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Everything You Know
Recovering from a heart attack at a seedy Mexican resort with his girlfriend, Willy Muller, convicted of murdering his wife and the author of a tasteless, tell-all memoir, is forced to come to terms with his life and influence on others as he reads the diaries of his late daughter, Sadie, a suicide. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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707 people want to read
About the author
Zoë Heller
20 books352 followersZoe Heller was born in London in 1965 and educated at Oxford University and Columbia University, New York. She is a journalist who, after writing book reviews for various newspapers, became a feature writer for The Independent. She wrote a weekly confessional column for the Sunday Times for four years, but now writes for the Daily Telegraph and earned the title 'Columnist of the Year' in 2002.
She is the author of three novels: Everything You Know (2000), a dark comedy about misanthropic writer Willy Miller, Notes on a Scandal (2003) which tells the story of an affair between a high school teacher and her student through the eyes of the teacher's supposed friend, Barbara Covett and her latest - The Believers (2008).
Zoe Heller lives in New York.
She is the author of three novels: Everything You Know (2000), a dark comedy about misanthropic writer Willy Miller, Notes on a Scandal (2003) which tells the story of an affair between a high school teacher and her student through the eyes of the teacher's supposed friend, Barbara Covett and her latest - The Believers (2008).
Zoe Heller lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
January 2, 2016
The first Zoe Heller novel I read, The Believers, left me manically scouring the library for more of her work. I found Everything You Know; a novel with characters easily as cringe-worthy as the Litvinoffs who feature in The Believers. It is the story of Willy Muller whose life has a delightful awfulness about it. Written in the first person narrative, Heller treats the reader to Willy's sarcastic, witty outlook, his superbly droll thoughts and wry observations. He has a dim-witted girlfriend, one daughter just wants to fleece him, the other has recently posted him her diaries and then committed suicide. He's been commissioned to write the screenplay for his book based on a most unfortunate incident in his life and to top it off, he's just had a heart attack. Willy deals with all these trials in a manner which is comically unrelenting: he has some truly memorable experiences in Mexico to where he escapes to write the aforementioned screenplay and some equally sad and pathetic moments in London when he visits to attend the funeral of his German-born English-resenting mother.
Some of Willy's observations of his fellow characters were uproarious and had me laughing out loud:
“ The first person to greet us was Sissy Yerxa, looking like a lipsticked ferret in a very short skirt and an electric pink halter-neck.”
“He had a long arrow mouth and almost no lips – his mouth was just an unannounced slit in the final third of his face, like a muppet's.”
Belatedly, Willy is offered the thought: “Only when you die do you run out of chances to be good. Until then, there is the possibility of turning yourself around”. And this is indeed a thought that Heller poses for the reader to consider. Even if your life situation is not as precarious as is Willy's, just when do your chances to redeem yourself run out? Ostensibly, I love Heller's warts and all portrayal of her character and that she provides no pretty window dressings in her novel. Everything You Know is indeed a tragi-comedy; a story which charmed me and made me wince in equal measures. A definite 4★.
Note: my copy was Large Print.
September 26, 2021
I'd consider myself a Zoë Heller fan, even though she hasn't published anything in a while. Notes on a Scandal rightly earned lots of plaudits, but The Believers was the book that won me over, with its confident prose and richly developed characters. Everything You Know was the one I hadn't read, its somewhat cooler reviews putting me off until now.
Our narrator is Willy Muller, a middle-aged writer. Back in the 70s, he had a drunken argument with his wife, who died after banging her head on the kitchen fridge. He served time in prison for murder, but then released a bestselling memoir, exonerating himself from the crime. The book didn't go down well with friends or family, so Willy escaped Britain for the US, leaving his daughters Sophie and Sadie behind. In the present day, he's living in LA and recuperating from a heart attack. Apart from his health issues he seems to be enjoying himself. He's a bit of a ladies' man, to say the least. But then he receives the terrible news that Sadie has committed suicide. Her diaries are sent to him after her death, and as he reads through them, he is finally forced to confront his past.
It's a hard book to love, truth be told. Willy is quite an unlikeable person, and it's difficult to understand why so many women are attracted to him. This antihero might have sown the seeds of another dubious main character in Notes on a Scandal. Though Willy's horrible, he can be quite funny, and his scathing thoughts of the LA set in which he mixes made me laugh in the same way Larry David's protagonist in Curb Your Enthusiasm does. And Sadie's heartbreaking voice through her increasingly desperate journals is very well accomplished. It's a debut that showed promise and Heller obviously went on to do greater things. I hope we don't have to wait too long for her next novel.
Our narrator is Willy Muller, a middle-aged writer. Back in the 70s, he had a drunken argument with his wife, who died after banging her head on the kitchen fridge. He served time in prison for murder, but then released a bestselling memoir, exonerating himself from the crime. The book didn't go down well with friends or family, so Willy escaped Britain for the US, leaving his daughters Sophie and Sadie behind. In the present day, he's living in LA and recuperating from a heart attack. Apart from his health issues he seems to be enjoying himself. He's a bit of a ladies' man, to say the least. But then he receives the terrible news that Sadie has committed suicide. Her diaries are sent to him after her death, and as he reads through them, he is finally forced to confront his past.
It's a hard book to love, truth be told. Willy is quite an unlikeable person, and it's difficult to understand why so many women are attracted to him. This antihero might have sown the seeds of another dubious main character in Notes on a Scandal. Though Willy's horrible, he can be quite funny, and his scathing thoughts of the LA set in which he mixes made me laugh in the same way Larry David's protagonist in Curb Your Enthusiasm does. And Sadie's heartbreaking voice through her increasingly desperate journals is very well accomplished. It's a debut that showed promise and Heller obviously went on to do greater things. I hope we don't have to wait too long for her next novel.
June 19, 2016
Willy Muller is a truly horrible person. His wife died from a fall that may, or may not, have resulted from him shoving her. One of his daughters won’t talk to him, and the other one, also estranged, committed suicide. One of her last acts before ending her life was to send Willy 11 years of her journals, and he responds to the posthumous package with deep callousness. “She had succumbed to the sentimentalities of leave-taking,” he says. “Christ, isn’t life hard enough without that sort of hokey melodrama?”
