Everything about Jennifer Weiner’s “Mrs. Everything”

“women should forgive themselves . . . [and] take care of themselves with kindness. The world was hard enough, would beat them up enough without them adding to the pain.”

After reading this statement from ‘Mrs. Everything’, one might feel that this novel is essentially about women, their achievements and failures, their experiences or about other generic themes that a number of women-centered novels usually put forth. Not entirely false, but Jennifer Weiner’s magnum opus ‘Mrs. Everything’ is not just about women and their life cycle in a bustling city. There is a lot more to it than that. You’ll find out in a minute.

Weiner has hit the bestselling charts a multiple times with books such as ‘Who Do You Love’ and ‘In Her Shoes’. She is a self-claimed feminist and has spoken and written against the gender wage-gap and inequality. Released in June, ‘Mrs. Everything’ is already present in the conversations of young adults. It is a story of two sisters Jo Kaufman and Bethie Kaufman, who are microcosmic, ordinary and yet trying to succeed at every checkpoint in life. The Kaufman family is a Jewish family, based in Detroit.

‘Mrs. Everything’ is a multi-layered book in which the core or the crux can be reached via removing the layers. At times, the book seems like a slice of life- the sisters undergoing their journey and reminiscing their childhood memories. At various other instances, it becomes historical fiction. Notable here that book covers a time span of more than five decades. From the civil rights movement to the recent #metoo movement, ‘Mrs. Everything’ covers numerous significant movements happened in America. If we take the base of the book under the radar, it is about the struggle of urban women. Other minor aspects of the novel are bildungsroman and the upward mobility of the characters.

The politics of the book is complex and yet simplified by the author. ‘Mrs. Everything’ is a smooth text but at the same time, it is long and even stretchy at times. Weiner, in the prefatory note to the book, mentions that this is the longest text written by her, covering multiple issues together. Rape, sexual assault, abortion, romantic heartbreak, body image issues, traditional marriage, commune living, same-sex relationship, bi-racial relationship, motherhood, unwanted pregnancy, single parenthood, unfaithful partner, divorce, widowhood, balancing the career and familial relationships, tussle with parents and siblings, economic adversities, career success and failure, drug abuse, cancer and several other things are faced by the characters in the book.  

The book also engages with a few hopeful instances and has a small message to give. Women should not and can not become everyone’s favourite. They should accept themselves as they are with their confusions, inner- conflicts and defeats. All-in-all, ‘Mrs. Everything’ is a marvellous and lengthy read.

(Article submitted by Priya Gupta)