Before Everything

by Victoria Redel

A luminous and richly layered novel evoking The Big Chill the story of a group of lifetime friends who gather together to confront life, love, and now mortality.

Before Everythingis a celebration of friendship and love between a group of women who have known each another since they were girls. They ve faced everything together, from youthful sprees and scrapes to mid-life turning points. Now, as Anna, the group s trailblazer and brightest spark, enters hospice, they gather to do what they ve always done talk and laugh and help each other make choices and plans, this time in Anna s rural Massachusetts home. Helen, Anna s best friend and a celebrated painter, is about to remarry. The others face their own challenges Caroline with her sister s mental health crisis; Molly with a teenage daughter s rebellion; Ming with her law practice dilemmas with kids and work and love.Before Everythingis as funny as it is bittersweet, as the friends revel in the hilarious mistakes they ve seen each another through, the secrets kept, and adventures shared. But now all sense of time has shifted, and the pattern of their lives together takes on new meaning. The noveloffers a brilliant, emotionally charged portrait, deftly conveying the sweep of time over everyday lives, and showing how even in difficult endings, gifts can unfold. Above all it is an ode to friendship, and to how one person shapes the journeys of those around her."

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Friendship, Queer, LGBT, Womens

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2017

About the author

Victoria Redel's newest novel is I Am You (September 30, 2025, SJP Lit/Zando), which Melissa Febos calls "A lush, sexy, absorbing novel that brings to life two artists who are inextricably linked in passion and competition."

Redel's work includes four books of poetry, most recently Paradise, and the novel Before Everything. Her short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O, and NOON, among many others. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. She is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and splits her time between Utah and New York City.
Redel is on the graduate and undergraduate faculty of Sarah Lawrence College. She has taught in the Graduate Writing Programs of Columbia University and Vermont College. Redel was the McGee Professor at Davidson College. She has received fellowships from The Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment For The Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center.

Victoria Redel was born in New York. She is a first generation American of Belgian, Rumanian, Egyptian and Russian and Polish descent. She attended Dartmouth College (BA) and Columbia University (MFA).

Reviews

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

!! NOW AVAILABLE !!

3.5 Stars

”We are here. And then we are not here. For a little while, we are a story.”

Friends. The Old Friends. They’d come together at the end of Sixth Grade, set apart from all others by the simple fact that it said everything about them. They were there first. First and always, The Old Friends. All the friends that came after just simply were newer friends, but never to become part of what they were, never to have a part in their story.

”On a late March day when you could taste spring’s muddy tang, Anna was given results from the new scans. Anna, who had done it well—actually managed a couple get-well miracles—simply said, ‘No more.’”

And so they flock to Anna’s side at her home in rural Massachusetts. Helen, Anna’s best of these best friends, is an artist who has second marriage on the horizon. Helen isn’t alone in juggling outside concerns, Caroline’s sister has emotional, mental health problems that one can’t just walk away from. Molly’s daughter is going through a rebellious phase, as teenage girls often do. Ming, always shuffling the holy trinity of working mothers: love, her work and children.

”And I never thought I'd feel this way
And as far as I'm concerned
I'm glad I got the chance to say
That I do believe, I love you
And if I should ever go away
Well, then close your eyes and try
To feel the way we do today
And then if you can remember
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Well, you came in loving me
And now there's so much more I see
And so by the way
I thank you”
“That’s What Friends Are For” - Written by Burt F Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager

Anna is fed and fueled by their love, their friendship, their memories and stories of days long past, of dreams for their futures, their children's futures. She knows they will carry her with them in their thoughts and she also knows they will share their stories of her in their stories to others, and in that way she will live on.

The awareness of death approaching is evident, although the conversations about it are less prevalent, but it is always there, it is the very reason they are gathered there to reminisce. We hear from each on as they share their thoughts, each taking turns, including Anne’s husband, but this story isn’t about him or them as a couple as much as it is about this friendship, this sisterhood which has gathered to allow one of theirs to leave this life knowing that this bond will not be broken.

"Oh and then for the times when we're apart
Well, then close your eyes and know
The words are coming from my heart
And then if you can remember
Keep smiling and keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
In good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for"
“That’s What Friends Are For” - Written by Burt F Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager

I enjoyed this, but I never quite was able to get where I was fully invested in this story, the writing is fine, there are moments of laughter and sadness, but I never really fully was convinced of those feelings – this just didn’t reach me on an emotional level. Emotionally, this felt very even to me, which didn’t really seem to feel “normal” to me under the circumstances. I just didn’t connect fully with this one, but that may just be me.

