Book Summary and Reviews of More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen

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BonnieMG

Quindlen at her best
When you start an Anna Quindlen novel, you know you will be getting a well-written, literate, moving story about families in all their forms. More than Enough is no exception. Reading it is like receiving a warm hug. Polly Goodman is our narrator - a forty-ish English teacher, struggling with crushing infertility, and feeling the weight of a rapidly declining father who is now in a care home. But it is really mothers and daughters who are at the heart of the book. As a character muses aptly - "Maybe everyone's mother was a kind of mystery to her daughter. Maybe everyone's daughter was a mystery to her mother."

The central tension in Polly's life is her fraught relationship with her formidable mother, and the unexpected results of a genealogy test that may or not be pointing her in a direction she does not want to go. But this is a Quindlen novel - there are reconciliations and revelations and most of the people in Polly's life are well-meaning and wise - this novel in particular is replete with grandmothers who are there to nurture you and tell you the things you don't want to really know. Highly recommend.

she treads softly

very highly recommended literary drama
More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen is a very highly recommended literary character-driven domestic drama of self-exploration which follows a woman dealing with infertility, a dying friend, and complicated family relationships.

Polly Goodman, 42, is a high school English teacher happily married to Mark, a veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo. While Polly is struggling with infertility issues, she has an enviable, comfortable relationship with her brother, friends, in-laws, and her father who is in a nursing home with a failing mind. Her relationship with her mother is more complicated. When her best friends/book club buddies, Sarah, Helen, and Jamie, give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, she takes the test and is surprised by the results. She ends up meeting with her match, a teenager, and while their connected ancestry is still not clear, the two form a connection.

This is a exceptionally well-written, touching literary examination of a slice of an individual's life. From her friends, which she can share everything with, to her interactions with her brother, parents, and in-laws, the keen observations can be touching, humorous, mundane, heart-breaking, and ultimately hopeful. While the pacing is slow through much of the book, it touches deeply on topics many women have experienced and how much interpersonal relationships with family and friendships can mean. It also demonstrates how secrets can affect other's lives.

Polly is a fully realized, well-developed character with both strengths and weaknesses. Readers should quickly finds areas in her life they can either relate to or have observed. Admittedly, while reading there were several times Polly's observations and difficulties resonated with me and hit too close to personal experiences. All of the supporting cast serve to add depth and insight into Polly's character, helping to reveal how our relationships can define us. Additionally, as a bonus it delightfully includes alpacas, humming and pronking.

More Than Enough is a perfect choice for anyone who enjoys gentle, literary character driven dramas. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Maureen_Connolly

Beautiful Story
This is a beautiful story about relationships, with wonderful characters.
Polly a high school teacher had a lot going on. She had a wonderful group of friends in her book club, even though they never read the books. She had a wonderful husband, but suffered from infertility. Her father had dementia and she had a strained relationship with her mother. Her book club gave her a DNA test as a joke. The results were not what she expected.

Anna Quindlen Writing really captures Polly with all the difficulties in her life. I loved how supportive her husband Mark was. I just felt it had a lot going on for such a short book. It is a character driven book that you will not forget.

I just loved the ending.

labmom55

Lovely story
Anna Quindlen has once again written a character rich drama that drew me in. Polly is blessed with many things in her life - a loving husband, dear friends, a satisfying job. But life is not all roses. Her attempts to conceive have failed. And this does seem to take up an awful lot of the story. It’s a testament to Quindlen’s writing that I was still so engrossed in the story, since the idea of wanting kids at all is totally foreign to me.
When her friends give her a DNA test as a joke, it comes back with an unknown reasonably close relative. Polly doesn’t seem at all bothered by this, just assuming the company somehow made a mistake. Now, having had an experience with learning about a previously unknown cousin, I know the kind of shock waves this can cause. The mathematical juggling is real. “Keeping it all straight is a little like higher math or diagramming complex sentences.” So it felt odd that Polly was initially so nonplussed by this news. But this part of the story was definitely secondary until the last section of the book.

The other characters were all engaging. I especially wanted a MIL as wonderful as Lou. I loved what the book had to say about friendship, loss, but also joy and appreciating what you have. The ending wasn’t a surprise but it was lovely in so many ways. This book is perfect for when you want something uplifting.

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Other books by Anna Quindlen at BookBrowse

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