Yet Willy’s very horribleness is part of what makes this novel so entertaining. He walks through the world in a haze of self-absorption, making mean-spirited observations about the people around him that are also quite funny.
He had a long arrow-nose and almost no lips—his mouth was just an unannounced slit in the final third of his face, like a muppet’s.
Or
She was flushed and fat and she wore a big, peasant style dress that looked as if it had been blown on to her by chance during a violent storm.
He doesn’t even spare himself from his own cruel wit.
I have grown obsessed with my withering body…My belly, oh God, my belly. I have noticed it swerving away, settling in a puddle of flesh at my side. In the mornings, I wake to find it lying next to me, gazing up at me, like an affectionate haggis.
Willy’s curmudgeonly rantings might get too one-note if it weren’t for the novel’s other protagonist: his deceased daughter Sadie. As Willy reads her journals, we see someone as shiny and innocent as he is jaded. In later entries, she begins making the series of choices that will lead up to her suicide, and the tension between Sadie’s guileless optimism and the death that we know is coming gives the novel a lot of its momentum.
Zoe Heller is a powerful writer with a gift for creating unsympathetic characters moving toward imperfect redemption. Everything You Know is her first novel, and while it lacks the depth of her later work--Notes on a Scandal and The Believers—it’s a highly enjoyable read.
Yet Willy’s very horribleness is part of what makes this novel so entertaining. He walks through the world in a haze of self-absorption, making mean-spirited observations about the people around him that are also quite funny.
He had a long arrow-nose and almost no lips—his mouth was just an unannounced slit in the final third of his face, like a muppet’s.
Or
She was flushed and fat and she wore a big, peasant style dress that looked as if it had been blown on to her by chance during a violent storm.
He doesn’t even spare himself from his own cruel wit.
I have grown obsessed with my withering body…My belly, oh God, my belly. I have noticed it swerving away, settling in a puddle of flesh at my side. In the mornings, I wake to find it lying next to me, gazing up at me, like an affectionate haggis.
Willy’s curmudgeonly rantings might get too one-note if it weren’t for the novel’s other protagonist: his deceased daughter Sadie. As Willy reads her journals, we see someone as shiny and innocent as he is jaded. In later entries, she begins making the series of choices that will lead up to her suicide, and the tension between Sadie’s guileless optimism and the death that we know is coming gives the novel a lot of its momentum.
Zoe Heller is a powerful writer with a gift for creating unsympathetic characters moving toward imperfect redemption. Everything You Know is her first novel, and while it lacks the depth of her later work--Notes on a Scandal and The Believers—it’s a highly enjoyable read.
October 27, 2017
"Only when you die do you run out of chances to be good.Until then, there is always the possibility of turning yourself around"
Zoe Heller's debut book has a pretty tried and tested concept of parental/old age remorse handled with freshness and fiestiness of her prose. There were places, I rued the fact I was reading a hard copy because I can't highlight a quote for future reading. Not her best, but can't help feeling the need for a fan club for Heller (both of them, why not?) after finishing the book.
Willy Muller is in an unenviable spiral in his old age with the women in his life, dead and alive, haunting him. Muller is brash, unapologetic, wallowing in self pity. He managed to accidentally kill his first wife Oona, estrange his two daughters to lives of misery and berates and abuses women(!) who love him. His life as a ghost writer is a farce and his friendships shallow. First comes the journals of Sadie, his second daughter who committed suicide, followed by a heart attack.
Every chapter has one entry from the journal, the chaos of Willy's present spiral from where he looks at his past episodes and the tingling of remorse. The first person narrative is moving in it's measured reluctance to open up. The book tugs a few chords of the heart with Willy's emotional ramblings on his failing as a son, husband and father. You hate him but he keeps stooping further with every chapter. The sharp writing as well sexist thinking too fits in with the profile of Willy Muller.
A short yet satisfying read.
Zoe Heller's debut book has a pretty tried and tested concept of parental/old age remorse handled with freshness and fiestiness of her prose. There were places, I rued the fact I was reading a hard copy because I can't highlight a quote for future reading. Not her best, but can't help feeling the need for a fan club for Heller (both of them, why not?) after finishing the book.
Willy Muller is in an unenviable spiral in his old age with the women in his life, dead and alive, haunting him. Muller is brash, unapologetic, wallowing in self pity. He managed to accidentally kill his first wife Oona, estrange his two daughters to lives of misery and berates and abuses women(!) who love him. His life as a ghost writer is a farce and his friendships shallow. First comes the journals of Sadie, his second daughter who committed suicide, followed by a heart attack.
Every chapter has one entry from the journal, the chaos of Willy's present spiral from where he looks at his past episodes and the tingling of remorse. The first person narrative is moving in it's measured reluctance to open up. The book tugs a few chords of the heart with Willy's emotional ramblings on his failing as a son, husband and father. You hate him but he keeps stooping further with every chapter. The sharp writing as well sexist thinking too fits in with the profile of Willy Muller.
A short yet satisfying read.
November 2, 2010
I really enjoyed Heller's other books, including "Notes on a Scandal" and "The Believers", so I assumed I would also enjoy this one. And I am very impressed that a young beautiful woman like the author can write so realistically a story narrated by a prickly old guy who is recovering from a heart attack and reminiscing on his past mistakes as a drinker, womanizer, and absentee father. However, I am tired of the genre of the old guy seeking redemption for his atrociously bad conduct, while still actively seeking sexual activity from every young thing in his path. It should have died with John Updike's rabbit series.
There were still interesting bits in the book and I really liked this passage wherein he is pondering morality. "It's like when you see the news reports about men who go rushing into burning buildings to save their kids or whatever. And think, okay, so that man's a hero---but what is the man who didn't rush in? Is he a coward? Because it seems like there should be more options on the moral menu. If doing the thing is so bloody extraordinary, then not doing it should just be considered regular."
There were still interesting bits in the book and I really liked this passage wherein he is pondering morality. "It's like when you see the news reports about men who go rushing into burning buildings to save their kids or whatever. And think, okay, so that man's a hero---but what is the man who didn't rush in? Is he a coward? Because it seems like there should be more options on the moral menu. If doing the thing is so bloody extraordinary, then not doing it should just be considered regular."