Many years ago, a friend of mine went into hospice care, not at her home as in this story, with the condition that we, her friends, would always be there, taking turns round the clock to make sure she didn’t die alone. I don’t recall how many months this lasted, only that it wasn’t brief. I do remember more than anything how often I would come in and the woman leaving would comment on how glad they were that she hadn’t died on their watch. I found that to be such a disquieting thought, that the whole block of time they’d spent with her was filled with this negative thought. How much comfort could their presence be under those circumstances? The last time I went to visit, the woman leaving practically ran out. And then it was just me. I knew she’d had a bad day, she was in a lot of pain and she kept asking for something, which eventually I understood was “I want…” so I started to rattle off “things”… ice chips? Water? The Nurse? Her children? Her husband? Medicine? Then I asked: “You want to let go?” and she squeezed my hand twice. So I sat there and talked about a special place I knew she liked to go, describing it in as much detail as I could, and I talked about her children and how well they would be watched over and cared for, and all the agitation of the first few hours was gone. The nurse came in and said it wouldn’t be long, if I wanted to call her family, but they’d been called too many times before, so I stayed until it was over because that’s what friends are for.


Pub Date 27 Jun 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Penguin Group / Viking



Edit (30 Jun 2017) : Victoria Redel's favourite books about besties:

http://www.readitforward.com/bookshel...

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 They met in the school yard, the five young girls that would remain friends, having children together, staying in touch even when their lives went off in different directions. They helped each other through life's many problems and difficulties, but now they are confronted by something they can neither change nor solve. Annie has fought her cancer for years, treatments, medications, bone marrow transplants, remissions and hope renewed. Her cancer though has come back and she has decided enough is enough and has started home hospice.

This is ultimately a book of friendship, friends who are there through thick and thin, new friends and old friends, friends who now arrive in force trying to change her mind, convince her to continue fighting her illness. We hear from each of them in turn, including the husband who though connected emotionally has been living separated from his wife but is now her principle caretaker. The tone is not maudlin, it is more melancholy as they each remember times Annie was integral to their lives, she is very loved.

While I appreciated this I also found it unrealistic as none seemed to confront the hard truths, except maybe the husband. Only one time, when they take her on a field trip in her weakened condition to a wellness spa and see how bad her condition is by the look on the receptionists face do we see how bad off she really is, how blind to this they actually are. So a good story but one that I felt was missing some base reality, or maybe it is just my feeling and others readers won't feel the same. Read it and see.

ARC from publisher.

[Reeca Elliott · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was sort of blah for me. I was really surprised it hit me this way. This type of book is usually right in my wheelhouse. It started pretty depressing to begin with. Then the characters were completely disconnected to each other and the reader. I was shocked with the pettiness some of the characters showed. I mean...one of their best friends is dying and they are wondering why they are not liked by the other women in the group. Come on...what's important here! I did eventually bail on the book. I gave it a good ole college try. I made it through a quarter of the book before I decided it wasn't for me. I usually don't post bad reviews because the author works very hard to put a book out in the world. And this is just MY OPINION.
I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

[Jill McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Before Everything by Victoria Redel is a celebration of friendship and love between a group of women, "the Old Friends", who come together to confront life, love, and now death.

"The Old Friends" - that is what Anna, Molly, Ming, Caroline, and Helen have been calling themselves since sixth grade. The story revolves around Anna, the trailblazer of the group, who has just entered hospice with cancer and is ready to die, but her friends want her to fight for her life. Now they have all come together, by Anna's side, and are reminiscing about past mistakes, secrets, adventures, and love - each one sharing their own personal story of friendship they have with Anna. Walk with them as they learn to cope with saying goodbye to their old friend. This novel is moving, funny, powerful, and a testimony to love, bravery, and friendship.

* I want to thank Penguin First Reads for the ARC.

