historically mental illnesses were treated in the ways they were i.e. Ice water baths and colonics etc., sometimes even without a thorough diagnosis.
This is first time I have read anything by this author Sonja Yoerg - her writing is professional, polished, full of emotion and she knows how to keep the reader engaged in an intriguing and interesting story - I'd happily look out for more books by her again.
I truly enjoyed this character driven book, easy to read and follow and with such a moving story, beautiful prose and literary excellence, I guarantee this heartfelt book will be loved by all readers young and old of this genre.
A beautiful 5 stars.
Thank you to Penguin Random House International and the Goodreads Giveaways for my copy.
There's some really likeable and realistic characters in this story who are warm, engaging and very compelling to read about - I was gripped with Solange's story of her younger years leading up to her confinement at a mental institution and I just loved little Alison. Set in Vermont in 1972 the story covers three generations of Carole LaPorte's family, going back in time to the 1920's and Solange's story.
With the main emphasis of the story on mental health and a family's struggle, it's obvious the author has done a lot of research into this area and it was saddening to read that historically mental illnesses were treated in the ways they were i.e. Ice water baths and colonics etc., sometimes even without a thorough diagnosis.
This is first time I have read anything by this author Sonja Yoerg - her writing is professional, polished, full of emotion and she knows how to keep the reader engaged in an intriguing and interesting story - I'd happily look out for more books by her again.
I truly enjoyed this character driven book, easy to read and follow and with such a moving story, beautiful prose and literary excellence, I guarantee this heartfelt book will be loved by all readers young and old of this genre.
A beautiful 5 stars.
Thank you to Penguin Random House International and the Goodreads Giveaways for my copy.
piepieb's review against another edition
3.0
Overall not a bad story - "All the Best People" explores how the beginnings of schizophrenia is affecting housewife Carole... and it's revealed that her mother, Solange (with family drama and a hidden secret of her own), was committed to a mental hospital years and years ago, apparently with the same disease.
Carole's young daughter, Alison, looks on as her mother starts behaving very oddly. Alison has no one around to "mother" her and take her seriously, and she has to navigate tough stuff by herself: buying a bra, having a crush, troubles with friends.
Not an earth-shattering story, almost depressing, and hardly any of them I thought were likeable except Alison and her cat, Sally.
Thanks, Netgalley, for this arc.
Carole's young daughter, Alison, looks on as her mother starts behaving very oddly. Alison has no one around to "mother" her and take her seriously, and she has to navigate tough stuff by herself: buying a bra, having a crush, troubles with friends.
Not an earth-shattering story, almost depressing, and hardly any of them I thought were likeable except Alison and her cat, Sally.
Thanks, Netgalley, for this arc.
finishingmycoffeemike's review against another edition
3.0
*Advanced copy from Goodreads giveaway*
Sonja Yoerg takes on some complex and heady topics in this inter-generational look at mental illness. Set in Yoerg's home state of Vermont, the book takes place in both the 1970s and 1920s-1940s as it explores a grandmother, mother, and daughter each facing the apparent genetic predisposition to schizophrenia in their family.
Yoerg gives an impressive depiction of adult-onset schizophrenia, describing both the terrifying symptoms and the struggles of admitting to them as parent and provider. The daughter's conflicted reaction to her mother's psychosis is also treated with all of the complexity it deserves. Psychotropic medications, when introduced, are treated honestly - dry mouth, weight gain, and all.
These themes bouy the book's weaker areas. Unfortunately, outside of the main characters - the grandmother Solange, mother Carole, and the daughter Alison - everyone comes off as mostly two-dimensional, veering into stock character territory. This is almost understandable for some of the men, but is particularly unfortunate for Carole's sister, Janine. Janine seems to drift off into her own melodramatic narrative, when her difficult experiences and her unique perspective seem as if they could have been so much better intertwined into the whole. The book also features a brief disappointing 'mental illness as super power' moment in the climax, along with an unfortunate and unnecessary plot twist.
While some settings, like Alison's river, are described with attention and love, others seem that they could have used more focus, since the Vermont setting is so central to the book and sometimes fails to come alive. Instead, when not covering the hard emotions, the writing style becomes stiffer, simpler, and at times disengaging.
Nevertheless, Yoerg does infuse the book with fascinating pieces of Vermont's past. Her compelling use of the real Ploof v. Putnam case leads to an interesting and excellent look at the history of Burlington, eugenics, and mental health treatment. The results are shocking and make for a gripping addition to the narrative.
All in all, Yoerg bit off a lot with this book. While All the Best People certainly has its flaws, it is still a transfixing journey with ideas that receive the attention they deserve.
Sonja Yoerg takes on some complex and heady topics in this inter-generational look at mental illness. Set in Yoerg's home state of Vermont, the book takes place in both the 1970s and 1920s-1940s as it explores a grandmother, mother, and daughter each facing the apparent genetic predisposition to schizophrenia in their family.
Yoerg gives an impressive depiction of adult-onset schizophrenia, describing both the terrifying symptoms and the struggles of admitting to them as parent and provider. The daughter's conflicted reaction to her mother's psychosis is also treated with all of the complexity it deserves. Psychotropic medications, when introduced, are treated honestly - dry mouth, weight gain, and all.
These themes bouy the book's weaker areas. Unfortunately, outside of the main characters - the grandmother Solange, mother Carole, and the daughter Alison - everyone comes off as mostly two-dimensional, veering into stock character territory. This is almost understandable for some of the men, but is particularly unfortunate for Carole's sister, Janine. Janine seems to drift off into her own melodramatic narrative, when her difficult experiences and her unique perspective seem as if they could have been so much better intertwined into the whole. The book also features a brief disappointing 'mental illness as super power' moment in the climax, along with an unfortunate and unnecessary plot twist.
While some settings, like Alison's river, are described with attention and love, others seem that they could have used more focus, since the Vermont setting is so central to the book and sometimes fails to come alive. Instead, when not covering the hard emotions, the writing style becomes stiffer, simpler, and at times disengaging.
Nevertheless, Yoerg does infuse the book with fascinating pieces of Vermont's past. Her compelling use of the real Ploof v. Putnam case leads to an interesting and excellent look at the history of Burlington, eugenics, and mental health treatment. The results are shocking and make for a gripping addition to the narrative.
All in all, Yoerg bit off a lot with this book. While All the Best People certainly has its flaws, it is still a transfixing journey with ideas that receive the attention they deserve.