Mrs. Everything

BOOK CLUB KIT AUTHOR PHOTO © ANDREA CIPRIANI MECCHI Thanks forreading, italsomakes youthink. laugh, andthat bookmakesyou pages.Ihopethis these andyourown daughterin own mother good company. ormaybe your ofyourself, catchaglimpse Ihopeyou’ll womenare isentertaining.I hopethese Mrs. Everything I hopethat better,gotten ittaketobringaboutreal andwhatwill progress? have wemadeprogress, orare incircles? wejustwalking Havethings itraises: questions ofthe feelbig,interms bookwill work ornot?—the Gobackto Havebabiesornot? married ornot? consequential—get mightnotfeeltremendously characters’choices andactions individual to go.Ihopeit’s whilethe funandentertaining.Ihope,too,that granddaughters, aboutwhere we’vebeenandwhere have westill for happinessandauthenticity, daughtersandtheir abouttheir search lovesandlosses,abouttheir about twosisters—abouttheir truth the decades andsocialmovements,initI’vetriedtotell greatestThis bookhasthe spanning scopeofanyI’veeverwritten, Dear BookClubReaders, over the course of their lives. courseoftheir over the twosistersnavigateachangingAmerica these through history—andherstory—as journey richlytextured isanambitious, Mrs. Everything evolvingworld. arapidly true tothemselves—in their places—andbe struggletofind as they fromtwo sisters’lives present 1950stothe the of exploration andtimely smart, thoughtful, Who DoYou LoveandInHerShoes,comesa #1NewYorkthe of author Timesbestselling From Jennifer Weiner,

Spotify Playlist LISTEN HERE bit.ly/MrsEverythingPlaylist

Fool Fool Fool Draft Dodger Rag Gimmie Gimmie The Clovers Phil Ochs Shock Treatment The Ramones Paper Doll Help Me, Rhonda Frank Sinatra The Beach Boys Like a Virgin Madonna Mona Lisa Ticket to Ride Nat King Cole The Beatles For Once In My Life Stevie Wonder Mister Sandman Runaround Sue Diana Ross & The Supremes Dion (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman I’m Gonna Wash That The Twist Aretha Franklin Man Right Outa My Hair Chubby Checker Nellie Forbush, Total Eclipse of The Ken Darby Singers My Girl the Heart The Temptations Bonnie Tyler Some Enchanted Evening Chain of Fools Physical Aretha Franklin Frank Sinatra Olivia Newton-John

Can’t Help Falling Fever You Make My Dreams Peggy Lee In Love Daryl Hall & John Oates Elvis Presley At Last Miss You Much Etta James Be My Baby Janet Jackson The Ronettes California Dreamin’ Smells Like Teen Spirit The Mamas & The Papas Little Boxes Nirvana Pete Seeger Desperados Under When I Come Around Blowin’ in the Wind the Eaves Green Day Bob Dylan Warren Zevon Come To My Window Maggie’s Farm Second Hand News Melissa Etheridge Bob Dylan Fleetwood Mac Single Ladies Boots of Spanish I Am Woman (Put a Ring on It) Helen Reddy Leather Beyoncé Bob Dylan Jive Talkin’ As Cool As I Am Bee Gees Long Black Veil Dar Williams Joan Baez This reading group guide for Mrs. Everything includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1 | Jo and Bethie are very different people. But in what ways do you find them similar? Do their similarities outweigh their differences? How do their similarities cause problems in their relationship?

2 | Forgiveness, of others and of the characters’ own selves, is an important theme in the novel. Discuss how the characters work through their conflicts and how they do or do not resolve the issues.

3 | Compare and contrast how Jo and Bethie are influenced by their mother. Is there a defining element of their relationship with their mother? How does it weave its way into the sisters’ lives?

4 | Mrs. Everything spans half of the twentieth century and the early part of the twenty‑first. What period details made you feel immersed in each decade? Were there any details that you remembered from your own past? Were there details about life in earlier decades that surprised you? What effect did this have on your reading experience?

5 | In Mrs. Everything, Jennifer Weiner has created many memorable secondary characters, from Mrs. Kaufman to Lila to Jo’s and Bethie’s partners and beyond. Did you have a favorite? What qualities made them come alive for you?

6 | Were you ever frustrated by the choices Jo and Bethie made? Did you empathize with their choices, despite feeling frustrated?

7 | Literature is full of sisters with complex relationships. Do Jo and Bethie remind you of other favorite sister duos? What is it about the sister relationship that captivates us as readers?

8 | What draws Jo and Shelley together? After they’ve reunited, what keeps them together? 9 | What do Bethie and Harold learn from each other throughout their relationship?

10 | Because Mrs. Everything takes places over several decades, it touches on many political and social movements. Did you learn anything about American history while reading? Was there a cause or issue that particularly interested you?

11 | When Lila visits Bethie for the summer, they have a heart-to-heart about the pressure Lila feels from her mother to be special and achieve great things. Bethie tells Lila that it comes from the lack of options the sisters had growing up in a different era: “Some girls did grow up and became doctors and lawyers and school principals…A few girls did grow up and do things, and got those jobs, but for the rest of us, we were told that the most important thing was to be married, and be a mother…She just doesn’t want that to be the only choice you have” (page 392). Though Lila does have more opportunities available to her than her mother and aunt did, she (and her generation) faces new challenges. Did you relate to Lila’s concerns?

