All the Best People

By: Sonja Yoerg

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan

Vermont, 1972. Carole LaPorte has a satisfying, ordinary life. She cares for her children, balances the books for the family's auto shop, and laughs when her husband slow dances her across the kitchen floor. Her tragic childhood might have happened to someone else.

But now her mind is playing tricks on her. The accounts won't reconcile and the murmuring she hears isn't the television. She ought to seek help, but she's terrified of being locked away in a mental hospital like her mother, Solange. So Carole hides her symptoms, withdraws from her family, and unwittingly sets her 11-year-old daughter Alison on a desperate search for meaning and power: in Tarot cards, in omens from a nearby river, and in a mysterious blue glass box belonging to her grandmother. An exploration of the power of courage and love to overcome a damning legacy, All the Best People celebrates the search for identity and grace in the most ordinary lives.

©2017 Sonja Yoerg (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Loved it!

Really reeled me in and kept me entertained throughout! Fun for me, a Vermont native, to listen to a book set there. It made me miss my home state.

Wishy Washy On this One

***This review contains spoilers!!!***



I really wanted to like this story, because it had so much potential, but I think it fell flat in some ways. There was a lot going on then really only detracted from the story and message rather than really further is along. The writing itself was fantastic, the concept of the story was great, and you were able to invest in the characters. Maybe that’s why how the story played out was disappointing.

I feel like this could have been a great story, but the focus on “Bad Blood” and “Pirate” people just overrode the story in a way. I know (SPOILERS Starting here) the “bad blood” ending up coming from another relative and there was great irony there. I feel like that was supposed to be the point, that the family that pointed the finger, the well bred ones were the ones with the actual defects not the “Pirate” girl. And the reality is, you can’t escape genetics, so if you have an inherited disease you just do. Then on the other hand you have Jeanine, who while the author is trying to show that the bad blood isn’t what it seems, shows the girl parented by two “Pirate” parents acting just as Carol’s well to do families would have expected her to act. Granted, she wasn’t treated well by Carol’s family, but Carol gave her the World or at least everything she could as an older sister and she kept calling her a bitch and only had time for her when she was wanted something from her. I think the message was meant to be that you can’t judge people by where they came from or who there parents are, but it was negated by the girl coming from wealthy lineage having an uncontrollable inherited condition and the girl with “illegitimate and lower class” parentage, as she would have been thought of at the time, just being a terrible, manipulative person. And I found it very hard to believe, as righteous and good as they portrayed Walt to be, that he would literally cover up attempted murder that could have easily been blamed on his son with disabilities and where his daughter almost died. Running her out of town just isn’t strong enough for what his character is supposed to be. It does feel in a way that all these story lines were set in motion and there just weren’t enough words or pages left to bring them to allow them to fully play out.

Beautiful story

Having a relative who died after a long battle with schizophrenia, this story helped me understand more of what she must have gone through. I couldn’t stop listening. I love how Yoerg wove the stories of Solange, Carole, and Alison together throughout the book and, eventually coming full circle at the end.
I wish she had wrapped up Janice’s story more. I felt like I was left hanging with Greg and April.

That aside, I absolutely loved this book. (Enough to listen twice!)

All the Things

A family drama, a coming of age story, a historical fiction, a love story. I love a book that changes narrators and this one was so clear who was talking. They each had their own distinct voice.

Lovely.

This is just really well done. I love stories that stitch different generations together, allowing us to see different perspectives of intersecting lives. This book does that seamlessly.

The narrator is fantastic. Effortless differentiation between characters. Very well acted.

Suspenseful, sad and yet sweet and hopeful

This book unfolds beautifully telling the story of four generations of women/girls. You’re always listening with dread for another bomb to drop and they definitely do keep dropping but alas it isn’t relentlessly disheartening and eventually reveals deep and meaningful developments for the betterment of most all the characters involved. This story isn’t just empty calories and it’s lessons will stick with you.

Good Story But Dragged Along

First, let me say that Lisa Flanagan is a great narrator! Her performance was perfect. The story itself was good but some parts were superfluous and frustrated me some. I do appreciate how the author portrayed mental illness not as a stigma but as an disease like any other, in which a good bit of family support, love, and patience is required. Overall a good read.

I never thought of stopping

But in the end I wasn’t wowed. It was good but not great. The story was interesting but I wanted more.

Great

Such a wonderful, freaking read. I love how the story unfold. There are surprises. You don’t anticipate and it really highlights how scary it is to struggle with a Mental Health condition.

Interesting take

Well written story but a little chopped up. Well-drawn characters and a pretty accurate depiction of mental illness A few anachronisms (they didn’t have mini-vans in 1972! Station wagon would have been the better choice)
The narrator was excellent!