[Foteini Fp · Rating 1 out of 5]

Η κεντρική ιδέα πίσω από αυτό το βιβλίο είχε πολλές προοπτικές για ένα καλό κλάμα, (πέντε παιδικές φίλες βρίσκονται ξανά ώστε να είναι στο πλευρό μίας εξ αυτών, της Άννας, η οποία βρίσκεται στο τελευταίο στάδιο του καρκίνου), ΟΜΩΣ η συγγραφέας έμπλεξε τα μπούτια της και τα δικά μας φέρνοντας μέσα στην πλοκή όλο τον περίγυρο της κάθε φίλης, (παιδιά, γονείς, συζύγους, συνεργάτες, σκυλιά, γατιά, χρυσόψαρα) και κάποιες πιο πρόσφατες φίλες της μελλοθάνατης οι οποίες είχαν κέφια να αναμετρηθούν με τις παλιές, εδώ ο κόσμος χάνεται και το παπί χτενίζεται δηλαδή. Απ' όλα τα πρόσωπα που παρελαύνουν μέσα στο βιβλίο ο αναγνώστης δεν έχει αρκετά στοιχεία ώστε να συμπαθήσει κανένα, ούτε καν την ίδια την πρωταγωνίστρια διότι οι χαρακτήρες είναι γραμμένοι πρόχειρα, είναι μονοδιάστατοι και δεν διαθέτουν καθόλου βάθος. Βάζω αστεράκι ένα επειδή δεν έχω την επιλογή να βάλω μείον τετρακόσια όσα δηλαδή και τα ονόματα που συνάντησα μέσα στο βιβλίο.

[Susan Goodson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The underlying concept behind this book had potential, but it seemed to have an identity crisis. The main character, Anna, has terminal cancer and all of her "old friends" come back to visit her. The old friends are vain, self absorbed, and not that interesting. There was some random conflict between the new/local friends and the "old friends" but it was so disjointed. Some of the characters were so randomly place into the story - the brothers, her children, Connie, the band singer, etc. It just didn't connect for me - at all. I wasn't sure if the author was trying to draw out the conflict between "old friends" and everyday friends, what it's like to support or be a sick person, a memoir of the old friends and why they love Anna.....it was all mixed in and it didn't work. I felt zero connection to any of the characters.

[Lynnie Greenham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this book at all. I was so looking forward to it. It sounded so good. The turnoff for me was because I didn't like a single person in the book. No wait, I did like Reuben. But the women mostly seemed like selfish , self important people. The Old Friends swooping in telling the every day friends to give them space to be with their dying friend. And, the dying friend is no better. Especially turned off by the book when the old friends decide to take the dying friend out on a last adventure leaving the newer (20 year friends) friends and the husband frantically wondering where they were. Then convincing each other they had nothing to feel guilty about and nothing to explain. It was just plain stupid.

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a physical ARC for review via the publishers!

Before Everything is a novel about a group of old school friends, who come together after one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness. The friends decide to go on an adventure, so they sneak the main character Anna out of her hospice room and travel around for a little while. The story also opens up about all of the friends with their love lives, children, divorces etc. The story-line was so disjointed. The chapters were very short and choppy, flashing back and forth between different characters and memories. I really couldn't relate to them or most of the events that took place throughout. It just wasn't a book that I could enjoy much.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I finished this, it often rang false somehow. Perhaps the ensemble of characters was too large to really develop anyone well?

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm with reviewers Susan and Reeca in disliking this book, and being surprised to have disliked it. When I read the book blurb and the blurbs by authors I adore, like Dani Shapiro, I was really looking forward to enjoying every minute of Before Everything.

Instead, and unfortunately, I found the characters quite unlikeable. I admit that it's an achievement for an author to realistically and unflinchingly paint very human characters dealing with their very human emotions of fear, guilt and resentment during the terminal illness of their friend. There's no soft romantic film put over Anna's illness as there would be in 'beach' novels on the same topic. I get that, and even applaud it.

However, when I'm reading a novel, I want to care about someone, anyone. In Before Everything, I didn't. I either actively didn't like them - Helen, all of the other Old Friends; didn't hear much of them so didn't think about them - all of the new friends, the band members, or felt sorry for them in a depressed, please let me get this book finished so this person gets out of my life sort of way - the ex-husband.

When I look at the other reviews and see so many 3.5-5 stars, I am reminded again of our individual tastes as readers. That's a good thing. I just wish I liked this book better than I did.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victoria Bledel’s novel is a masterclass in how to handle the point of view of multiple characters, tell each of their lives in a non-linear fashion while keeping narrative momentum. But if you’re a lover of maximalism with its lush descriptions that anchor you in place, Bledel disappoints. In order to keep the narrative moving along and make her time and place shifts somewhat seamless, she substitutes interiority for external description. This can sometimes leave the reader with the feeling that Bledel’s characters exist in space. The depth of character, emotion, and thought make up for this nestless feeling.