February 12, 2012
Willy Muller is a great character, the anti-hero at the diseased heart of Zoë Heller's debut novel. What makes the book so satisfying is not its originality; rather, it is the delicate and wickedly funny way that Heller makes her germophobic protagonist sympathetic even as the situation gets worse.
Willy might have been gleefully played by Jack Nicholson in his prime. We cringe to watch him, but we peek through our fingers to see what he will do next. Also, we hope against hope that he might suddenly find redemption -- which he does, perhaps, in his own Willy way. Like Martin Amis, Heller's worldview is brilliantly scathing. You might not want to live there, but it's certainly worth the visit.
Willy might have been gleefully played by Jack Nicholson in his prime. We cringe to watch him, but we peek through our fingers to see what he will do next. Also, we hope against hope that he might suddenly find redemption -- which he does, perhaps, in his own Willy way. Like Martin Amis, Heller's worldview is brilliantly scathing. You might not want to live there, but it's certainly worth the visit.
April 5, 2023
Ass.
Both the plot and characters were simultaneously ridiculous and boring.
Zoe Heller aims for dark comedy with the cynical narration of protagonist Willy Muller, but only succeeds in creating an unconvincing and unlikeable character whose redemption the reader has no stake in supporting.
All of the other characters are extremely redundant and one dimensional and the inclusion of his daughter’s diary entries truly added fuck all to the narrative.
Disappointed because Notes on a Scandal ate down.
Both the plot and characters were simultaneously ridiculous and boring.
Zoe Heller aims for dark comedy with the cynical narration of protagonist Willy Muller, but only succeeds in creating an unconvincing and unlikeable character whose redemption the reader has no stake in supporting.
All of the other characters are extremely redundant and one dimensional and the inclusion of his daughter’s diary entries truly added fuck all to the narrative.
Disappointed because Notes on a Scandal ate down.
January 11, 2018
Heller is a beautiful and very talented writer and story teller. And her ability to write such a complex main character, who’s male, is exceptional. But despite that I struggled to completely enjoy the book as it’s just so depressingly sad and the characters are not hugely likeable (that normally doesn’t bother me) but the combination of the hopelessness and darkly sad characters makes it a book that I struggled to really enjoy. In saying that I read it in 24hrs. This however does not put me off reading the one other of her books I haven’t read - The Believers - as she’s an excellent writer!
September 6, 2020
Liked it.
July 16, 2024
Wonderfully clever and very English. Witty and slightly evil.
February 9, 2024
I am glad I read her Notes on a Scandal before I read this. Find out more from my book review on my blog here.
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2024/02/0...
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2024/02/0...
January 3, 2024
"Trying to make amends is a wretched business, Phil. Far better to do the right thing first time around."
Gagging to be a Nicholson role, Muller's narration is callous and witty.
Gagging to be a Nicholson role, Muller's narration is callous and witty.
April 23, 2011
Moja prvá ozajstná recenzia, ak by bol niekto taký dobrý a chcelo by sa mu to prečítať a povedať, čo si o tom myslí, budem rada :)
Everything you know - Zoe Heller
Hodnotenie : 3.5/5
Cover : 2.5/5
Dátum čítania : 5.4. - 23.4. 2011
Chudák Willy má ťažký život. Jeho neveľmi príťažlivá priateľka Penny ho neustále štve svojou hlúposťou. Po finančnej stránke to veru nie je bohviečo (ak možno takto označiť dlžobu cca. 200 000 $). Ak chce svoju situáciu zlepšiť, musí knihu o manželkinej smrti, ktorú nezapríčinil (alebo snáď áno ?), a jeho živote pred aj po nej, ktorú napísal, prepracovať do filmového scenára. To by hádam nebolo až také zlé, keby mu z vyšších miest nekázali pridať zopár “vylepšovacích” scénok, aby bol film síce menej pravdivý, ale o to zaujímavejší. Veď koho už dnes zaujíma nejaká nudná životopisná dráma bez štipky akcie?
Navyše mu zo starostí neuberajú ani jeho dcéry Sophie a Sadie. Prvá žije s drogovo závislým bláznom a Willyho skontaktuje, len keď potrebuje peniaze. Tá druhá, Sadie, je už po smrti. Tesne pred ňou Willymu poslala svoje denníky. V nich rozoberá svoj osamelý život od útleho detstva bez matky, cez problémy s jej prvou veľkou (teda prvou) láskou až … až po samovraždu, ktorú spáchala.
Z knihy som mala najprv dosť zmiešané pocity. Čítanie mi trvalo neskutočne dlho, ale nemyslím, že kvôli angličtine.
Knihu možno rozdeliť na dve časti : Súčasnosť, kedy Willy rieši svoj milostný život, scenáre, cestuje z LA do Mexika a z Mexika do Londýna a naopak. Čiže práve tá časť, ktorá ma v čítaní toľko brzdila. Potom tu ešte máme minulosť, zápisky zo Sadiinho denníku, Willovo rozprávanie o mŕtvej manželke Oone, o tom, ako sa spoznali a o tom, ako sa niečo v ich vzťahu strašne pokašľalo. Jeho rozprávanie ma zopárkrát dosť dojalo, najmä ku koncu. Túto časť vidím ako veľký poháňač dopredu.
V posledných stránkach autorka prechádza do prítomného času, samotný koniec vnímam dosť vlažne.
Knihu som čítala v podstate len kvôli zdokonaleniu sa v angličtine. Môžem povedať, že sa mi celkom páčila, aj keď je to niečo úplne mimo môjho obľúbeného žánru kníh.
