Book Review: All This Can Be True

Reviewed by Victoria Lilly

a poignant drama of self-denial and loss, of false starts and dashed hopes, and coming into one’s own in spite of it all

Lacie Johnson seems like she has the perfect life: a huge house in San Diego, a rich husband, and—now that her daughters have grown up—all the time in the world. The perfection is, however, paper-thin.

Lacie’s husband Derek is unfaithful and makes her miserable, she has struggled with mental health and substance abuse, her daughters have drifted away, and no amount of luxury can substitute a lack of purpose. Lacie’s ideas about divorce and a master’s degree in architecture as solutions to these issues are violently interrupted when Derek suffers a stroke and lapsing into a coma. 

In the hospital where Derek is undergoing treatment, Lacie accidentally runs into the former riot grrrl rockstar Quinn Greaves, who is visiting a terminally ill friend. Except, of course, the meeting was no accident at all, for Quinn has come to San Diego from the East Coast seeking out Derek—the father of her recently deceased daughter Liv.

The two take to each other from the start, bonding through shared experiences of loss and motherhood. Quinn’s charm and Lacie’s generosity endear them to one another, igniting in Lacie a desire which she has denied herself all her life.

Meanwhile, Quinn finds a balm for the grief of losing Liv in Lacie’s kindness and the prospect of a relationship. As repeated encounters intertwine their lives and families, the attraction between them is fanned into flames. For both women, the other is a chance at a new life. The problem is, Quinn never seems to find the right time to confess her past affair with Derek.  

Despite the central romantic entanglement, All This Can Be True is not a genre romance. Familial relations, friendships, challenges of overcoming grief, and complexities of one’s sexuality make the novel a sweeping drama.

Indeed, the book is at its strongest when it embraces its literary elements. This is, at its heart, a middle-aged woman’s coming-of-age story with all the baggage and the mess that entails. Even in the progressive parts of the world, there are plenty of reasons why a young woman might not embrace her queer sexuality that might have nothing to do with internalized homophobia. Lacie has never truly explored her desires or ambitions because she came from poverty and misery and saw in Derek her one chance to escape her life.

The most powerful parts of the novel are those which fully delve into Lacie’s interiority and explore the dynamics of her relationships with her unfaithful husband, standoffish daughter Rachel, best friend Marcie from Narcotics Anonymous, and almost-lover Helen. Michalski leaps back and forth between the novel’s present and Lacie’s and Quinn’s memories with a deft hand, seamlessly interweaving past mistakes and present challenges.

The story is alternately told through Lacie’s and Quinn’s points of view; however, the latter’s chapters are much shorter, resulting in an asymmetry between the two’s development. Quinn is compelling in her contradictions of charisma and cowardice, kindness and flighty carelessness, but I longed for more from her, like her relationship with her dying best friend or her former bandmates.

There is a lot packed into this relatively short book, but thanks to strong writing and the engaging principal characters, the narrative never loses focus or waters down its themes. A story of this sort, a coming-of-age for (very) late bloomers, is rare and sorely needed. All This Can Be True is realist literary fiction that packs a strong emotional punch.

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