|
Biographical Note:
Allegra Goodman is the author of seven novels, including the national bestseller
Isola, which was a Reese's Book Club pick; two short story collections; and a novel for young readers. Her fiction has appeared in
The New Yorker and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Review Quotes:
"An all-too-real portrait of a loveable, complicated family's drama."
--People
"In this vibrant collection of linked stories . . . Allegra Goodman dissects the foibles and fantasies of her cast, from the three founding sisters to their offspring and offspring's offspring."
--Time
"This is a volume that builds and surprises on many fronts, the cacophony of love and discontent reifying into filigreed depictions of the familial ties that bind."
--Vogue, "Best Books of 2026"
"I . . . devoured this tasty novel in two large gulps. It's the funny and moving saga of a large Jewish family. We can all identify with the humor and the drama. It's a book filled with love. When Allegra Goodman cooks up a new novel, you can't go wrong."
--Judy Blume
"Allegra Goodman's new novel is her crowning glory (so far).
This is Not About Us delivers a funny and moving Jewish family saga."
--The Boston Globe
"Goodman overlaps characters and storylines, repeatedly, from different perspectives and the reader is treated to experiencing the family as a symphony, not necessarily a harmonious arrangement, but satisfying all the same as an excellent read."
--Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews
"The arbiter of Jewish American family
tsuris . . . Goodman has been wowing readers since her undergraduate days at Harvard, in the late 1980s."
--Hadassah Magazine
"An absorbing, endearing, and intimate new work of linked fiction . . . Through this masterfully woven mosaic . . . a relatable portrait of an American Jewish family with all its attendant mishegas takes shape."
--Jewish Book Council
"This is a volume that builds and surprises on many fronts, the cacophony of love and discontent reifying into filigreed depictions of the familial ties that bind."
--Vogue
"An entertaining ride--poignant and funny by turns. Goodman, always talented, is now a virtuoso, limber and graceful. She handles her sprawling cast with a sure, light touch, and her bantering dialogue is never trivial or canned."
--The Washington Post
"
This Is Not About Us is my favorite kind of read--it's not a novel, it's not a short story collection, it's a book of linked stories that together add up to a big, messy, richly textured modern family drama."
--Jenny Rosenstrach, Three Things Substack
"Goodman's insight into the intimate machinations of a domestic life is absolutely perfect."
--Literary Hub
"Goodman delivers a bighearted linked story collection about a family's travails. . . . In their messiness and constant striving for harmony, the Rubensteins are wholly relatable."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review "A beautiful story of generations of a complicated family."
--Town & Country "An unsparingly frank, wryly funny take on a multigenerational American family."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Astute, incisive, and soulfully witty."
--Booklist, starred review "A memorable, multifaceted portrait of a family's highs and lows."
--Book Page
Publisher Marketing:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A kaleidoscopic portrait of a modern American family--steadfast, complicated, begrudging, and loving--from the bestselling author of Isola "Wise, witty . . . a deliciously readable book [about] the delicate minutiae of family life, played beautifully, boldly, brightly in a major key."--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"Goodman's mature and deftly written book suggests that, in family as in art, there is no such thing as uncomplicated happiness."--The Wall Street Journal
Was this just a brief skirmish, or the beginning of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubinstein family, it could go either way.
When their beloved sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into a decade of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives--divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications, bat mitzvahs and ballet recitals--their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible.
With
This Is Not About Us, master storyteller Allegra Goodman--whose prior collection was heralded as "one of the most astute and engaging books about American family life" (
The Boston Globe)--returns to the form and subject that endeared her to legions of readers. Sharply observed and laced with humor,
This Is Not About Us is a story of growing up and growing old, the weight of parental expectations, and the complex connection between sisters--a big-hearted book about the love that binds a family across generations.
Review Citations:
-
Booklist 01/01/2026 (EAN 9780593447840, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
-
Shelf Awareness 12/30/0001 (EAN 9780593447840, Hardcover)
-
Publishers Weekly 12/15/2025 (EAN 9780593447840, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
-
Library Journal 01/01/2026 pg. 58 (EAN 9780593447840, Hardcover)
-
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2026 (EAN 9780593447840, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
|