(Pozn. - Úplne prvá kniha, ktorú som čítala a úspešne dočítala v angličtine, kto zdieľa moje nadšenie? :D)
Everything you know - Zoe Heller
Hodnotenie : 3.5/5
Cover : 2.5/5
Dátum čítania : 5.4. - 23.4. 2011
Chudák Willy má ťažký život. Jeho neveľmi príťažlivá priateľka Penny ho neustále štve svojou hlúposťou. Po finančnej stránke to veru nie je bohviečo (ak možno takto označiť dlžobu cca. 200 000 $). Ak chce svoju situáciu zlepšiť, musí knihu o manželkinej smrti, ktorú nezapríčinil (alebo snáď áno ?), a jeho živote pred aj po nej, ktorú napísal, prepracovať do filmového scenára. To by hádam nebolo až také zlé, keby mu z vyšších miest nekázali pridať zopár “vylepšovacích” scénok, aby bol film síce menej pravdivý, ale o to zaujímavejší. Veď koho už dnes zaujíma nejaká nudná životopisná dráma bez štipky akcie?
Navyše mu zo starostí neuberajú ani jeho dcéry Sophie a Sadie. Prvá žije s drogovo závislým bláznom a Willyho skontaktuje, len keď potrebuje peniaze. Tá druhá, Sadie, je už po smrti. Tesne pred ňou Willymu poslala svoje denníky. V nich rozoberá svoj osamelý život od útleho detstva bez matky, cez problémy s jej prvou veľkou (teda prvou) láskou až … až po samovraždu, ktorú spáchala.
Z knihy som mala najprv dosť zmiešané pocity. Čítanie mi trvalo neskutočne dlho, ale nemyslím, že kvôli angličtine.
Knihu možno rozdeliť na dve časti : Súčasnosť, kedy Willy rieši svoj milostný život, scenáre, cestuje z LA do Mexika a z Mexika do Londýna a naopak. Čiže práve tá časť, ktorá ma v čítaní toľko brzdila. Potom tu ešte máme minulosť, zápisky zo Sadiinho denníku, Willovo rozprávanie o mŕtvej manželke Oone, o tom, ako sa spoznali a o tom, ako sa niečo v ich vzťahu strašne pokašľalo. Jeho rozprávanie ma zopárkrát dosť dojalo, najmä ku koncu. Túto časť vidím ako veľký poháňač dopredu.
V posledných stránkach autorka prechádza do prítomného času, samotný koniec vnímam dosť vlažne.
Knihu som čítala v podstate len kvôli zdokonaleniu sa v angličtine. Môžem povedať, že sa mi celkom páčila, aj keď je to niečo úplne mimo môjho obľúbeného žánru kníh.
(Pozn. - Úplne prvá kniha, ktorú som čítala a úspešne dočítala v angličtine, kto zdieľa moje nadšenie? :D)
January 28, 2018
'Give a book 100 pages before you give up on it' someone once told me, 'then you will be really connected to the characters...' At 196 pages, once I had got to 100 I thought I may as well go the whole hog. Turns out I will not be following that piece of advice again. I don't think 1000 pages could have connected me to Willy Muller in any sense, and Willy himself seems utterly disconnected from every other character in the book, even those he has chosen to share his life with.
To be fair, his perceptions were possibly coloured by the fact that everyone in the book was either naked or dressed in orange- that's bound to get on your tits after a while eh?
Heller's protaganist is a deeply unpleasant, antisocial misogynist, and he is fat and grey too, we are told, yet strangely alluring to various younger and better looking women. It makes no sense. A womanising, selfish, lazy turd of a man, who spends 196 pages judging absolutely everyone around him as ugly... and SPOILER ALERT we are supposed to care whether he finds redemption or not at the end. I'd have preferred him to follow his daughter's suicidal example and do the world a favour.
The biggest surprise in the whole book is that it is penned by a woman. There is no roundedness to any of the female characters, no back stories, no insight- they are purely ornamental and viewed with utter disdain and pity. I get that this is possibly for effect, but seriously, would a little insight have done any harm?
More infuriating than any of it though, are the entries from his daughter's diaries. I'm all for suspending disbelief in literature, but this 9 year old writes about concepts of immorality, judgement and infatuation but can't spell Doctor or use capital letters.
Will Self proclaims on the back cover that Heller is 'among the most interesting and exciting of new British writers'... which serves as a useful warning not to read any of Self's work
To be fair, his perceptions were possibly coloured by the fact that everyone in the book was either naked or dressed in orange- that's bound to get on your tits after a while eh?
Heller's protaganist is a deeply unpleasant, antisocial misogynist, and he is fat and grey too, we are told, yet strangely alluring to various younger and better looking women. It makes no sense. A womanising, selfish, lazy turd of a man, who spends 196 pages judging absolutely everyone around him as ugly... and SPOILER ALERT we are supposed to care whether he finds redemption or not at the end. I'd have preferred him to follow his daughter's suicidal example and do the world a favour.
The biggest surprise in the whole book is that it is penned by a woman. There is no roundedness to any of the female characters, no back stories, no insight- they are purely ornamental and viewed with utter disdain and pity. I get that this is possibly for effect, but seriously, would a little insight have done any harm?
More infuriating than any of it though, are the entries from his daughter's diaries. I'm all for suspending disbelief in literature, but this 9 year old writes about concepts of immorality, judgement and infatuation but can't spell Doctor or use capital letters.
Will Self proclaims on the back cover that Heller is 'among the most interesting and exciting of new British writers'... which serves as a useful warning not to read any of Self's work
January 20, 2014
Zoe Heller is one of my favourite authors. She really needs to pull her finger out. On completion of this, her first book, I have now read everything that she has produced.
Her last book, the believers, was six years ago.
This book is short but perfectly formed. The construct works well. Willy Muller is in hospital, looking back on the women in his life.
This includes two current lovers, an ex-wife - whom he accidentally killed in an accident with a fridge, one daughter who hates him - sadie - and one that has committed Suicide - Sophie.
And its Sophie's voice we hear of most in the book, through her journal that has been sent to Willy. Each chapter starts with an excerpt, as we move through her teenage years, from the seventies and into the eighties.
Although, with the content of her diary, its unclear as to why she would of sent to her father.
Zoe has a way of turning phrases that resonate and make you smile. All those years after notes on a scandal, I am still fearful of youths with one sinister grey tooth. In this book, she has Hippies with their rabbity teeth. Maybe its just dental descriptions that do it for me.