[Audreygold · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot sounded good. Five girl friends that have known each other for decades gathered together for one that is in hospice. The relationships did not feel authentic and I was bored by the book. Quickly skimmed it to the end.

[Italiangirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved every bit of it, the old friends, the new friends, the dying, the house!, the acceptance and all the stuff in between.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) “The Old Friends” have known each other for decades, since elementary school. Anna, Caroline, Helen, Ming and Molly. Their lives have gone in different directions – painter, psychiatrist, singer in a rock band and so on – but in March 2013 they’re huddling together because Anna is terminally ill. Over the years she’s had four remissions, but it’s clear the lymphoma won’t go away this time. Some of Anna’s friends and family want her to keep fighting, but the core group of pals is going to have to learn to let her die on her own terms. Before that, though, they aim for one more adventure.

Through the short, titled sections, some of them pages in length but others only a sentence or two, you piece together the friends’ history and separate struggles. Here’s an example of one such fragment, striking for the frankness and intimacy; how coyly those bald numbers conceal such joyful and wrenching moments:

Actually, for What It’s Worth

Between them there were twelve delivered babies. Three six- to eight-week abortions. Three miscarriages. One post-amniocentesis selective abortion. That’s just for the record.

While I didn’t like this quite as much as Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg, which is similar in setup, it’s a must-read on the theme. It’s sweet and sombre by turns, and has bite. I also appreciated how Redel contrasts the love between old friends with marital love and the companionship of new neighbourly friends. I hadn’t heard of Redel before, but she’s published another four novels and three poetry collections. It’d be worth finding more by her. The cover image is inspired by a moment late in a book when they find a photograph of the five of them doing handstands in a sprinkler the summer before seventh grade.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Charlie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is distressingly easy to find books dealing with friendship, love, loss, and death that are mawkish, manipulative, and moribund in soapish excess; so what a gift to discover a novel that limns so honestly, clearly, and cogently the arc of the sort of deep friendships that define a life, as important and vital (maybe more so) than any romantic or family bond: these families we make on our own.

From the publisher:

Before Everything is a celebration of friendship and love between a group of women who have known each other since they were girls. They’ve faced everything together, from youthful sprees and scrapes to mid-life turning points. Now, as Anna, the group’s trailblazer and brightest spark, enters hospice, they gather to do what they’ve always done—talk and laugh and help each other make choices and plans, this time in Anna’s rural Massachusetts home. Helen, Anna’s best friend and a celebrated painter, is about to remarry. The others face their own challenges—Caroline with her sister’s mental health crisis; Molly with a teenage daughter’s rebellion; Ming with her law practice—dilemmas with kids and work and love. Before Everything is as funny as it is bittersweet, as the friends revel in the hilarious mistakes they’ve seen each other through, the secrets kept, and adventures shared. But now all sense of time has shifted, and the pattern of their lives together takes on new meaning. The novel offers a brilliant, emotionally charged portrait, deftly conveying the sweep of time over everyday lives, and showing how even in difficult endings, gifts can unfold. Above all it is an ode to friendship, and to how one person shapes the journeys of those around her.

Anyone who has ever lost a friend will recognize themselves in these beautifully written pages resonant with meticulously detailed emotions, articulated in a time-leaping mosaic which reads much in the way life is remembered and experienced as we age; in a non-linear sort of time grounded in experiences and impressions, connections seen and discovered, how this thing in this moment reminds us of that thing from another moment, the threads sewn through the fabric of a life, and how keeping track by measuring seconds, minutes, hours, years, yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows gives way to an order dictated by emotional weight and impact --- this song takes you to that moment, and suddenly your heart is seventeen again.

With artful technique --- not show-offy or obvious --- Victoria Redel renders luminously the accumulation of events, truths, lies, pains, apologies, compromises, surrenders, victories, and discoveries that make a person who they are and shape relationships.

From page one we know Anna is dying, the virtuosity of this novel is the way in which it illuminates how the process of someone's dying doesn't begin with the diagnosis or end with the death, but, rather, like someone's living, goes on forever in the ways it affects others, the changes it makes in the world --- even in the world of the past and memories, the echoes of the moments of connection --- death reshapes all of those things. And, through the accumulation of detail achieved by short pieces of narrative so one is never mired too long in a place too melancholy --- the mixing of past and present, the concatenation of voices and perspectives --- we, the readers, become as hopeful as the friends that somehow, Anna will survive. We, like the friends, wish for magic realism --- a little miracle.

