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Author: Karen Raney
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Scribner
Published: August 6, 2019
Book Description: A stunning debut novel about a teenage girl and her mother as they grapple with first love, family secrets, and tragedy.
Maddy is sixteen. Smart, funny, and profound, she has loyal friends, a mother with whom she’s unusually close, a father she’s never met, devoted grandparents, and a crush on a boy named Jack. Maddy also has cancer. Living in the shadow of uncertainty, she is forced to grow up fast.
All the Water in the World is the story of a family doing its best when faced with the worst. Told in the alternating voices of Maddy and her mother, Eve, the narrative moves between the family’s lake house in Pennsylvania; their home in Washington, DC; and London, where Maddy’s father, Antonio, lives. Hungry for experience, Maddy seeks out her first romantic relationship, finds solace in music and art, and tracks down Antonio. She continually tests the depths and limits of her closeness with her mother, while Eve has to come to terms with the daughter she only partly knows, in a world she can’t control.
With unforgettable voices that range from tender to funny, despairing to defiant, this novel illuminates the transformative power of love, humor, and hope.
Rating: 4 Stars
Review: All the Water in the World really hit home with me. Be prepared for a tear jerker here, because this story is touching and moving. I cannot believe this is a debut author, because Raney writes with a depth of a seasoned writer.
This book has two alternating Point of Views, Maddy who is battling cancer. She is also navigating first love, finding her father, and finding a ton of motivation in art. Then there is Eve, Maddy’s mother. She is a loving relationship with her boyfriend Robin, holding down a career, and trying to manage Maddy’s treatment’s and everything else that comes with having an ill child.
I really don’t want to delve to much beyond the plot, but the way Raney wrote this story was almost perfection. I hate to say that I speak from experience, but I do, and Raney pretty much nailed this story. I found myself reliving some brutal moments, but then being able to see that light at the end of the tunnel.
Simply beautiful, engaging and I just want everyone to go out and read this. Very well done.
Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Obsessed Bookaholic 