Description: "Was this just a brief skirmish, or the beginning of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubenstein family, it could go either way. When their beloved older sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into decades of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives-divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications, bat mitzvahs and ballet recitals-their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible. With This is Not About Us, master storyteller Allegra Goodman--whose prior collection was heralded as "one of the most astute and engaging books about American family life" (The Boston Globe)--returns to the form and subject that endeared her to legions of readers. Sharply observed and laced with humor, This is Not About Us is a story of growing up and growing old, the weight of parental expectations, and the complex connection between sisters. A big-hearted book about the love that binds a family across generations"-- Provided by publisher.
Review Quotes: "An all-too-real portrait of a loveable, complicated family's drama."--People
"In this vibrant collection of linked stories . . . Allegra Goodman dissects the foibles and fantasies of her cast, from the three founding sisters to their offspring and offspring's offspring."--Time "I . . . devoured this tasty novel in two large gulps. It's the funny and moving saga of a large Jewish family. We can all identify with the humor and the drama. It's a book filled with love. When Allegra Goodman cooks up a new novel, you can't go wrong."--Judy Blume "Allegra Goodman's new novel is her crowning glory (so far). This is Not About Us delivers a funny and moving Jewish family saga."--The Boston Globe "Goodman overlaps characters and storylines, repeatedly, from different perspectives and the reader is treated to experiencing the family as a symphony, not necessarily a harmonious arrangement, but satisfying all the same as an excellent read."--Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews "The arbiter of Jewish American family tsuris . . . Goodman has been wowing readers since her undergraduate days at Harvard, in the late 1980s."--Hadassah Magazine "An absorbing, endearing, and intimate new work of linked fiction . . . Through this masterfully woven mosaic . . . a relatable portrait of an American Jewish family with all its attendant mishegas takes shape."--Jewish Book Council "This is a volume that builds and surprises on many fronts, the cacophony of love and discontent reifying into filigreed depictions of the familial ties that bind."--Vogue "An entertaining ride--poignant and funny by turns. Goodman, always talented, is now a virtuoso, limber and graceful. She handles her sprawling cast with a sure, light touch, and her bantering dialogue is never trivial or canned."--The Washington Post "This Is Not About Us is my favorite kind of read--it's not a novel, it's not a short story collection, it's a book of linked stories that together add up to a big, messy, richly textured modern family drama."--Jenny Rosenstrach, Three Things Substack "Goodman's insight into the intimate machinations of a domestic life is absolutely perfect."--Literary Hub"Goodman delivers a bighearted linked story collection about a family's travails. . . . In their messiness and constant striving for harmony, the Rubensteins are wholly relatable."--Publishers Weekly, starred review "A beautiful story of generations of a complicated family."--Town & Country "Goodman offers an unsparingly frank, wryly funny take on a multigenerational American family. Like an exquisitely baked apple cake, Goodman's delicious and deeply perceptive novel is something to savor."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Astute, incisive, and soulfully witty, Goodman circulates among her irresistible characters to that each intriguing point of view reveals another facet of their tumultuous family dynamic."--Booklist, starred review "A memorable, multifaceted portrait of a family's highs and lows."--Book Page