Ohhhh the voice
in this one. The rich characters. The warm details. Did I mention the voice??
Get ready to read this in one sitting. All We Had is a story about a
mother and daughter and their yearning to find some stability in lives in which
they only have each other. While this might not sound like the most
uplifting of stories, it had so much humor and realness to it that I could feel
the characters jumping out of the book at me.
From the very
first pages, I was sucked in and I couldn't put it down. The writing is fresh,
vivid, and the voice of Ruthie (did I mention that already?) is so ridiculously
amazing that I knew I wanted to re-read the book again before I even finished
it. Ruthie is thirteen and should be a young, immature girl
but is actually curious, intelligent, strong, and is often the adult of the
unique relationship she has with her mother, Rita. Ruthie and Rita are
struggling to get by and Rita never finds herself above using her body and
sexuality to ensure they have food to eat and a place to live.
“We went from zero to sixty in no
time. I was out of school and she was out of work. We had no place to be and
not a thing to lose.”
The story begins
as the two find themselves trying to figure out an escape route from yet another
unstable man and realize they want to get away from their current reality and
head across the country to start over. They scramble to get some money and
begin their journey, together, as they always are. Rita smokes like a chimney
and sometimes drinks more than she should, but she loves Ruthie with all of her
heart and does her best to help her daughter be successful no matter what dire
circumstances they find themselves in.
"This was how our story always
went. With the wind at our backs we soared like bandits narrowly escaping
through the night. And no matter where life took us or how hard and fast the
ride, we landed and we always stayed together."
They end up in a
small town named Fat River with not a dime to their name and no plan with what
they will do next. They don't plan on staying long in this place, but fate
steps in and decides otherwise. The owner of a local diner, Tiny's, is a kind
man who notices their problems and tries to help them in any way he can, namely
by giving Rita a waitressing job and Ruthie a job as a dishwasher. There they
meet all kinds of raw, real characters and they slowly put their guards down
and relax a little, getting comfortable with a routine and a more normal
life. The rest of the story is about how their relationship evolves with this
newfound stability and how each of them deals with it, no longer forced to
sleep in their car or take up house in an abandoned building.
Annie
Weatherwax's descriptions and imagery are incredible. The images she relates through
the pages are extremely vivid and give you a haunting feeling that you have
been in this place and experience before. She gives each character so much
depth and dimension that you often find yourself despising them yet
feeling empathy for them at the same time, somehow understanding their
decisions and why they had to do what they did. This book is full of so much
despair and sadness, yet there is also humor, kindness, and hope. Sigh. I
can't wait to read it all over again and experience the chaotic lives of Rita
and Ruthie.
I am going to end
this by adding one thing I am absolutely sure of- this is definitely not the
last we are hearing from Annie Weatherwax.
