One True Thing

I bought this book a few years ago at a charity garage sale, not really paying too much attention to what the book was about. (Besides, the entire back cover and several inside pages are just devoted to reviews, leaving no room for a synopsis.) Even though it's been a long time since I've read this book, I still love it. Anna Quindlen is an absolute master (or is it mistress?) at writing. She creates such a touching and unforgettable story about a 24-year-old New Yorker (Ellen Gulden) who returns home to unknowingly take care of her 46-year-old mother who is dying of cancer. The relationships Ellen has with her family are quite captivating (particularly the one she has with her mother) and, at times, even mysterious, which is the case with her father, a man Ellen is always trying to impress.Categorically, "One True Thing" is mainstream literature, but there's an undercurrent of mystery and suspense regarding the events of her mother's sudden death, leading the reader to believe someone in the family was involved in euthanasia--or possibly murder. The ending will certainly surprise you.I highly recommend this book. The 1998 movie that was made, however, is not nearly as good as the book, even though it had some great actresses and actors (Meryl Streep, Renee Zellweger, William Hurt, and Tom Everett Scott). In my opinion, the movie didn't capture Quindlen's storytelling, nor did it do the book any justice. So, in summary: definitely read the book, but rent the movie afterwards only if you're a fan of one of the actors or actresses.

I remember Anna Quindlen when she was a reporter, but I have never read any of her books. I bought this one, not knowing that a movie had been made of it (ok, so I live under a rock), but rather because it was in paperback and I "needed something" to read. "You" says Ellen Gulden's father, as he throws her stuff out on the porch after she suggests he "hire a nurse" to take care of her dying mother, "have a Harvard education, but you have no heart."And so starts her journey back into her family (she quits her job in the big city), back to the mother she never really identified with. So starts her learning process--about human nature...not just about books, or concepts. So starts her learning process about what love is, and what communication between human beings is. It is not just analyzing some dry tract, or being the "Star Pupil". It is far more complicated than that. And this is a complicated, super book.With her mother's inevitable death, her learning process continues and she changes, finally, into a person "with a heart". I cannot express how moved I was by this book. I was absolutely entranced from page one and read it in three days. I sense that many of the people who review in this section ( the book section) like me, love to analyze things and appreciate beautiful, honest writing. Well, guess what? You get that here, but you also get something more--a look at yourself, and how you must communicate with your family and loved ones, in less "removed" ways. I did, anyway. I am going to try to see things from a more human perspective, because of this book. It is good to judge, and yet sometimes it is better to act from the heart. Oh: and I will TRY to COOK MORE. Can't swear I'll clean any more than I already do, but nobody's perfect. :)best, Jean

A reader from Langhorne (just a coincidence) Anna Quindlen has always captivated me, be it in writing or the spoken word. I really was touched by this book because my mother-in-law died a excruciatingly painful death at home from cancer. I felt like Gen for I was the outsider, she did not know how to ask me for help and I did not know how to offer it. My husband and his brothers made their peace while caring for her and you can tell the writer must have experienced something so similar. While reading "Living Out Loud" I learned that her mother did die from cancer and left behind some very young children. I want to commend Ms. Quindlen for a job well done in describing the process we go through when dying and also in coming to terms with our parents dying. I do not cry easily because something really has to touch my inner being and this book did. I totally disagree with a reader from Chicago who only gave this superb novel one star and lambasted the characters as being one-dimensiona. This misinformed reader must not know much about the author and I suggest reading all of her worthwhile books. I have read three but own all of them so I can read them at my leisure; I also have friends waiting for me to pass on the books when I am finished. Kudos to the author for portraying how many families relate and maybe we can achieve that "one true thing" before it is too late.

I'm not a big fan of Oprah's Book Club, but if it brings Anna Quindlen the attention she deserves, then I say it has done more than its share in shaping the literary world. I first became interested in Quindlen when she was doing a talk show plug of _Thinking Out Loud_ (another amazing book!), but when I read this novel, I found all of the smart, witty, real-life-ness of Quindlen's columns translated into masterful fiction.Quindlen writes the kind of story that Anne Tyler tries to write (don't get me wrong, I like Tyler a lot). Touching, tragic, funny and, unlike the much celebrated Tyler, true. The family relationships, the boyfriend and the slow pain of disease feel real enough to touch, to find in your own life. There is no soap opera here, not even a movie of the week. The reader need not participate in the "willing suspension of disbelief" because s/he actually begins to believe s/he's reading a memior.Nonetheless, the language is beautiful. Quindlen has no difficulty moving between the realms of reporter and novelist, perhaps because her reporting has always been wonderfully...human.The one true thing here is that you can't go wrong with anything Quindlen writes. Read it all. She does two things that are too often mutually exclusive: touches the mind and the soul.