12 | How does faith—both religious and in a more general sense—inform Jo and Bethie? What does faith mean to the sisters?

Enhance Your Book Club

1 | If your group hasn’t already read Jennifer Weiner’s novel In Her Shoes, consider reading it together and comparing its themes of sisterhood with those of Mrs. Everything. What similarities do you notice between the sisters in these two novels? What ideas and feelings does Jennifer Weiner explore in both?

2 | Choose one of the eras from the novel and come to your book club dressed in clothes or donning fun accessories from the period. Pick a film set in that same decade and discuss how the director and Jennifer Weiner each evoke that moment in history.

3 | Visit Jennifer Weiner’s website at JenniferWeiner.com to learn more about her and her books, and follow her on Instagram @JenniferWeinerWrites.

4 | Listen to audio excerpts of Jo and Bethie read by Beth Malone and Ari Graynor: Jo: bit.ly/Audio-Jo Bethie: bit.ly/Audio-Bethie

5 | Which Mrs. Everything character are you? Take the quiz at bit.ly/MrsEverythingQuiz and find out! judge themselves soharshly.judge themselves Itcanparalyzeyou. cankill. Perfectionism place where ifyoudon’t itfeelslike you’re doitall, team.Women downthe letting choiceshaveleftwomenina ofthese your kids—all beenwith when youshould’ve yourkids whenyouwere orbeingwith perfectly supposedtobeworkingor terriblefordropping upandfeeling yourself just beating ornotdoingthings ball the kind ofburden, where there’s somuchpressure You forwomentohaveitall. endup mostfreedomand the infront ofher, freedom that eventhough canturnintoitsown JW: MC: let meshowyouwhatwouldhappen.” storiesornot... their webelieve world,and whether the reproductive wayweseeandtreat rights,the womenin are.be completelywhothey Ifwegobackintermsof didn’t inaworldthat sisters havelived alwaysletthem ‘60swereand the forwomen.Your like andyour mother America great ‘50s again.’Let meshowyouwhatthe peoplerefer that time about‘making talk towhenthey ifwewereyou whatitwouldbelike togobackthe reason toread “Letmeshow them, book,I’dtell this privileges andwhoisn’t. IfIcouldgivesomeonea who’sis goingtolooklike: goingtohaverightsand cliché—we’re atacrossroads. We’re inamomentwhere we’re whatAmerica deciding JW: MC: wholespanofhistory. one,I wantedtoconsiderthe this place overseventyyears.With [book]I’veeverdone—ittakes biggest,mostambitious we needtogonext.Thisisthe women’s aboutwhere historyandtalked we’vebeenandwhere weare nowandwhere spoketowomen’sa bookthat issuesandlookedat America.Iwantedtowrite wokeupinanother we all dayinoneAmerica,andinstead morning afterelection wewerewomen, Ithought goingtowakeupthe Jennifer Weiner: Mrs. Everything? Marie Claire: (originally featured inMarieClaire) with Jennifer Weiner A Conversation Ifyoucouldbeonecharacterinthebook,who wouldyoubeandwhy? Whatmakesyourbooktimely?Whyshouldpeopleread itnow? I think I’dbeLilajustbecauseshe’s Ithink mostopportunity youngestandhasthe the We’re really momentinUnitedStateshistoryand—tousethe ata critical bad Whatinspired youtowrite The 2016 election. Likemany The2016election. what wouldhappen.” not...let meshowyou believe theirstoriesor world, andwhetherwe treat womeninthe the wayweseeand of reproductive rights, “If wegobackinterms

AUTHOR PHOTO © ANDREA CIPRIANI MECCHI MC: Who would play the main characters in a movie? Cast your protagonist and antagonist. JW: That’s such a good question! I love Beanie Feldstein, who was in Booksmart and Lady Bird, and I think she’d be such a great Bethie. The problem is that you’ve got these characters going from girls to old women, so I don’t even know how you would handle that. God…who would be Jo? Somebody tall and tomboyish. Maybe Kate Winslet? She can pretty much do anything.

I never ever write books thinking, Oh, this could be a movie! because I think that it could really impact “Women judge the way that you write and where you let yourself go. themselves so harshly. If I had been thinking about turning Mrs. Everything into a movie [while writing it], I wouldn’t have it go over Perfectionism can kill. twenty years. That way, you wouldn’t have to worry It can paralyze you.” about getting someone to play a twenty‑five‑year‑old and a sixty‑five‑year‑old.

MC: What’s currently on your nightstand? JW: I just started Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. I’ve heard such good things about it, and I’m obviously very interested in the subject [women’s sex lives]. I just finished Miracle Creek by Angie Kim, which I loved. It was a thriller, and I normally don’t read thrillers, but it was so smart and so well done. And I loved Queenie by Candice Carty‑Williams. I thought it was just so raw and so real and didn’t shy away from mental health stuff. I just thought it was great.

“Well, most of the 1960s, for starters,” Bethie said. “While I was roaming around, protesting the war and dancing at Woodstock, she was married.” “When the world started to change—for everyone, but especially for women—she was already a mother. She missed everything.” In honor of the “Misses everything,” Lila said, and 50th Anniversary gave the faintest smile. of Woodstock, “It’s like a joke. Like, there should read this short excerpt! be a Mister Everything somewhere.” Bethie found herself wanting to grab Lila by her scrawny shoulders and shake her. FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM “It’s funny, unless you’re the one bit.ly/WoodstockExcerpt sitting on the sidelines, living your life for other people.” n