Book Review of The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares

I was thrilled to receive a review copy of The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares from the publisher free for the purposes of this review because I loved the Traveling Pants books. I was also excited because I haven't exactly loved some of Brashares' later works, and I was ready to give her writing another chance. I found the premise of Whole Thing delightfully interesting: two teenagers, a guy and a girl, both the same age, whose parents used to be married to each other are now on the flip side of a historically acrimonious divorce. They've never met, but they alternate using the same bedroom in a beach house neither parent is willing to give up, and they share three older sisters. Everything from the partly beach house/partly urban setting to the sprawling-but-disjointed family peaked my curiosity. I don't particularly care for the cover, and, after reading the book, I can honestly say that it doesn't truly fit the story... nor do the people shown match up with some of the character descriptions or with the most important characters one would expect to appear on the cover. And, for some reason, it feels much more like a West Coast beach than an East Coast one to me.

What isn't apparent from the book's summary is that Brashares delves deeply into issues of class and income, adoption and biological families, and racial identity, and she does it all with a sense of grace and a feeling that this isn't an "issue book," but one where the characters and the story veered toward serious topics on their own. Thus, what could've been a breezy beach read or a throwaway book about a family feud has been elevated into a statement about what it really means to be a family, choosing your own identity, and what may get lost or found in the process.

The Whole Thing Together feels much more literary than Brashares' previous works. It also feels like an answer to the Sisterhood books, somehow, as if Brashares sought to write a reply to questions she asked in those volumes, but left without a response. Here, she spills out each can of worms artfully before packing them back up, instead of merely removing the lids and commenting on their presence, as she had previously. This deeper exploration of the cracks in the foundation--from nasty truths about judgments regarding class, income, and rarefied education to parentage and race--makes the characters and plot all the richer. What does it mean that the character (Robert) with the strongest Indian background in the book refuses to discuss it, acknowledge it, or embrace anything from his culture, has married two blonde-haired women, and favors the daughter who looks most her mother, his daughters want to know? Such profound and painful questions carry real weight throughout the book. 

I feel The Whole Thing Together is Brashares' strongest work to date, and definitely one to check out... especially if you're looking for a summer beach read that's more on the serious side, or a book to remind you that there are always families as messed up (or more messed up) than your own. Highly recommended, comes out today.