The New York Times Book Review - Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
…compulsively readable…Weiner's skill is in the specifics.
Publishers Weekly
03/31/2014
Bestselling author Weiner (The Next Best Thing) takes us down the slippery slope of prescription drug addiction in this page-turning saga about a working mom, Allison Weiss, who uses pills to deal with recurrent pain, not to mention life’s increasing challenges. These include being the family’s major breadwinner; raising a difficult five-year-old daughter, Ellie; helping her mother deal with her father’s worsening Alzheimer’s; and maintaining a relationship with her ever-distant husband, Dave. While Weiner covers no new territory, she makes a good case for how a well-educated, self-aware woman can become dependent on drugs through legal prescriptions. Even her closest friend, Janet, turns to something—in her case, alcohol—to take the edge off the burden of being the perfect wife and mom. Allison’s experience of rehab is what we might expect: a drab place where she “doesn’t belong,” feels superior to the staff and fellow addicts, and finds the AA philosophy off-putting and outmoded. Although the ultimate explanation for Allison’s problems is clichéd, Weiner doesn’t take Allison’s path to redemption lightly, and convincingly shows that addiction can, indeed, be overcome, but only with genuine commitment and hard, hard work. Agent: Joanna Pulcini, Joana Pulcini Literary Management. (June)
New York Times Book Review
Compulsively readable. Weiner's skill is in the specifics. There's no doubt she knows how to deliver a certain kind of story, and well.
People Style Watch
Dark humor and a surprise twist.
Good Housekeeping
Weiner’s sly portrayal of family, entitlement and recovery culture is a romp – with an edge.
#1 New York Times bestselling author - Jodi Picoult
"Best known for her sense of humor, Weiner's raw new novel proves she is equally as fluent in poignancy. A searing, no-holds-barred look at an ordinary woman whose life spirals out of control.
USA Today
"Jennifer Weiner's books should be labeled a controlled substance. She creates relatable heroines with everyday worries, such as losing weight or finding a mate. Add her clever pop-culture references, girlfriend conversations over goblets of wine and her trademark self-deprecating humor and you have sure-to-please novels that hook you in and never let go. Weiner's storytelling talents are estimable. Just like Allison pops a Vicodin (or two or four) to get through the morning, you will read one more chapter, and oh, come on, what would one more hurt? I deserve this pill, er, page. And you are gone.
New York Journal of Books
"Weiner has taken a complicated, nuanced, and fraught subject and given us a narrative both entertaining and enlightening."
Glamour
The everymom heroine in this novel becomes a hard-core pill addict–and it’s impossible to look away."
The Baltimore Sun
"Reading one of Jennifer Weiner's contemporary novels of manners is a bit like biting into an apple. The experience is full of flavor, more crisp than juicy, and refreshingly tart."
Philadelphia Inquirer
All Fall Down is Weiner’s best book yet. Her portrayal of rehab is sharp, sad, and mordantly funny… Weiner's account of Allison's hard-won turnaround is pitch-perfect. Allison is a memorable character wisecracking her way through despair. Her rock bottom, when it comes, is well-drawn and convincing.
starred review Booklist
"Weiner, who is a master at creating realistic characters, is at her best here, handling a delicate situation with witty dialogue and true-to-life scenes. Readers will be nodding their heads in sympathy as Allison struggles to balance being a mother, a daughter, and a wife while desperately just wanting to be herself. Weiner is one of the reigning queens of contemporary women’s fiction, and her latest is sure to hit the best-seller lists. The “hot-topic” quality of the story line will only boost readership even further."
Boston Herald
All Fall Down is a witty, realistic criticism on the modern age and how difficult it can be to balance family, career and self, and how quickly everything can spiral out of control. Allison Weiss is a great reminder that people have weaknesses and that superheroes don’t exist. Weiner fans will be happy to find this as one of her best works. For those who aren’t familiar with her, All Fall Down is a great place to start.
USA Today
"Jennifer Weiner's books should be labeled a controlled substance. She creates relatable heroines with everyday worries, such as losing weight or finding a mate. Add her clever pop-culture references, girlfriend conversations over goblets of wine and her trademark self-deprecating humor and you have sure-to-please novels that hook you in and never let go. Weiner's storytelling talents are estimable. Just like Allison pops a Vicodin (or two or four) to get through the morning, you will read one more chapter, and oh, come on, what would one more hurt? I deserve this pill, er, page. And you are gone.
Library Journal - Audio
08/01/2014
Weiner's (Good in Bed) latest work addresses the very serious topic of addiction to painkillers and how a middle-class woman who has it all felt she needed drugs in order to exist, survive, and cope. A very stressed Allison has a (large) house in the suburbs, a (distant) husband, a (difficult) daughter, and a (work-from-home) job. An injury in exercise class introduces her to prescription painkillers, which lead to her addiction and subsequent rehab. Weiner's characters are rather superficial and not very likable, resulting in a shallow tale of drug abuse. A few parts of the story are inconsistent, and some aspects of the plot seemed contrived; they provide needed tension (such as Allison's father having Alzheimer's and her mother not handling it well, or her distant husband not being there to help and support an isolated Allison), but were too easily resolved. American stage and screen actress Tracee Chimo provides a strong and clear reading. VERDICT Of interest to Weiner fans. ["An absolutely heartbreaking read that will leave readers haunted. Great for book clubs or for anyone trying to understand a loved one's addiction," read the starred review of the Atria hc, LJ 5/15/14.]—Denise A. Garofalo, Mount Saint Mary Coll., Newburgh, NY
Library Journal
11/01/2013
After contented suburban mom Gillian Weiss's website starts booming, her husband gets chilly, her daughter gets snarky, and her father's Alzheimer's gets worse. Those prescription painkillers help, but suddenly Gillian's in rehab. Great for book clubs.
Kirkus Reviews
2014-03-29
A 39-year-old suburban mom turns to prescription painkillers to manage the compounding stresses of her downwardly mobile existence, her troubled marriage, her difficult 5-year-old daughter and her father's descent into Alzheimer's-related dementia. Allison Weiss is a blogger at a Jezebel-like site called Ladiesroom.com and is largely responsible for supporting her family as her reporter husband's salary shrinks in the wake of the implosion of the newspaper industry. Certain aspects of Allison's writing career mirror facets of Weiner's (The Next Best Thing, 2012, etc.) own public battles against sexism in the media and publishing industries. Allison wonders whether or not to use the term "strident" to describe another woman, and after her picture appears in a Wall Street Journal article, the comments sections is barraged by disparaging remarks about her weight and appearance. Unhappy in the large house in an upscale Philadelphia suburb chosen by her husband, Allison develops a pill problem, starting with pain meds prescribed for a bad back. Before she knows it, she's juggling several doctors to feed her habit, requiring larger and larger doses, and eventually turning to an illegal website to place her orders. Weiner manages to postpone the inevitable train wreck for a few hundred pages, as Allison dismisses and denies her addiction, comparing herself favorably to stereotypical junkies, whose lives are so different from her upscale Whole Foods and private-school existence that she can pretend there is no connection. Weiner relies on brand names as class signifiers; the other moms at her daughter's school wear Lululemon workout clothes, Seven for All Mankind jeans, and carry Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags. Even after entering rehab, Allison's denial of her problem and inability to identify with lower-class addicts from broken homes carries on for another hundred pages or so before the inevitable revelations set in. Though it feels a bit like the literary equivalent of an after-school special for adults, Weiner does a good job of describing the mindset of the addict and provides a realistic portrayal of upper-middle-class addiction in a novel that will appeal to her many fans.