THIS IS NOT ABOUT US by Allegra Goodman

4 stars

From the author of Isola comes a radically different book: a sprawling family saga covering multi-generations of a modern Jewish family, the Rubinsteins, from Brookline Massachusetts. The matriarchs are 3 sisters, the youngest of whom is dying at home at the book’s opening, much to the chagrin of her older and alienated from each other sisters, Sylvia and Helen. The book set over three years from 2015-2017.

Feuding over who stole whose recipe for apple cake served at key family events, Sylvia and Helen each stew in the haves and have nots of their immediate family, from children to grandchildren to nieces and nephews. The book alternates sharing key short stories of important life moments in each of the members of the Rubinstein family – all told in first person from a highly individualistic perspective. From what constitutes success to what constitutes a career, from intense expectations around the holidays to flashbacks from childhood, from what it means to be a parent to what it means to not have children from what it means to be Jewish to being agnostic: everyone’s brooding about their own life state and making comparisons.

The whole story reverberates with the inherent joy and neuroses interwoven into modern families, which relatedly proves both highly comical and deeply resonant.

Thanks to The Dial Press, Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.