Xhenet Aliu’s Waterbury is a blue-collar working-class environment of diverse ethnic integrities and reluctant and inevitable inter-ethnic relationships. In the past, those relationships would have been joined through factory interaction. With the factories gone, lives are claustrophobic and pinched. The struggle is to find meaning. In her first novel, Brass, Aliu’s Albanian characters, Waterbury Albanian-Americans romantically engage with Lithuanians. In her second novel. Everybody Says it’s Everything, sexuality is less of a matter of romance and more of a matter of procreation, of family formation.

Drita, Albanian American, a college graduate, working in the medical field and living with her Black lover in Manhattan, when her relationship falls apart, moves back to Waterbury. In Brass, Blacks are the invisible ethnic group (read Isabel Wilkerson’s suggestion that Black citizens of the United States should be perceived as an ethnic group instead of a racial group), hidden in neighborhoods on a hill shrouded by dense tree life. Back in her hometown, her search for a new companion happens in the 1990s, before social media, her nightly sessions at her computer are in chat rooms.

Her back story, what she knows of it. She and her twin brother, Pete, were adopted by an Italian couple after she and her brother were orphaned after their parents died in Albania. The twins’ adopted mother as a young woman gave in to the crude sexual advances of the young man who would become her husband, not that she cared for him, he was a means to an end, marriage and motherhood–the young man who she opened herself to sexually could have been any ethnically acceptable Waterbury Italian male, her belief, they’re all the same.

Her Albanian son, Pete, progresses socially by getting a young woman, neither Albanian nor Italian, pregnant, their life choices no better than the generation of their parents, and without factory jobs to look forward to and street drugs everywhere, bleaker. Pete makes a decision that changes his life.

Back at the computer, Drita’s search for romance, draws her unexpectedly deep into the current affairs of Albania and the US Albanian community. The twins are joined in their search for identity, what it means to be an ethnic American.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for a Readers Copy.

I really enjoyed reading Everybody Says it's Everything. (And the title comes into play towards the end and is meaningful.)

It centers around 2 twins in their early 30s - Drita and Pete, who were adopted by an Italian-American family in the 1970s from Albania. We learn more about the events leading up to the adoption, and their current state. Pete has always struggled, and has problems with substance abuse, crime, and irresponsibility. His partner Shanda, a drug user herself, and their child Dakota, suffer. Drita has been more of an overachiever, moving away from their small town in Connecticut for college and grad school, and then returning to support their mother. Pete has disappeared, and as Shanda and Dakota re-enter her life, Drita vows to discover Pete. This is in the early days of the Internet, which makes things challenging.

I was pleasantly surprised at some of the twists and turns the story took in all timelines. I really enjoyed the characters, and wish the book had kept going at the end.

This is the story of a VERY disfunctional family. It's set mostly in the late 1990s, but there are flashblacks from all of the four main family members - a wheelchair-bound widow; her adopted twin children in their twenties; and the male twin's wife. I thought the writing was good and the story was interesting but this book was just way to "gritty" for me. The language, the trauma, and the overall sad tone just made me bummed out. There were some glimmers of hope at the end, which was nice.

What duty do we have to our families? How does that change when you are cut off from your family of origin or willing cut them off?

Everyone Says It’s Everything is a family saga told from multiple perspectives across decades that coalesces around the genocide of Albanian people in the late 1990s. Pete and Drita are adopted twins in their mid 20s who respond to familial crises in vastly different ways but both find themselves called to their roots. In flashbacks, we learn about their Italian American mother, Jackie, and the unexpected love and loss that led her to adopt them and raise the twins in New York. The interwoven side story of Shanda, Pete’s troubled girlfriend, introduces the next generation of their family as the mother of Pete’s son, Drita’s nephew and Jackie’s grandson.

At one point, Drita sees her family’s story as “three generations of people who shared nothing except for feeling sorrow in tandem,” but there’s a hopeful message that shines through at the end about holding space for different definitions of family and duty. I enjoyed reading this book, especially the blast from the past AOL email exchanges.

I received a digital advance reader’s copy from Random House via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Adopted twins Drita and Petrit (Pete) were raised in New England and have no connection with their Albanian background. Though close as children, their paths diverged during school when Drita was motivated to use her education to earn a better life and Pete started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Now as adults, Drita has moved back to her hometown to care for her mom when Pete’s girlfriend and son show up asking for help. Pete has gone missing, and Drita intends to find him and demand he come home and provide for his family. But what she ends up discovering about their past changes everything.