The book pokes plenty of fun at the left, the idle rich and Britain in particular. Willy has to come back for his mother's funeral and this provides the best section of the book, as he meets up with his daughter, her drug addled boyfriend and has to deal with transport, hotel and food.
Exceptionally funny, with a great supporting cast of characters. The drunk actor who comes to visit in mexico, being a favourite.
Till the next time then.... should she get her pen out.
Her last book, the believers, was six years ago.
This book is short but perfectly formed. The construct works well. Willy Muller is in hospital, looking back on the women in his life.
This includes two current lovers, an ex-wife - whom he accidentally killed in an accident with a fridge, one daughter who hates him - sadie - and one that has committed Suicide - Sophie.
And its Sophie's voice we hear of most in the book, through her journal that has been sent to Willy. Each chapter starts with an excerpt, as we move through her teenage years, from the seventies and into the eighties.
Although, with the content of her diary, its unclear as to why she would of sent to her father.
Zoe has a way of turning phrases that resonate and make you smile. All those years after notes on a scandal, I am still fearful of youths with one sinister grey tooth. In this book, she has Hippies with their rabbity teeth. Maybe its just dental descriptions that do it for me.
The book pokes plenty of fun at the left, the idle rich and Britain in particular. Willy has to come back for his mother's funeral and this provides the best section of the book, as he meets up with his daughter, her drug addled boyfriend and has to deal with transport, hotel and food.
Exceptionally funny, with a great supporting cast of characters. The drunk actor who comes to visit in mexico, being a favourite.
Till the next time then.... should she get her pen out.
April 12, 2011
Heller's freshman effort, Everything You Know, shows what would happen if she'd never learned to dial back some of her baser instincts: unbelievable pairings, absurd situations and characters too wrapped up in their own drama. The choice of protagonist alone takes getting used to: Willy, a curmudgeonly writer, follows up a health crisis by reading through his daughter's journals, the only connection left months after her suicide. Willy and the type-ridden supporting cast has a lot of implausible and deeply personal emotional ground to travel. When I say "deeply personal" I use it in the "potentially boring," sense, and good chunks the novel are boring. The degree of implausibility lies behind these events leads me, reluctantly, to label this as a first novel of little value to readers now that Heller has found her voice. It's out of print in the US, but the link on the title will take you to the Powell's website, where you can pick up a UK copy. Often, as with Richard Yates (Revolutionary Road), the first novel will be a pinnacle; luckily for us, Ms. Heller seems to find more skill and voice with each story she tells.
July 27, 2015
I think Zoe Heller may be a one-hit wonder. "Notes on a Scandal" is one of my favorite novels, so I wanted to read her other books. "The Believers" was underwhelming, but far better than "Everything You Know". Frankly, EYK was boring: the plot was very minimal, and the characters were superficial and unlikable. Based on the reviews and the marketing, it seems EYK is supposed to be a dark comedy; however, the tone is too flippant to be dark, and too cynical to be comedic.
My greatest vexation with EYK was the anachronisms. The novel is set in 1981, yet cell phones, laptops, satellite television, and personal computers are commonplace. Tom Cruise and Madonna were just starting out, yet they are referenced as though they were household names. And generally the story does not feel like it was set in the early eighties, but more like the late nineties when it was written. It seems like Heller was either misremembering and/or didn't do her research.
I was tempted to give EYK one star, but I have too much admiration for Heller to do that. I love her writing style, and although it is not as polished in this novel, its presence still buoys the tedious narrative.
My greatest vexation with EYK was the anachronisms. The novel is set in 1981, yet cell phones, laptops, satellite television, and personal computers are commonplace. Tom Cruise and Madonna were just starting out, yet they are referenced as though they were household names. And generally the story does not feel like it was set in the early eighties, but more like the late nineties when it was written. It seems like Heller was either misremembering and/or didn't do her research.
I was tempted to give EYK one star, but I have too much admiration for Heller to do that. I love her writing style, and although it is not as polished in this novel, its presence still buoys the tedious narrative.
July 11, 2011
I love the way Zoë Heller writes her characters. Her first person narratives really dig into the character's psyche and showcases all the warts, immoral thoughts and true dichotomy that lives within all us.
This novel follows a couple weeks in the life of Willy Muller. A British man acquitted of killing his wife years ago, living in LA who just received noticed that his daughter committed suicide. We watch Willy recover from a heart attack, cheat on his girlfriend, attempt to reconcile with his family, and have general contempt for the world. I know this might sound as a downer, but don't be mislead it was a good read.
It's interesting to know this was the author's debut novel and of course she followed up with one of my favorites, Notes on a Scandal.
This novel follows a couple weeks in the life of Willy Muller. A British man acquitted of killing his wife years ago, living in LA who just received noticed that his daughter committed suicide. We watch Willy recover from a heart attack, cheat on his girlfriend, attempt to reconcile with his family, and have general contempt for the world. I know this might sound as a downer, but don't be mislead it was a good read.
It's interesting to know this was the author's debut novel and of course she followed up with one of my favorites, Notes on a Scandal.
July 15, 2012
I absolutely loved this book. My only concern was at one point the echoes of the following excerpt from a letter by Evelyn Waugh were so close that it did make me wonder ... however knowing Heller's excellence as a writer I believe that this is either a coincidence or an unwitting echo from something she read a long time ago and had forgotten.
"In the hope of keeping him [= Winston Churchill's son] quiet for a few hours Freddy and I have bet Randolph £20 that he cannot read the whole Bible in a fortnight. It would have been worth it at the price. Unhappily it has not had the result we hoped. He has never read any of it before and is hideously excited; keeps reading quotations aloud: `I say I bet you didn't know this came in the Bible ... or merely slapping his side and chortling `God, isn't God a shit!'". Evelyn Waugh, letter to Nancy Mitford.
"In the hope of keeping him [= Winston Churchill's son] quiet for a few hours Freddy and I have bet Randolph £20 that he cannot read the whole Bible in a fortnight. It would have been worth it at the price. Unhappily it has not had the result we hoped. He has never read any of it before and is hideously excited; keeps reading quotations aloud: `I say I bet you didn't know this came in the Bible ... or merely slapping his side and chortling `God, isn't God a shit!'". Evelyn Waugh, letter to Nancy Mitford.