Which is what this novel is, a little miracle of wonderful writing, interesting and human characters, and a heartfelt, moving window into loss and the ways in which even epic sorrow can bring new light and life into being, and teach lessons we might otherwise not have learned. This exchange when Anna is advising Reuben, her estranged but still very present husband, he ought to pursue a relationship with her hospice nurse:

Then, out of nowhere the other day, Anna told him he should marry Kate. "You've definitely noticed her," Anna teased. "I know your taste."

"Wow, now here's an excellent line," he shot back. "My dying wife thinks I should date you." He was taking apart the four-poster bed. She'd refused the hospital bed until she could no longer refuse. "I'm a real catch, Anna," he said.

"You are a catch, Reuben. You're my only regret," Anna said. "I should never have let us separate."

"Please, we both screwed up."

Still, it felt good to hear Anna say, "I abandoned you first."

How sorry and petty a thing was vindication. The ice trays needed filling.

Such a trenchant, insightful journey in Reuben's mind, and a powerful realization: there is always the quotidian waiting; an ice tray to fill, a trashcan to empty, a next breath that need be taken. We go on.

And as Anna's best friend thinks, near the end:

Looking at the faces in the room, she understands that this is what we do. We are here. And then we are not here. For a little while, we are a story.

Yes. This. And the story is both the enormous metaphysical and existential concerns, and, too, the ice trays. Victoria Redel captures this truth by telling one story of one particular death and life and the people it affects, in resplendent style. Truly lovely.

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a ravishing gift, by a writer whose love of life and words throbs in every sentence. I don't know that I've ever seen the "we" of friendship so poignantly explored and vividly painted. Though the novel is suffused with loss, it's the love and connection among these five women that stays with you...and makes you cherish your own oldest & dearest that much more.

[Jessica Wilkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this but just couldn't do it. I see what the author was trying to do but found it disjointed and lacking depth of emotion. I tried for over half the book and then ended up bailing on it.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

A positive blurb from Ruth Ozecki, whose books I like a lot, and a subject that sounded as though it should resonate with me. But it didn't. None of the characters really grabbed me, and I wound up skimming the last third of the book.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

actually 2-1/2 is probably more accurate. Wasn't awful, wasn't great, wouldn't recommend it. Didn't care for the characters and while the drama between the "old friends" and "new friends" was understandable, much of what happened in this book wasn't realistic.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna is dying. She's been dying for some time, facing recurring cancer. As she faces another recurrence, she has to decide if she will seek treatment or see her life come to a close. Anna is a fortunate woman - she has friends. She has her childhood friends with whom she has seen a lifetime of events. While these "old friends" - Ming, Molly, Helen and Caroline - want to claim their importance in Anna's life and heart, they also must realize that Anna's life has been full and fulfilling beyond her friendships with them. Anna has friends she has made as an adult who have seen her through motherhood, parenting and adult life. She has siblings, children and a husband from whom she has separated but loves dearly. This is the story of her lifetime and theirs. It's a story of secrets kept, adventures lived, cherished moments and of letting go.

Artfully written and beautiful without devolving into maudlin tripe.

I received a free e-ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

[Mary Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've known Victoria Redel's work for a long time, both her poetry and her prose, and it was wonderful to read this new novel. More than any other book of hers, I think BEFORE EVERYTHING blends the poet with the fiction writer. In this elegant novel about friendship and loss, Redel moves us through time and space in a way reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse. It is wonderful to see a writer grow and stretch the way Redel has in this moving novel. If you loved Ferrante or THE DOOR, you'll love this powerful and honest look at what it means to be a friend and what it means to let go.

[Maria Basescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so moved by this beautiful, poetic work of art, and powerful testament to love, humor, courage and friendship. Redel is an amazing and original talent, one of the most important voices in contemporary literature.

[Wynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing felt really distant which made the friendships feel very sterile. I dunno I couldn't get into it. Just my opinion.

[Janet Emson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before cancer, before aging, before children, before marriage, before divorce they were friends. The Old Friends, forged before everything.