The characters were well-written and engaging, and I liked reading about the web of complex relationships in the story. But the way the book was marketed felt a bit misleading. I read this book because I have an interest in the war in Kosovo, and despite the cover summary, this book has very little to do with the war or Eastern Europe. It felt like the author wasn’t quite sure what story she wanted to tell, and the big reveals made me feel confused about author choices rather than providing clarification. Still, I enjoyed the story as a look at a brother-sister dynamic.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

An insufferable book about insufferable people. As much as I can appreciate an author writing a novel about broken people, this was not done well. Whether the narrator is Drita, her brother Petrit (Pete), their mother Jackie, or Pete's girlfriend Shanda it's all the same - an excruciatingly detailed, overly complicated stream of consciousness leading to cycle of screw-ups. It started off with an interesting enough premise of Drita trying to locate her brother Pete and there is an undertone of Albania's fighting for independence against Serbs and recruiting American Albanians for the "fight" but ultimately the book goes no where.

This was a lot for Xhenet Aliu to tackle in her sophomore novel, and I appreciated the breadth of what she brought to this book, though it may have caused it to suffer a bit of depth in places I would have preferred more.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This started out strong for me but slowly fizzled out as it went on.

Pete and Drita were both interesting characters- a set of adopted twins tho both vastly different. I thought the dynamnic of their adoptive mother Jackie was also interesting. She was a paralegic who was unable to have children naturally due to an accident that happened when she was a newlywed.

The novel was described as them trying to find their Albanian roots and in some ways it was but I felt like this idea was started and never finished. I felt like a lot of ideas were like this in this book. I was actually very interested in Jackie's story and her friendship with Antonella. I felt like we got a taste of where their story was going but it was never actually completed.

I felt the ending was lackluster and it just ended. So many things left open to wonder about with no real direction.

Three starts because I did like the first half but mostly did not like how it played out.

I enjoyed this book! It was filled with all the layers and complicated connections that make up a family. The ending made me want a bit more - I want to know what happens with Drita, Pete, And Shanda!

Growing up as adopted kids can be tough, but Pete and Drita seemed to have it tougher. They are twins growing up in New York, with the story bouncing back and forth between past and present. There's now a war in Kosovo, where the twins were adopted from, and flailing Pete is considering joining the effort, while Drita is continually putting pressure on herself to save the family.

This novel revealed memories I thought I had forgotten regarding the war in Kosovo and the damage it did to families. The story is a good study of culture and nature vs nurture, even in twins. However, it would have been more intriguing to re-learn about the war and cultural significance for those Albanians living in the US at the time. The ending both surprised me and didn't, yet I was satisfied with the outcome. I enjoyed the writing and will look for more by Aliu!

This was both lighthearted and emotional, Aliu is so skilled at building real, flawed characters and such witty writing. I enjoyed every minute of this and couldn't put it down. Recommend for anyone who likes reading about complicated family dynamics!

Also, apparently books set in the 1990s are historical fiction. Help.

Thanks to Random House for the e-galley!

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really wanted to like Everybody Says It's Everything by Xhenet Aliu, but it just didn’t click for me. The story about the adopted twins, Drita and Pete, trying to figure out family and identity felt kind of all over the place. I appreciated the themes, but the pacing was slow, and I had a hard time getting invested in what was happening. Aliu’s writing has depth, but I couldn’t fully connect with the characters. It just wasn’t the book I was hoping for, to be honest!

Thank you again for the ARC!

@randomhouse | #gifted Recently I seem to be reading books that I’ve seen little about from others and 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗕𝗢𝗗𝗬 𝗦𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗜𝗧’𝗦 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 by Xhenet Aliu is another such book. I first ran across the author with her 2018 debut, 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴, a five star book for me. That book was a dual coming-of-age story for both a mother and her daughter. This new book is also a family story told from multiple perspectives, but it has much more going on.⁣
⁣
At the heart of the story are adopted twins, Drita and Pete, raised by their mother Jackie who is confined to a wheelchair. The two know little of their Albanian heritage, but it simmers in the background of their lives. As the book opens, Drita has abandoned her graduate school plans and is living back in her hometown helping care for her mom who suffered a stroke. Neither of them have seen Pete in over three years, when out of the blue Pete’s girlfriend and his young son show up on Drita’s doorstep needing help.⁣
⁣
Those are the basics, but there’s a lot more going on than that. A LOT! I never felt disengaged from this story, but I think a tighter focus might have made it work better. Aliu covered many different storylines with her sophomore novel and in some ways I think the story suffered for that. It was a case of going wide rather than deep. I’d have liked it better with a little more depth. I applaud Aliu for her efforts to shine a light on the plight of Albanians during the war in Kosovo, but that light was defused by an overly complicated plot. I’m still glad I read the book because in the end I did liked much of it. I definitely learned from the author and continue to appreciate her writing skills. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫✨

Finished Reading
DNF @ p34

Pre-Read notes
This was almost an arc that got away (I have a couple of those!) Due to a snafu with my tech. But I got it ironed out and I'm glad I get to read this one. Twenty pages in and the author has introduced a number of compelling topics. It's going to be an interesting read!

Final Review

Review summary and recommendations

I didn't get very far because of the ableism. Other readers who aren't sensitive to that will probably like this book.