April 26, 2013
Pleasure was had from Zoë Heller's first novel Everything You Know, which has one of the most acerbic misanthropes I've encountered in the past year or so. His hatred of London and New York is so intense and so exquisitely described that any reader who hasn't been to these cities would probably never want to visit. He has a troubled relationship with his daughters (one of whom kills herself) and in his youth had served time for the murder of his wife (acquitted on appeal). Despite his dislike for people in general, and contempt for the women in his life, he occasionally does feel pangs of sympathy for them, and he tries to do the right thing. Of course, his good work is invariably thrown back in his face. No wonder he staggers through life despising everyone. Heller does like an optimistic ending, though. I'd have preferred the man to die filled with his bitterly dark humour.
May 2, 2018
Not my favourite Zoe Heller book - it's well written, naturally, but the story feels a bit forced somehow, and the characters are somewhat two dimensional so that by the end I really wasn't that bothered how it all turned out for them. I'm sure it was deliberately tongue-in-cheek but there wasn't enough depth in the events to keep me engaged, and I simply couldn't believe in the choices that Sophie and Sadie made. Perhaps that's just me, though.
If you're new to Zoe Heller, then I'd recommend "Notes on a Scandal" which is deliciously outrageous or "The Believers" which draws you into a world of cultural conflict. There is a danger this book would put you off Zoe Heller if it was the first (and only) one you had read, and that would be a shame.
If you're new to Zoe Heller, then I'd recommend "Notes on a Scandal" which is deliciously outrageous or "The Believers" which draws you into a world of cultural conflict. There is a danger this book would put you off Zoe Heller if it was the first (and only) one you had read, and that would be a shame.
August 6, 2011
One of those books in which not a great deal happens, but the writing is of such a consistently high standard, as well as being very funny, that it hardly matters. Like Zoe Heller’s other novel ‘Notes on a Scandal’, this features a dislikeable narrator and a lot of sniffy commentary, and aside from a slightly curious ending, I enjoyed it. What I was most impressed by was the creation, by a female author, of a male narrator who is most definitely, unquestionably, a Bloke.
November 8, 2012
I always find Zoe Heller's books about redemption of sometimes disgusting characters intriguing. The characters have got just a crack of goodness in them somewhere, and that's enough. The books usually end with the character taking just one step toward the better part of themselves, and it's up to you to imagine the rest. She really knows how to describe the sometimes ugly nitty-gritty of humanness though. Not all the characters "see the light" either.
January 8, 2012
I loved the descriptions, really original, wish I could write like it. Interesting that the author writes as a older man and yet is so convincing. Perhaps though if I were an older man I would think differently and feel that the author has got us all wrong!
A difficult read at times but I enjoyed it.
A difficult read at times but I enjoyed it.
June 11, 2013
I enjoyed this book - although the narrative voice of the self centred central character wasn't likeable I thought it worked well the juxtaposition of his trivial and pointless existance with the intimate diary written by his daughter who had recently committed suicide. I wanted to hear more about her life, I felt like reaching out to help her.
June 15, 2019
Willy Muller has problems. His elder daughter hates him, his sister’s not a fan, his girlfriends (yes, plural) want to change him and his agent is hassling him to work on a screenplay of his old best-seller ‘To Have and to Hold’, a rather tasteless account of how he killed his wife – or perhaps he didn’t. He was found guilty at his first trial, served time in Wormwood Scrubs before being released on appeal, basing his defence on claims that his wife Oona was an alcoholic.
Willy should have hit a turning point in his life as a result of a heart attack but unlike many who recover from a life-threatening event determined to make more of their lives and to live every day, Willy seems to have just lost his interest in life.
In an attempt to perk him up, Willy's agent has sent him to Mexico to recuperate and to work on the screenplay and Willy has taken the younger of his two girlfriends - freckly Karen - with him but Karen’s thirty odd years younger than him and wants a lot more sex than a man with a bad heart can deliver. When his elder girlfriend - perfectly preserved Penny - turns up unexpectedly with a couple of his friends, Willy expects the fur to fly. To make life even more complex his utterly revolting old buddy Harry rolls up to spend his days in an alcoholic stupor, offending their landlady, calling Willy’s film-maker client nasty names and upsetting the maid by peeing his bed. Against this backdrop of aimless and slightly pathetic chaos, we are introduced to Willy’s younger daughter Sadie.
Three months earlier Sadie killed herself with mogadon and paracetamol crushed into Bailey’s Irish Cream. Before committing her final act, Sadie parcelled up her journals, dating back to her childhood just after her mother’s death when she and her sister Sophie were living with their aunt Monika whilst Willy was in prison. Thanks to the infamous inefficiency of the US postal service it has taken a long time for the parcel to find Willy and deliver its message.
Sadie's childhood was one of therapists and analysts and of curious strangers eyeing the girls suspiciously and pityingly. She and her sister Sophie rejected their middle-class upbringing and lived in dirty, disgusting squats surrounded by drop- outs and wasters. Her life of struggle and her search for love is told through diary extracts which are delivered to us at intervals, intercut with her father’s present-day problems. As we flip back and forth between Willy’s present and Sadie's past it's clear that both are failures at dealing with relationships. Willy struggles with his greedy manipulative girlfriend and Sadie was abused and exploited by her married-man lover.
Better than it sounds
You can be forgiven for thinking it all sounds a bit bland and in the hands of the wrong writer, it easily could be a dull read. Zoe Heller is a writer I’ve followed since she wrote columns in the Sunday supplements about her life as an ex-pat Brit in the USA. I wanted her to be Joseph Heller’s daughter, but she’s not and as far as I can tell there’s no familial connection between her and the older Heller but somehow she’s a natural at writing from the point of view of a jaded, disappointed older man of German /Jewish / British background, who’s not really at ease anywhere. Zoe has created Willy as an entirely believable, funny, old curmudgeon, a man who doesn’t really like people but can’t help being witty without trying. Ostracised by his countrymen after his wife’s death, he has fled to the USA and not really fitted in there either. There’s a faint possibility that Sadie’s diaries could force Willy to confront the impact of his actions on his daughters and might even offer him the opportunity for redemption – trouble is, will Willy be man enough to try to make up for the sins of the father that have been visited so tragically on the next generation?
