We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
By Karen Joy Fowler
- Release Date: 2013-05-30
- Genre: Literary Fiction
Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club introduces a middle-class American family that is ordinary in every way but one in this novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.
Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. “I was raised with a chimpanzee,” she explains. “I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren’t thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern’s expulsion...she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister.” As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence.
In We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date—a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.
“A gripping, big-hearted book...through the tender voice of her protagonist, Fowler has a lot to say about family, memory, language, science, and indeed the question of what constitutes a human being.”—Khaled Hosseini
Reviews
(Devastating but) Good read
4By ElaineT2Parts were very hard to read, but the story was so well written that I wanted to (needed to) read it all because I was so invested in the story and characters. Recommended reading, but with this caveat: I’m able to compartmentalize pretty well and don’t usually have emotional reactions to fiction. However, there were a few passages about animal mistreatment and cruelty in this story that made me have to put the book down to take some deep breaths and wipe a few tears away before I could continue. Still, it was a very satisfying read.Outstanding!
5By carocrossI read a lot. This book a class unto itself. Beautiful! Highly recommended.nearly flawless
5By dpiedDo not look up the premise of this book before you read it. You want to be surprised. The language is captivating, heartbreaking and hilarious. and the way the story contracts and expands as the author tells it came at me like nothing I’ve ever read. At first the protagonist might seem shallow but she’s an undergrad in the 90s. We all seemed shallow. The story of her life and the lives around her is ocean deep and the relationships she has with the inhabitants of the story as well as herself go deep, then surface as if for breath and barrel down again. So powerful. Hint: look up words, ideas and phrases you don’t know because they often come back like very meaningful lost children.Incredible
5By kimberlyanneofI read a lot. I’ve been moved by many books. This was more than a book- it was a beautiful experience. Every word sings to you. The characters are realistic and poignant and the way they are written implants themselves into you, you quickly become invested in them. I had sadness that the story had to end at all. Read it. Read it, read it.Not at all what you think
5By Cheep ReaderThis is a book in a class by itself. So beyond the norm of story telling. Heart wrenching yet so rewarding it gives the reader much to ponder. Wow. Just, wow.Maybe should have ended in the middle, too
3By AppappislameThis book has a lot to recommend it, but it gets so incredibly dull and drawn out by the final quarter that I simply walked away from the last 50 or so pages -- something I VERY rarely do. If the primary character were the author, I would say this is unbelievably self-serving, but in the case of fiction there is simply no reason for so much droning on. If you're ok with putting an unfinished book down, then by all means start this one. But I guarantee you won't be compelled to finish it.Profoundly beautiful and ... Devastating
5By HodgePodgeI finished the book in 2 days. After I was done I wept on and off for hours.An Exceptional Book
5By SharwrayThought provoking and heart-wrenching, I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. There is so much to take away from it. The book's message is loud and clear, love and respect for all creatures, big and small.Great read
4By Scast90I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Please do everything you can to avoid reading the back and any spoilers, it truly makes it so much more enjoyable!A journey unlike any before
5By SdmmmflTranscendent
