FICTION

Are We There Yet?

by Kathleen West
Berkley. Mar. 2021. 352p. ISBN 9780593098431. $26. F
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Suburban angst is at the center of this new novel by West (Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes). It features Alice Sullivan and the clique of moms who have been friends since their children were in kindergarten, but friendship is a tenuous thing here as the moms are all secretly judging one another. As the children enter middle school, things begin to change; the good girl isn’t quite as good, the good boy is acting out, and the bad boy is getting better. Social media is at the forefront here and is wreaking havoc among all these families. Alice also has to deal with a boss who promised her a partnership and now seems to be pushing her out and her attorney husband, who is working a case that takes him out of town all week, leaving her to deal with the kids. But it is her mother’s secret that is the final straw for Alice.
VERDICT First-world problems abound in this Midwestern family drama, but West makes the most of her material. For readers who enjoyed Bruce Holsinger’s The Gifted School, Lauren Weisberger’s When Life Gives You Lululemons, and Laura Zigman’s Separation Anxiety.
Reviewed by Stacy Alesi, Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Lib., Lynn Univ., Boca Raton, FL , Feb 01, 2021
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