Goodman has written many wonderful novels, but her 11th, This Is Not About Us, is her crowning glory. So far, anyway ... No one does this shtick better than Goodman, always funny and moving, but sharp rather than sentimental, willing to leave matters as messy as they are in real life rather than tying heart-warming fictional bows ... She's the real thing.
Goodman finds the right measure of sugar in this novel-in-stories ... Mines excellent, bone-dry humor from the neuroses ... Goodman’s mature and deftly written book suggests that, in family as in art, there is no such thing as uncomplicated happiness.
Astute, incisive, and soulfully witty, Goodman circulates among her irresistible characters so that each intriguing point of view reveals another facet of their tumultuous family dynamic.
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.
