Everything

by Carole Wolf

Jolán Edmunds, an accomplished and well-respected classical violinist, dies suddenly and Myla, her daughter, is convinced she had killed her because she had wished her dead.

Fiery and charismatic Jolán has many guarded secrets, particularly Rachel Cole, her lost true love. Rachel unexpectedly crosses Jolán’s path and turns her life upside down as they rekindle their romance. Rachel tries to convince Myla she didn’t cause Jolán’s death but Myla doesn’t believe her and wants to know everything. With Rachel’s help, Myla pieces together her mother’s startling past, all of which leads to the most devastating secret of all—herself.

Genres: Lesbian

482 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2014

About the author

Carole Wolf is from Allentown, PA and currently lives in Columbus, GA with her partner Yoko Hirose. She has a B.A. in English Literature from Columbus State University, and she has been writing for twenty-five years. Her goal as an author is to write novels that address sensitive social issues, which not only affect lesbian women but all women, and she hopes this will help open up lesbian fiction to mainstream readers. Carole’s other passion is music; she is a music producer and has been playing the drums since she was eleven years old. She has played with three local bands and has produced music for several aspiring singers. She has three four-legged children—a German Shepherd named Caesar, a Husky mix named Alexander, and a Tabby cat named Jewel. Carole is currently working on her certification to be a Drug and Alcohol Addiction Counselor.

Reviews

[Velvet Lounger · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her latest novel “Everything” Carole Wolf sets out to tell the chronicle of a family, a band and an addiction. Interwoven is a tale of growing up, a love story, a road trip and all of this based on the highs and lows of a brilliant, creative, self destructive woman. At 548 pages it is huge. But it needs every one of those pages to cover such an ambitious tragedy.

Ms Wolf’s writing is outstanding. It flows off the page and wraps around your senses, recreating time, place, atmosphere and ambiance in an effortless tsunami that drowns out the outside world and subsumes the reader. We are swept up in the lives of Jolán, Rachel, Myla and the inhuman fourth character that impacts all of them in the most dramatic of ways.

The cast is huge, from the core characters of the band, immediate family and friends, to bit players we meet momentarily along the way. They are all drawn with detailed care, forcing their way off the page and into out imaginations so strongly you will remember many well beyond their actual presence. The main players are more than just solid and well rounded; they are so real you feel you know them personally.

It isn’t an easy read. It is a tough story about a woman’s painful decent into hell, and the impact that has on everyone around her. But while it is a tale of secrecy, deceit and despair it is also about redemption, forgiveness, and ultimately the self-sacrifice to ensure the survival of one you love more than yourself. A novel literally of two halves, the first shows us a constructed life that seems whole and complete, but when the layers of socially accepted appearance are pealed back we are left with something raw, bloody and very real.

Hats off to Ms Wolf for a creation that had me enthralled. Despite the obvious ‘decline of a rock and roll band’ plot, it had so many twists and turns, unexpected bumps and intriguing plays, to absorb me completely. It has left me churning with emotions from compassion for those whose lives were so severely impacted to joy for a love that survived everything and admiration for the mind of the woman who created it and her skill to deliver such a work.

[Tristan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll try to write this review without giving too much away, but first I want to say thank you to Carole Wolf for bringing Jolán Elena De Carlo to me. I loved everything (pun intended) about this complex character and gut-wrenching story. Trust me when I say, this is one of "those" books-- the kind that catches your attention right away, twists and turns your emotions, captures your heart and then lets you go, enriched and begging for more by the end.

Diving into Everything, I really had no clue what to expect, but page after page I felt myself consumed by Jolán. Ms. Wolf's heartfelt style kept me reading from the first page straight through to the last; and, I remain in awe of how fully the author developed the richness of this character. This story is Jolán's, and, let me tell you, to watch this gifted, smart, charismatic character descend down the rabbit hole of addiction and subsequent hell storm was phenomenal, heartbreaking, mesmerizing, shattering, and ultimately redemptive. And then there's sweet, sweet Rachel. This is the second book I've read in the last six months with a character named Rachel, both of whom slayed me with their loyalty and unconditional love. I will name my firstborn Rachel in hopes that those qualities imprint with the name (/lol).

Woven throughout Everything's beautiful journey was music (rock and roll and classical - go figure!), cursing, irreverence, witty dialogue and (you guessed?) sex and drugs. It would be a mistake to assume this path was simple or typical. It was not. More like magical, until the curtain was pulled back.

Ms. Wolf did her homework—in a very big way. From the detailed music references across genres, to describing life on the road of a rock band, to the nuances of preparing an eight ball of Black Tar heroin, to describing the side effects of antipsychotics . . . she was spot on. I loved every minute of it! I don't know what that says about me, but I do know what it says about Carole Wolf: she is one cool chica and definitely an author to watch. With great style, she is fearless in delivering a story that will engulf you and twist you up inside.

So I leave you with this, while reading Everything, know that you need an open mind and a willing heart to fully experience the journey -- one that gives hope to those of us trying to reconcile our own "thousand mistakes". Happy reading xo

[Kexx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just didn't work for me - read the first 10% ( that was hard) and the last 10% & felt I'd missed nothing in the middle. Sorry, not for me.

[T.T. Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything is an amazing tour de force that has the reader at once in shock and in suspense. The book opens with the daughter of a famous classical musician thinking she caused her mother's heart attack. Instead, she soon discovers a mother she never knew.

