The Middlesteins (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781455507207)

For more than thirty years, Edie and Richard Middlestein shared a solid family life together in the suburbs of Chicago. But now things are splintering apart, for one reason, it seems: Edie's enormous girth. She's obsessed with food--thinking about it, eating it--and if she doesn't stop, she won't have much longer to live.

When Richard abandons his wife, it is up to the next generation to take control. Robin, their schoolteacher daughter, is determined that her father pay for leaving Edie. Benny, an easy-going, pot-smoking family man, just wants to smooth things over. And Rachelle-- a whippet thin perfectionist-- is intent on saving her mother-in-law's life, but this task proves even bigger than planning her twin children's spectacular b'nai mitzvah party. Through it all, they wonder: do Edie's devastating choices rest on her shoulders alone, or are others at fault, too?

With pitch-perfect prose, huge compassion, and sly humor, Jami Attenberg has given us an epic story of marriage, family, and obsession. The Middlesteins explores the hopes and heartbreaks of new and old love, the yearnings of Midwestern America, and our devastating, fascinating preoccupation with food.

Author: Jami Attenberg
ISBN-10: 1455507202
ISBN-13: 9781455507207
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Language: English
Published: 06/04/2013
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.24w x 0.82d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 06/16/2013 pg. 30
Books & Culture 07/01/2013 pg. 20