We All Live Here is Jojo Moyes' brand-new work of fiction that elicits chuckles, chortles and tears. A feel-good novel if I've ever read one; and it never shies away from diving deep into life's complications.
Lila Kennedy soothes herself by watching telenovelas after her kids go to bed. Her life has gotten messy. Lila's husband has left her for a younger woman (that she has to see at the schoolyard every day!); her aged house continuously suffers from plumbing problems; her beloved mother has died unexpectedly; and her elderly stepfather Bill has slowly but surely seemed to have moved in with her and her two daughters.
To make matters worse, Lila's rapscallion of a father has bounded back into their lives and managed to insinuate himself into Lila's jam-packed house as well. This doesn't sit well with Bill and the two old men proceed to fill Lila's space with friction.
Lila feels like she's living an "awful cosmic joke" as her husband left her just two weeks after she published a book about how best to repair a marriage gone stale amid the demands of work and children. Now Lila's agent is putting pressure on her to produce another book, this time about her assumed sexy, exciting escapades as a liberated divorcee. Lila is not feeling it. In fact, she feels like a failure. And just when she feels like she can barely keep her head above water, along comes a romantic interest to pull Lila back up.
The novel refreshingly veers between Lila's point of view and her daughter Celie, who is not only living her own private pain from her parents split but also as a sixteen-year-old dealing with a set of mean girls. Celie's perspective brings a roundedness and tenderness to the narrative. In addition, Lila's best friend Eleanor keeps her grounded while at the same time underlining how important female friendships are, especially as they get older.
Jojo Moyes slips resounding truisms into her text: while Lila watches her eight-year-old's play she has the thought that parenting is an odd mix of poignancy and boredom. This particular scene of the play brings an unexpected and heartening climax that reinforces the ultimate joyousness of this novel.
The predictability of Lila's romantic situation in no way diminishes the story, in fact, it serves to portray Lila as even more human. Jojo Moyes creates memorable and realistic characters while avoiding stereotypes, all with a hyper- engaging plot and a gratifying resolution. We All Live Here is funny, witty and heart-warming and it gets five stars out of five.
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