I’ve been following Rebecca Woolf on instagram for years. I’ve always loved the photos she posted of her family and just how blunt and honest she was. I remember when she posted about her husband’s diagnosis and then his death not long after. I just sobbed for her but this memoir really shines a light on what her followers didn’t see. She never portrayed her marriage as perfect but we never got the full extent of just how bad and messy it was.

Her writing is so honest and poetic and her grief shines through. There is no correct way to grieve but there is definitely and expected way to grieve that we all perform when we lose someone we love. We have to be sad all the time, “mourn” the person and some people wear black for a certain amount of time so people know they are grieving. Woolf shows that there is no correct way to grieve and especially for a person that you wanted to desperately leave. I felt an entire range of emotions regarding this memoir and highly recommend if you are looking for an unapologetically raw book about love, grief, family, marriage and just life.

The epilogue particularly made me cry.

Unflinchingly honest, lyrically written, and brave as hell.

"All of This" is about a woman's liberation after the death of her husband -- a husband she'd been planning to leave before his terminal diagnosis and rapid decline. It is part obituary and part anthem: Woolf is brutally, beautifully honest about the man her husband was, and defiant about building a life that is authentic and true in the aftermath of his death. It is the story of dreading a thunderstorm that rumbles endlessly in the distance, and the misery and relief of feeling the raindrops as the tempest finally rolls in. The story of dancing in the rain with the people who make you feel alive.

All Of This by Rebecca Woolf hit all the hotspots that interest me in a great memoir. Rebecca is unapologetically herself and lets you in on what life was like for her prior, during and after her husband’s untimely death from pancreatic cancer.
As a woman, I connected with Rebecca’s journey to self discovery and sexuality. She pulls you in from the very first page of the introduction to the last page of the afterword.
With her complete transparency with her audience, I can foresee this memoir being polarizing for its readers. For me, I found it difficult to put this book down and wished for more, but isn’t that the beauty of life?

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper One for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From the moment I read the synopsis about the book I was eager to read it. The storyline is not a common one found in novels today. It enables the reader to see through a different lens who love ebbs and flows.
I was immediately pulled into the book by the way the author depicted their daily life. It is easily identifiable with those readers that have children. The challenges of marriage whilst managing a career and a family.
The author has a raw way of describing emotional aspects and I found this hard to read but beautiful because it wasn’t sugar coated.
Overall I found this book easy to read, thought provoking and one which I will recommend to friends.

Whoa. Even through tears, I could not put this book down. I've always known that Rebecca is a beautiful writer, but this longer format has allowed her to explore more deeply important themes about motherwood, womanhood, and marriage. She lays it all out there: her affairs, her troubled relationship with a sometimes verbally and emotionally abusive husband, and her mixed emotions after his death. I haven't experienced becoming a widow, but I imagine Woolf''s honesty will be a great comfort to many women, especially since only one story of the grieving widow is usually told. I really admire Woolf's honesty as a parent, and learned a lot from how much she trusted her children with her truth. When I was done reading the book, it felt like her catharsis was my own. I love her for sharing it with me.

All of This by Rebecca Woolf is the kind of memoir that puts into words what few people are willing to say. It's a reflection on widowhood by a woman who had planned to be a divorcee before her husband's a terminal cancer diagnosis. There was grief, but there was also freedom and reinvention and guilt about her freedom and reinvention. Though I've finished her book, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Ms. Woolf. Highly recommend!

I loved this book: from the moment I started it I was sucked in. Cried, laughed. It had all the feels. I can’t wait to tell people about it

⭐️⭐️⭐️
All of This, a Memoir of Death and Desire by Rebecca Woolf, was an interesting read, if not disappointing. Hal and Bec have been married for over 13 years and are the parents of 4 children. It has not been a happy marriage, and the marriage was leading to divorce until her husband complained of acute stomach pain. After going to the hospital Hal is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has weeks to live. Bec transforms from hateful and non-communicative spouse to supportive but still not in love, spouse. Bec had mentally divorced Hal years ago, and then he got sick, really sick. There is no manual for how to “handle” the death of a beloved spouse, but how do you help a spouse that you wish were dead. I think Rebecca tries to share her “honest” feelings, but it comes off poorly. So many marriages are broken when it becomes a game of who did what to whom, how often you return the pain, and how much you can tear each other apart. In this case, Hal is dying fast, and I am not sure if Ms. Woolf has thought through this relationship and how to move toward a future loving partnership. She has four kids who should be aware of crucial life skills like compassion, caring, and lovingkindness. With husbands, if things aren’t working, you take the appropriate steps. But with children, there is the expectation of being responsible. I don’t think this was a great way to memorialize a husband. I give the author credit for her honesty and a well-written book. I wish the author better days ahead. #memoir #Death #brokenmarriage #parent #pancreaticcancer #widow #erc
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Thank you Netgalley and Harper One for the opportunity to read this book. @netgalley #allofthis Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read this book which was delightful. #netgalley

I’m no stranger to Rebecca Woolf as I’ve been following her for many years through her Girls Gone Child blogging days and her first book. I was thrilled to receive a copy of this book and promptly read it in 24 hours.

The art of Woolf’s story telling will pull you in close and hold you tight. It’s so refreshing to hear the honesty of her story - of a broken marriage, of life after death, of parenting solo, and of seeking the desires of her body and heart. She takes the opportunity to say all of the things most people won’t and it is empowering. She creates community in the “unpopular opinions.” The world (and women!) need this book.

Wow! I've never read a memoir quite like this. Quick backstory: I knew of Becca through a familial connection. I knew of her when she married Hal, when her son Archer was born, and Fable, then Bo and Revie. I would read her blog from time to time and see her life as it was portrayed on Instagram. But I certainly didn't know her. And after reading her memoir, I feel that really no one really knew the real Becca, the one that struggled with her marriage, her sexuality, her grief. This was beautifully written, raw and powerful. Although my parenting style is completely different from Becca's, I can see the beauty in the freeing way she is raising her creative, free-sprited, talented children.

Anyone who's read Rebecca Woolf's blog, Girls Gone Child, and/or first memoir, Rockabye, will be interested in this book and likely pleased with the result. She writes with her signature descriptive flourishes and messy-on-purpose structure. Of course, if you've followed Woolf at all on social media since her husband's death, very little in this new memoir will feel new or revelatory. The ending fizzles a bit, like Woolf wasn't quite sure how to make everything come neatly full circle. Makes sense really. Her life is moving on.

A fascinating and wonderfully honest look at marriage, death and the making and maintaining of a family. The book goes where so many books about grief are afraid to go--and looks at the complexities of loss and marriage.

This book will change lives. Beautifully written, devastatingly honest, life-affirming, and full of real truth and real love -- the messy, difficult, passionate, and real kind. I already loved Rebecca Woolf but this is other level. A true masterpiece in the grief memoir world. I hope everyone reads this. The world would be a better place.

I loved every word of this book. It is heartbreaking and empowering, hopeful, and beautiful. I read it in one sitting and am starting again.