When Anna’s cancer returns the Old Friends gather at her house. Ostensibly to say goodbye, some are having a harder time accepting that Anna is no longer fighting the battle against the disease. As friends both old and ‘new’ come to visit we see how Anna has affected the lives of her many friends.

There is no doubt that this is a sad story, a book about dying is bound to be, but it is also filled with bright moments. Recalls of family holidays, dinner parties, kitchen gatherings with children running wild intersperse the darker memories. The reader is taken through the trials that each of the Old Friends has had to endure, trials which have solidified the relationship between the five friends.

There are no big moments in Before Everything. The story takes us back to occurrences that have stood out in the lives of the women, and bring us to the present day when they have to come to terms with the fact that the Old Friends are going to alter irrevocably. It is an examination of grief. Helen, Ming, Caroline and Molly are all trying to come to terms with the impending loss of their friend. Their anger, despair, sadness and love is examined throughout. Some refuse to allow Anna to ‘give in’, willing her, almost begging her to fight, as she has before. There are those who have to deal with their jealousy of Anna’s friends, both old and new. Victoria Redel deals with all of these emotions in an understanding and real way. No one appears too unreasonable, too annoying or too selfish.

Whilst the story does inevitably focus on death it is also the study of life. Of how a person affects others, how incidents and interactions can change the course of a person’s live, or just brighten someone’s day.

A gently paced, reflective story about living and dying.

[Bonnie Plante · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the publisher:
Before Everything is an ode to friendship, and to how one person shapes the journeys of those around her.

A group of lifetime friends gather together to confront life, love, and now mortality.

Thanks to Penguin Random House First to Read for an ARC of this book.

This book sounded wonderful to me. Who doesn't love a good friendship story - especially when the friends are women who have known each other for most of their lives. This book was that a story of the bonds of friendship and how important friends are during times of conflict, hurt, sickness and loss. The book was adequate. It had interesting, well fleshed out characters and a believable story line. Yet, it fell short for me. I'm not quite sure why. I wasn't a fan of how it was broken up in to "sections" that were sometimes only a couple of sentences long. And the story kind of dragged for me. Again, I'm not sure why. I give it 3 stars because I think there is an audience that would love this book. Unfortunately, I am not part of it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert: this is a sad book so have Kleenex close at hand when you read it! Before Everything is a book about a woman who is dying of cancer. As the book begins, Anna is in the last few days of her life. As she faces death, she looks back at the good and the bad in her life, worries about her family and her good friends and how they will cope with her loss. But it's also full of lighthearted moments as she reflects on her life and her best friends who have basically abandoned their lives to be at her side and keep her final days full of memories and love. So, yes, it's a sad book but there is an overall feeling of love and friendship and memories that transcend the sadness with the joy of a life well lived.

Thanks to First to Read for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

[Sherrie Howey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The "old friends" a group of 5 women who have been friends since elementary school. Anna, one of the "old friends" has had several bouts with cancer and has decided that she is done with treatment and is now in hospice care. The other friends all arrive in Massachusetts where Anna lives and we get snippets of their childhood and their adult lives. My issue with this book is that I do not think any of the characters were well developed. In a novel about friendship and loss, I would have preferred better character development. I also found it strange how the scenarios would be occurring in the present time and then flash back to the past, often on the same page, making it difficult to follow.

[Nancyann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anna is dying of cancer and her four best friends convene around Anna's bedside. This could have been a tear jerking tale of good friends but instead was so disjointed I lost interest in the story. Confusing titled paragraphs (or single sentences or several pages) sort of tell us the history of the women's friendship in a random manner. We are also introduced to the men and children in these women's lives but who cares? The telling of Anna's life was difficult to follow as was her hospice assisted death. I'd recommend reading just about anything else before selecting Before Everything.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always grateful when my favorite authors share reading recommendations, and even more so today after finishing Victoria Redel's Before Everything. Ruth Ozeki had such high praise for this novel, and it did not disappoint. Poetic and raw without being tedious Redel artfully creates an intimate look at lifelong friendship infused with the humor and heartbreak present surrounding life at its bittersweet end. For me it's the memories intwined with the small moments that she captures so well. 5/5

[Linda Epach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five friends since grade school gather together for the Anna's final days in hospice. Book is told from each of the five's POV as we slowly weave in and out of the present and the past as their amazing friendship slowly reveals itself. Very much a chick-lit friendship quick read but each character comes alive on the page and every cliche is met so everyone can identify with one of the woman as they learn to let go and say goodbye.