Reading Notes

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The motherfucker clinched it: Drita knew then that Shanda was telling the truth, because that was a word that could only be spoken about Pete in earnest. What a motherfucker. He was the guy who could tell the best jokes, and make indolence into a lifestyle choice. p19 This is some great writing! It's an intro to an unlikable character, Pete. It remains to be seen if he is unlikable because of his mental illness, which would be horribly ableist to actually write.

Two quibbles:

(This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.)

1. Whatever relief Drita briefly felt upon learning that Pete wasn’t an addict fell away. The man ditched his sick baby because the sick baby’s distraught mother told him to—that was the sole time in his life he actually listened to someone telling him what to do? At least a junkie could stop being a junkie by getting off drugs, whereas who knew what kind of rehab would fix whatever was wrong with Pete. p22 This passage is deeply and distressing ableist. Mental illness is a horrible state and recovering from it is nearly impossible. Recovering from disabling mental illness is far harder than recovering from addiction in part because of stigma just like this. I may not make it through this book, I don't know. I want to stick in long enough to decide if it's just the character who is ableist, or if it's the narrator or author. Because characters can grow and change even where humans can't.

2. The mentally ill character, Pete, gets introduced to the audience by sh-tting his pants in public. Keep in mind, this character has already been identified as being clean, so this is not for chemical reasons. But also, we don't get an explanation for why this character crapped himself, which makes it really difficult for the audience to empathize with him. Mental illness does a lot of stuff, but by and large, it doesnt make a person fecally incontinent. I can't read this ableist book.

Rating: DNF @ p34
Finished: Mar 19 '25
Format: accessible digital, NetGalley

Thank you to the author Xhenet Aliu, publishers Random House, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of EVERYBODY SAYS IT'S EVERYTHING. All views are mine.
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A story about adopted twins, Drita and Pete, who grow up in CT in 1999. They are Albanian by birth but don't really know much about their culture. As they approach their teenage years their paths in life begin to diverge. At one point, they stop speaking altogether, and don't really come back together until Pete starts to pay more attention to the Albanian/Serbian conflict.

This novel is told from many different points of view, in addition to jumping back and forth in time. It's VERY hard to follow because of the constant switching. While I found the writing itself very good, the story was just not that interesting. I didn't really connect to any of the characters, and while it seemed to be a book about family connections, I thought those were kind of lacking as well. Nothing really happens.

Thank You NetGalley for the free e-galley. 2.5 Stars.

Everybody Says It’s Everything

A Novel

By: Xhenet Aliu

Publish Date: March 18, 2025

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-Random House/Random House

General Fiction

#EverybodySaysItsEverything#NetGalley

200 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to thank both NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

Twins growing up in America in 1999 unravel larger truths about identity and sibling bonds when one gets wrapped up in the war in Kosovo.

Growing up in Connecticut adopted twins Drita and Petrit (aka Pete) had no connection to their Albanian heritage. Their lives were all about Barbie dolls, the mall, and roller skating at the local rink. Though inseparable in childhood, their paths diverged as teenagers; Drita was a good girl with and good manners who was going to go to a good college, Pete was a bad boy going nowhere fast. Even their twinhood was not enough to keep them together.

Fast forward to their twenties and Drita has abandoned her graduate studies to move home and take care of their mother, giving up her dreams for the future. She hasn’t heard from her brother in three years when Pete’s girlfriend and their son show up unexpectedly without him and in need of help. Realizing that his child may offer the siblings a second chance at being family, Drita becomes determined to find Pete. But what she ends up discovering—both about their connection to their Albanian roots, the war in Kosovo, and the story of their adoption—will surprise everyone, and will either be the thing that brings them together or tears them apart for good.

Book Review:

This is going to be one of the hardest reviews I have to do. I gave this book 2.5 stars and on Good Reads I rounded it down to 2 stars. I so wanted to love this book, but I just had a time trying to understand where the author was going with book. There were important things that the author talked about, but it was lost with the family issues. There was so much going with the family and the lies that each character was telling it was hard to keep track of who did or said what. The Kosovo war is started to be mentioned only around the 50% point. Spoiler here nothing gets resolved in the book and that is disappointing. Also, the chapters are long. The one good thing I liked is the writing style so I will be willing to try another book by this author.

Great writing with realistic dialogue, which always is an attention-capturer for me. Unfortunately I did not resonate with the characters too much and didn't find the story as intriguing as I was hoping as a result

I didn’t know what to expect when going into this one but I’d heard a bunch about it and it was a pleasant surprise! I was a fan of the writing style and the description and although some parts felt a little long, it was worth it!

After studying the war in Kosova last fall, this book seemed like a good fit. Even with independent knowledge, the pieces and connections never fit. I wanted to cheer for these characters, but a bright spot just didn't appear.

Thank you Random House for my copy of EVERYBODY SAYS IT'S EVERYTHING by Xhent Aliu. This one is out March 18.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. It was chocked full of unlikeable characters and I had a hard time staying engaged.