This is a story that takes you down to the depths and dregs of the junkie's life while regaling you with sex, more drugs and the kind of rock 'n roll that made good people die young. Carole Wolf has penned an amazing study of one family's triumphs and tragedies against a backdrop of a love affair between classical musician turned could-be rock star, Jolan de Carlo Edmunds, and her lover, Rachel, a steadfast, clear-headed rock in de Carlo's drug-infused roll to the bottom of existence.

There are always three entities in their relationship, and one of them is a drug. Four if you count the music. Yet for all its gritty, dark and dead-on accuracy, Wolfe has imbued her characters and her prose with a poetic and lyrical melody of salvation and love. We care about these people even as we're sure they won't make it. They speak to one another in ways lovers do...and they speak to others with a frankness and lack of guile that endears them to you despite their poor choices and cloudy judgment. But this isn't just a drug-addict-with-a-heart-of-gold story---far from it. The characters are multi-dimensional, talented, tormented, funny, awful, brilliant and wonderful. You won't forget them, and you'll always be glad you got to know them, for get to know them you do. Driven women can be exciting, dangerous, romantic, but, sometimes, what we are all drawn to is an answer to two questions: What drives some of the best of us to ignoble ends, and what is the key character trait of salvation? Wolf is not content to draw a predictable picture. No, this book surprises, haunts, enchants and mesmerizes.

I recommend Everything to anyone who likes their romance a bit rough, their music tough and their fiction page-turning hot. The travels around Los Angeles alone are worth the price of admission, and Wolf nails it beautifully when describing the landscape and the people who live life in that very fast lane in full view of the long shadows cast by the Hollywood sign up on the hill.

[Sophia DeLuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not an easy book to read. However, I'm very glad that I got to read it by way of helping the author.
I like the descriptive style; and the characters are very well developed, so that I could feel with them and worry about them the more I got to know them. It was quite an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs and in-betweens, which towards the end was rather difficult for me to read, as I could sympathise so very well with the main character.
The book is drastic in its portrayal of drug abuse, and I did learn a lot I didn't know before. Through her excellent portrayal of the circumstances, the author even managed to change my view in some regards, for which I am very grateful.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is told from the POV of a thirteen year old. Every detail of what she sees and feels is described. It got to be too much for me.

Abandoned at 13%

[Nesrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I could not put down, and which stuck with me long after I finished it. It is written in two parts, the first giving the reader a look into the life of Jolán De Carlo Edmunds, a successful classical violinist living in Atlanta with her teenage daughter Myla, the story’s narrator. On the surface, all seems pleasantly benign, but Jolán has a world of secrets and a past which she refuses to talk about. You know from the very first line that tragedy will strike, and it strikes early, when thirty-nine year old Jolán dies of a sudden massive heart attack just one day after Myla wishes her dead during a terrible argument. The story begins three months prior to this incident, giving you a chance to get to know Jolán, her extended family and friends, and to meet Rachel Cole, a lost love from Jolán’s college days who crosses paths with her again these many years later. By Chapter Five they rekindle a beautifully written romance, and Ms. Wolf takes advantage of the fact that you’ve probably forgotten Jolán’s ultimate fate by now, because it hits you hard, as hard as it hits Myla who is now dealing with a terrible amount of guilt, trying to cope with the idea that her words may have somehow killed her own mother. It is now up to Rachel (along with other friends and family) to help Myla understand her mother’s secret past. The book’s second part is filled with recklessness and adventure, young love, big dreams, drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll. Then a devastating spiral into heroin addiction that took away everything important in Jolán’s life.
I don’t know much about the subject of addiction, particularly to something like heroin, but Carole Wolf seems to have done her homework. I don’t know if the author drew from personal experience or not, and it probably doesn’t matter. I learned something, and realized just how judgmental we can be when it comes to people who are addicted. What I liked so much about this story is that it takes you through the nightmare of both sides—the struggling addict and the loved ones trying so hard not to let go. Until they have no choice but to.
This book was hard to read at times. The depictions of addiction and heroin use were quite graphic, and it was gritty and dark and at times, downright scary. But it also had so many great moments of romance and humor during the travels of a struggling rock band touring the American southwest and west coast. I laughed out loud and felt like I was in that motorhome, too, getting to see places like the Arizona desert, Los Angeles, Route 66, and even Tijuana Mexico. The author’s descriptions of these places were detailed and colorful. I could feel the desert heat, hear the Hollywood traffic going by, and smell the food cooking along the strip in Tijuana. It also renewed my interest in classic rock music, as so many of the songs mentioned were ones I’d heard my parents playing when I was a kid, and it brought back great memories. There’s an interesting twist at the end that I won’t say I saw it coming, but by the second to last chapter, I was beginning to get suspicious. No spoilers, but the twist only adds to the tragedy of addiction.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a beautifully written novel that addresses family dysfunction, romance lost and rekindled, and a very sensual experience through the pain of addiction.

[G Ratcliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carole Wolf's 'Everything' just took me on a ride I won't soon forget... It made me laugh, made me angry, and made me cry. I danced, I reveled in the old memories of music and clubs in the 80s & 90s, I simultaneously cheered and wanted to slap the protag up side the head. I fell in love alongside her and felt the heartbreak of loss. An hour after finishing this amazing and superb novel, I'm still having trouble swallowing past the lump in my throat. Drugs, sex, rock-n-roll and a literary trip I highly recommend. Well done Carole... Well done.

[Elizabeth Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

My memory is swiss cheese. That being said, I do remember reading this book, but not in what format (pdf, hardcopy etc).
This book was very well written and hard to read at times. It left an impression, however, that I'll never forget. That struggle to survive, maintain and still find true love.
Thank you for this book.

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything by Carole Wolf: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwid... 2015 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)