I'm about to begin Chapter 14, having read most of the night, and not only can Karen Weinreb apparently cook like a dream, she can WRITE. I found this book to be a tour de force, literally. During Nora's bicycle ride, tears of joy were rolling down my cheeks. The hardest problems we face in life are our best teachers, and this author understands that completely. I was born into an "old money" family, and to a huge degree our being well-off was completely taken for granted, as if we were naturally entitled to be wealthy and privileged. I was never able to make sense of that, due in large part to my eminently sane and sensible parents, though I tried my best to fit into the picture. A series of experiences that began early and continue to this day, thank God, showed me a very different side of life, and I understood that what I had taken for reality was in fact some mad bubble that was destined to pop early on - and did. I feel badly for those who continue to cling to the illusion of privilege, of "us and them", of the necessity of trust funds, country clubs and hired help, as that reality will one day bite, and bite deep, and the longer you live in that illusion, the harder it is to free yourself from it. This writer made some amazing lemonade from the lemons that dropped in her path, and has given us all a very good lesson, a compellingly readable book, and some marvelous characters - Nora, the ghastly Bonnie, the appalling Fox, 3 amazingly adaptable children, the magical Beatriz and the so-grounded Reuben. The last 3 of those characters make the richness, beauty and joy inherent in genuine life burst into the reader's consciousness like the flavor of a ripe plum bursts into one's mouth. Unlike the wife of a disgraced former CEO who burst into tears of self-pity on national television and cried out "We've lost everything - doesn't ANYBODY understand?", Karen Weinreb recognized that she had an opportunity, never whined and played the cards she'd been dealt with grace, truthfulness and courage. I thank her for the lesson, for a terrific reading experience and for sharing herself with her readers in the way that she has.