I believe that 'Everything You Know', published in 1999, was Heller’s first book although she was already well known as a columnist. Her second book - ‘Notes on a Scandal’- got a more rapturous reception, with short-listing for the Booker Prize and a film starring Cate Blanchette and Judy Dench but much as I expected to love that one, I found it hard to like the protagonists. 'Everything You Know' is very different and I found it hard NOT to like Willy and Sadie. There’s a sad inevitability about the latter’s descent into chaos and despair that contrasts with Willy’s opportunity to stop his own slide and potentially be a better man.
When I got to the end it was quite hard to sum up what had actually happened in the book. It’s basically a tale in which not very much happens, but it’s recounted with such dry wit and wry observation that you can’t help but enjoy the journey even when the destination seems unclear. Heller manages to write convincingly from the points of view of two such different characters. I’ve often criticised books by male writers that don’t ring true when the lead character is a woman but I really can’t find fault with Heller’s ability to speak with the authentic voice of Willy Muller.
Willy should have hit a turning point in his life as a result of a heart attack but unlike many who recover from a life-threatening event determined to make more of their lives and to live every day, Willy seems to have just lost his interest in life.
In an attempt to perk him up, Willy's agent has sent him to Mexico to recuperate and to work on the screenplay and Willy has taken the younger of his two girlfriends - freckly Karen - with him but Karen’s thirty odd years younger than him and wants a lot more sex than a man with a bad heart can deliver. When his elder girlfriend - perfectly preserved Penny - turns up unexpectedly with a couple of his friends, Willy expects the fur to fly. To make life even more complex his utterly revolting old buddy Harry rolls up to spend his days in an alcoholic stupor, offending their landlady, calling Willy’s film-maker client nasty names and upsetting the maid by peeing his bed. Against this backdrop of aimless and slightly pathetic chaos, we are introduced to Willy’s younger daughter Sadie.
Three months earlier Sadie killed herself with mogadon and paracetamol crushed into Bailey’s Irish Cream. Before committing her final act, Sadie parcelled up her journals, dating back to her childhood just after her mother’s death when she and her sister Sophie were living with their aunt Monika whilst Willy was in prison. Thanks to the infamous inefficiency of the US postal service it has taken a long time for the parcel to find Willy and deliver its message.
Sadie's childhood was one of therapists and analysts and of curious strangers eyeing the girls suspiciously and pityingly. She and her sister Sophie rejected their middle-class upbringing and lived in dirty, disgusting squats surrounded by drop- outs and wasters. Her life of struggle and her search for love is told through diary extracts which are delivered to us at intervals, intercut with her father’s present-day problems. As we flip back and forth between Willy’s present and Sadie's past it's clear that both are failures at dealing with relationships. Willy struggles with his greedy manipulative girlfriend and Sadie was abused and exploited by her married-man lover.
Better than it sounds
You can be forgiven for thinking it all sounds a bit bland and in the hands of the wrong writer, it easily could be a dull read. Zoe Heller is a writer I’ve followed since she wrote columns in the Sunday supplements about her life as an ex-pat Brit in the USA. I wanted her to be Joseph Heller’s daughter, but she’s not and as far as I can tell there’s no familial connection between her and the older Heller but somehow she’s a natural at writing from the point of view of a jaded, disappointed older man of German /Jewish / British background, who’s not really at ease anywhere. Zoe has created Willy as an entirely believable, funny, old curmudgeon, a man who doesn’t really like people but can’t help being witty without trying. Ostracised by his countrymen after his wife’s death, he has fled to the USA and not really fitted in there either. There’s a faint possibility that Sadie’s diaries could force Willy to confront the impact of his actions on his daughters and might even offer him the opportunity for redemption – trouble is, will Willy be man enough to try to make up for the sins of the father that have been visited so tragically on the next generation?
I believe that 'Everything You Know', published in 1999, was Heller’s first book although she was already well known as a columnist. Her second book - ‘Notes on a Scandal’- got a more rapturous reception, with short-listing for the Booker Prize and a film starring Cate Blanchette and Judy Dench but much as I expected to love that one, I found it hard to like the protagonists. 'Everything You Know' is very different and I found it hard NOT to like Willy and Sadie. There’s a sad inevitability about the latter’s descent into chaos and despair that contrasts with Willy’s opportunity to stop his own slide and potentially be a better man.
When I got to the end it was quite hard to sum up what had actually happened in the book. It’s basically a tale in which not very much happens, but it’s recounted with such dry wit and wry observation that you can’t help but enjoy the journey even when the destination seems unclear. Heller manages to write convincingly from the points of view of two such different characters. I’ve often criticised books by male writers that don’t ring true when the lead character is a woman but I really can’t find fault with Heller’s ability to speak with the authentic voice of Willy Muller.
October 21, 2019
I started reading this book several years ago, after falling in love with 'Notes on a Scandal'. (A year later I read 'The Believers', which differed greatly from the other two. More on that in a moment.)
One thing about Zoe Heller is clear: she has an incredible gift for creating the most repugnant, misanthropic, and irredeemable characters imaginable.
The protagonist from "Everything You Know' is Willy Muller, a middle-aged Englishman living in LA. To call him "cynical" or "jaded" would be extending undeserved politeness; the man is quite simply an asshole. He has contempt for everything and everyone around him, including his girlfriend. (A woman whose style of love exists in the realm between staunchly loyal and excessively needy-Willy claims that she 'clings to me like a limpet to a rock'. Penny's speech is peppered with "lookits"and phrases like "are you mad at me?" and "why do you have to be so mean?" To be honest, she probably would've gotten on my nerves too.)
At the beginning of the book, we learn that Willy has two daughters- both estranged- and the younger one, Sadie, has just committed suicide. Each chapter opens with one of her diary entries, spanning from childhood up to her death. She, like her father, is fairly one-dimensional; both share an utter contempt for themselves. The only difference is that Willy's extends to the rest of the world. While his observations are malicious, they can also be accurate and even funny. He describes one woman as "one of those who pride themselves on being tremendously unaffected and down to earth. But she tends to get scratchy when the little people whom she is polite enough to pretend are her equals do not show themselves sufficiently sensible of the condescension."
