We're All in This Together

Name: We're All in This Together
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Amy Jones
ISBN: 9780771048524

Author: Amy Jones

Narrator: Ruth Marshall

Unabridged: 14 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Published: 01/15/2019

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women, Family Life

Synopsis

Winner of Northern Lit Award

Finalist for the Leacock Medal for Humour

Quill & Quire "Books of the Year 2016"

Globe & Mail "Best Canadian Fiction of 2016"

A Penguin Book Club Pick

A woman goes over a waterfall, a video goes viral, a family goes into meltdown—life is about to get a lot more complicated for the Parker family.

Like all families, the Parkers of Thunder Bay have had their share of complications. But when matriarch Kate Parker miraculously survives plummeting over a waterfall in a barrel—a feat captured on a video that goes viral—it's Kate's family who tumbles into chaos under the spotlight. Her prodigal daughter returns to town. Her 16-year-old granddaughter gets caught up in an online relationship with a man she has never met. Her husband sifts through their marriage to search for what sent his wife over the falls. Her adopted son fears losing the only family he's ever known. Then there is Kate, who once made a life-changing choice and now fears her advancing dementia will rob her of memories from when she was most herself. Set over the course of four calamitous days, Amy Jones's big-hearted first novel follows the Parkers' misadventures as catastrophe forces them to do something they never thought possible—act like a family.

About The Author

AMY JONES's first novel, We're All in This Together, was a national bestseller, won the Northern Lit Award, and was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Her debut collection of stories, What Boys Like, won the Metcalf-Rooke Award and was a finalist for the ReLit Award. She won the 2006 CBC Literary Prize for Short Fiction, was a finalist for the 2005 Bronwen Wallace Award, and is a graduate of the Optional Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Her fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Storiesand The Journey Prize Stories. Originally from Halifax, she lived in Thunder Bay for many years before moving to Toronto.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer on August 22, 2016

I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway, and I'm so glad it has a permanent place in my collection. We're All In This Together is the type of book you can read at different times in your life and get something totally different from it each time. I've been the callow teenager and the lost......more

Goodreads review by Teresa on June 28, 2016

4.5 stars. In the end, every family is fucked up, right? That's the overriding theme of this novel set in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I've never been to Thunder Bay, but to me it sounds a lot like a bigger version of Ladner - always overshdowed by Toronto, people either desperate to get out or happy to st......more

Goodreads review by Ankur on May 06, 2020

I loved this book! A quirky family drama that takes place in Thunder Bay, this book was everything I could have hoped for. Lots of Lake Superior and Minnesota mentions, which saddened me since I was supposed to embark on a 10 day trip to Minnesota / Lake Superior this summer which I've had to cancel......more

Goodreads review by Reb on May 13, 2017

actual rating: 2.5/5 i don't know. i thought i was really going to like this book. the premise seemed really interesting - and the execution completely ruined it. this 417 page book could have easily been reduced to about 200 pages without missing anything at all important. it dragged, it jumped all......more

Goodreads review by Chris on September 09, 2017

Pretty good, sonewhere between a 3 and a 4. Definitely great to relive some Thunder Bay memories.......more

Quotes

"In her exploration of family, and the 'many moments that cleave our lives in two,' Jones has created a novel of great psychological insight and a kind of sharp-edged tenderness that revels not in family dysfunction, but in its 'beautiful, crazy chaos.'" —Quill & Quire

"We're All in This Together is a complicated laying of time shifts and perspectives, as each character takes their turn revealing their inner emotional lives and personal history." —Metro News

"Jones has a clean and direct style, with flourishes that keep [the story] interesting and surprising." —Globe & Mail

"The story is so entertaining. At times laugh-out-loud funny, We're All in This Together deftly taps into the fears and failures of all of us." —Toronto Star

Advance Praise for We're All in This Together:

"Amy Jones has written a stunning tale that reveals not just the cracks in a family's foundation, but the ties that bind them together too. By turns hilarious and melancholy, We're All in This Together is a heartfelt tour de force. Go ahead. Just try to put it down." —Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans and Poles Apart

"Amy Jones makes me laugh. Her captivating book, the entire byzantine history of a modern family distilled into one feverish weekend, will do the same for you. A multi-voiced choir of crazy birds all singing their own tune, We're All in This Together makes real music." —Marina Endicott, author of Close to Hugh

"Count the Parkers among the great families in literature. We're All in This Together is a pyrotechnic celebration of the 'crazy chaos' of the modern family that will have you laughing and weeping with recognition on every page. Amy Jones writes with lightning bolt prose and an uncanny insight into the joys, grudges, regrets, and sacrifices that make any family who they are. Behold one of the best young writers in this country working at the top of her game. A bravura performance. I simply could not stop reading this book." —Michael Christie, author of If I Fall, If I Die

Awards

Ontario Library Service North Northern Lit Award