To add to Willy's colourful character, there are several hints that he might also be a pedophile. At the same party, he comments numerous times on how "beautiful" a six-year-old girl is. Observing that a child is beautiful is one thing; but harping on the fact is nothing short of unnerving. Near the end of the book, he mentions having "sexual thoughts about Sophie (his daughter) when she was a young teenager. I say sexual, you will note, rather than lustful, because they were more like inquisitive daydreams rather than black fantasies. I merely wondered what her bed manners were like."
Ew. Ew. EWWW!!!
This is the kind of book that gives you pause more than a few times- but the imagery is vivid enough, and the story compelling enough, to make you anxious to find out how the story ends. Or at least what kind of wacko situation Willy will find himself in next.
One thing about Zoe Heller is clear: she has an incredible gift for creating the most repugnant, misanthropic, and irredeemable characters imaginable.
The protagonist from "Everything You Know' is Willy Muller, a middle-aged Englishman living in LA. To call him "cynical" or "jaded" would be extending undeserved politeness; the man is quite simply an asshole. He has contempt for everything and everyone around him, including his girlfriend. (A woman whose style of love exists in the realm between staunchly loyal and excessively needy-Willy claims that she 'clings to me like a limpet to a rock'. Penny's speech is peppered with "lookits"and phrases like "are you mad at me?" and "why do you have to be so mean?" To be honest, she probably would've gotten on my nerves too.)
At the beginning of the book, we learn that Willy has two daughters- both estranged- and the younger one, Sadie, has just committed suicide. Each chapter opens with one of her diary entries, spanning from childhood up to her death. She, like her father, is fairly one-dimensional; both share an utter contempt for themselves. The only difference is that Willy's extends to the rest of the world. While his observations are malicious, they can also be accurate and even funny. He describes one woman as "one of those who pride themselves on being tremendously unaffected and down to earth. But she tends to get scratchy when the little people whom she is polite enough to pretend are her equals do not show themselves sufficiently sensible of the condescension."
To add to Willy's colourful character, there are several hints that he might also be a pedophile. At the same party, he comments numerous times on how "beautiful" a six-year-old girl is. Observing that a child is beautiful is one thing; but harping on the fact is nothing short of unnerving. Near the end of the book, he mentions having "sexual thoughts about Sophie (his daughter) when she was a young teenager. I say sexual, you will note, rather than lustful, because they were more like inquisitive daydreams rather than black fantasies. I merely wondered what her bed manners were like."
Ew. Ew. EWWW!!!
This is the kind of book that gives you pause more than a few times- but the imagery is vivid enough, and the story compelling enough, to make you anxious to find out how the story ends. Or at least what kind of wacko situation Willy will find himself in next.
March 6, 2024
After reading her other book, What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal, I was putting off reading this book. From what I can tell, Heller only wrote three books, and I do NOT intend to purchase or read the third. I have officially learned my lesson. I hated every character in this book. They are all insufferable with no redeeming qualities. By the end of the book, when Willy decides to try to make amends, it's way too late. I actually was hoping he'd die. I'm not sure if Heller meant for every character to be the most horrible person they could possibly be, but they most certainly were. All of them. This was just a horrible book, with a horrible plot and horrible characters who said and did horrible things. Ugh. I decided to read it as quickly as I could to put me out of the misery of having to endure this tripe any longer. Is Heller miserable? Is that where these characters came from--her own misery?
Just don't think I read this in two days because it was good. I read it in two days to get it over with. You might ask why I even bothered reading it at all. Well, I bought the thing, I figured I should. Now I'm dumping it at a used bookstore as quickly as I can. If you like miserable people who treat each other like crap, this is the book for you! Good luck!
Just don't think I read this in two days because it was good. I read it in two days to get it over with. You might ask why I even bothered reading it at all. Well, I bought the thing, I figured I should. Now I'm dumping it at a used bookstore as quickly as I can. If you like miserable people who treat each other like crap, this is the book for you! Good luck!
November 11, 2021
I liked this despite the fact that the protagonist is a dreadful, self-centred, arrogant, amoral man who cares not a jot for anyone other than himself. I was impressed that Zoe Heller could write such a character and make him believable. We meet Willy Muller in the aftermath of a heart attack when he learns that his daughter (with whom he has no contact) has committed suicide and left him her diaries. He lives in Los Angeles, having fled England after evading a prison sentence for the possible murder of his wife. And his other daughter has no other dealings with him than to take money from him. Willy breezes through life, oblivious to the needs or feelings of others, using people as and when required so it was strange that this book didn't revolt me. It's written as a tragi-comedy, though more comedy than tragedy, I felt, and I never really took it seriously. Though there are some very sad and heart-wrenching moments in it the tone of the book doesn't lend itself to tragic introspection and the pace of the work held my interest throughout. I'd recommend this though I would understand if other readers disagreed.
August 7, 2017
This is not as good as Heller's Notes On A Scandal, which was an effective look at manipulative relationships: perhaps far-fetched, but believable for all that. This is funnier, but just less believable, and that is probably what makes this a less good book. It is readable and enjoyable, but fails to quite find the ethical dilemmas that made "Notes" so much fun to read because of the depth they added and by making the book thought provoking.
Am I saying, this book is too shallow? Perhaps! There is some evidence of the acute observation of dysfunctional personal relationships that "Notes" uses so effectively, but this novel plays them more for laughs.
This is an acceptable, even quite entertaining read. It makes some good points, but never really gets up much above the level of farce. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, except with the suggestion that "Notes on a Scandal" is much better!
Am I saying, this book is too shallow? Perhaps! There is some evidence of the acute observation of dysfunctional personal relationships that "Notes" uses so effectively, but this novel plays them more for laughs.
This is an acceptable, even quite entertaining read. It makes some good points, but never really gets up much above the level of farce. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, except with the suggestion that "Notes on a Scandal" is much better!
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