Although this is a unique idea, this writing style, I found it distracting and hard to read. Maybe a little less of the disjointed words and it might have been more appealing to me. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

There were some great things about this book -- the wordplay as the elderly main character begins to lose her words and replace them with her homegrown substitutes -- the central mystery was ultimately a disappointment.

Still, an entertaining read about an elderly woman who humorously copes with life in a nursing home. If you liked the movie The Father, you might like this one.

This book is written in a unique style and voice to reflect the confused and sometimes disconnected thoughts of an elderly woman with dementia. I enjoyed the narrative style at first, even though it took some concentration to follow, but at times it did distract from my full understanding of the storyline as I continued to read. By the end of the book I appreciated the unique voice of the main character, Rose, but I also felt a little tired from trying to follow the overall plot. Apart from the challenge of following the story, I did find humor in some of the various situations that Rose finds herself in around the nursing facility and came to appreciate her relationship with the wider cast of characters, including her family. The challenge that families face and the frustration that folks with dementia must feel around their scattered thoughts comes through beautifully and gives a definite emotional tone to the book. Overall, this book is an interesting spin on a murder mystery and a good read for folks who like to be fully immersed in a character’s voice and internal dialogue.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a galley copy of this book!

Bruce Nash's "All The Words We Know" immerses readers in the fractured consciousness of Rose, an octogenarian with dementia whose garbled thoughts piece together both a potential mystery at her elderly care facility and the complicated mosaic of her family relationships. Nash's bold narrative choice places us directly behind Rose's eyes—a disorienting experience that succeeds in creating profound empathy even as it challenges our patience.

The mystery element, while present in Rose's observations of something potentially nefarious happening at the home, doesn't drive the narrative as strongly as the marketing suggests. This is ultimately a story about relationships—the gradual revelations about Rose's connections with her son and daughter unfold with heartbreaking clarity amid her mental fog, creating moments of emotional resonance that cut through the confusion.

What makes Rose such a compelling protagonist is her authenticity. Her confusion feels genuine, her grief at losing a friend and a partner palpable, her fragmented memories achingly real. The narrative transforms ordinary moments into profound ones when Rose temporarily breaks through her mental haze to experience genuine connection.

The writing's repetitive nature—while true to Rose's cognitive condition—creates a reading experience that occasionally becomes tedious across 240 pages. The back-and-forth patterns of thought mirror dementia's reality but demand significant patience from readers. This commitment sometimes pays off with brilliant moments of clarity that wouldn't resonate as powerfully without the surrounding confusion.

Nash navigates the extraordinary challenge of writing from within dementia with remarkable sensitivity, creating a novel that's less about solving a mystery and more about understanding how memories, however fragmented, shape our understanding of love, loyalty, and forgiveness—even when the words to express them slip away.

Special thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing the free books for review, though all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Oh my goodness… I have no idea what just happened in this book, nor did I know I needed to read the unfiltered inner ramblings of an elderly person — but here we are. And I adored it.

Listen, this book won’t be for everyone. If dementia hits a little too close to home, maybe check your headspace before diving in. All the Words We Know reads like a mashup of poem, fever dream, and your wonderfully unhinged grandparent spilling every half-formed, mixed-up, made-up, or repetitive thought out loud…ahhh it was glorious.

Rose is a character I won’t forget anytime soon — mostly because she literally does not stop talking for the entire book. At one point I kind of wanted to pour myself a cup of Earl Grey, grab a cardigan, and just rock away next to her. There’s humor, heartbreak, nostalgia, and an overwhelming amount of heart in these pages. I’d bet money Bruce Nash has known someone close dealing with dementia because this felt real. Like a genuine, sometimes funny, sometimes gut-punchy glimpse into what that world looks like.

If you love quirky, character-driven stories with old folks (I freaking love them) or just enjoy reading something completely different from the norm — don’t sleep on this one. And seriously… don’t let those Goodreads ratings sway you. Trust your gut. Ramble right into this one.

Started to read this book, going into it with high hopes. Rose lives in an assisted living facility that has some werid things going on. I like some others found the book a bit repeative. I appreciated the author wrote it in that way to go perfectly with the story/Rose's character but it was hard to get through sometimes. Overall, Not bad.

A mystery set in a nursing home, with the most unreliable of narrators, Rose, a resident struggling with memory issues. As she struggles to understand what is happening around her, Soon she teams up with a young janitor, a schoolmate of her granddaughters, and tries to find what has happened to her friend, her password, and the strange events and relocations of her fellow residents. Charmingly told, you'll be cheering for Rose and "the boy who mops the floors" as they decipher events and uncover strange doings of the admisistration of the facility as well as of Rose's family.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An elderly dementia patient struggles with her memory and her memories.

It’s hard to give All the Words We Know a definitive rating. On one hand, it offers a compelling and insightful look into the mind of someone living with dementia. There are moments of humor, warmth, and triumph, and it’s easy to root for Rose, the narrator — she’s endearing and unforgettable.

On the other hand, the novel can be an exhausting read. True to its title, there are a lot of words. Thoughts are often repeated, and it takes a long time for the story to move forward. At times, I found myself losing interest and wishing for a quicker pace or more focused plot progression.

Rose has been placed in assisted living. When her friend is found dead after an apparent fall from a window, she believes that someone is murdering the residents; unfortunately, her dementia prevents her from focusing on the mystery.

The story is told from the point of view of an older woman in her 80s with dementia who experiences memory slips and word mix-ups. While this can be disorienting at the beginning, it adds a unique layer to the narrative. The cast of characters has a lot of variety, and all mesh well together. The tension builds in an engaging way, making you want to keep reading to the very end. The book's exploration of the challenges faced by the elderly, the portrayal of dementia, and the mystery elements all contribute to its thought-provoking nature.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Atria Books, for an early reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Bruce Nash, for this is a very thought-provoking book.

Bruce Nash's All the Words We Know is an absolute gem of a novel. It is a mystery with a twist, where the main character and sleuth is Rose- an 80 year old woman living in a care home.

Rose has a unique relationship with words and language. While words can sometimes become confusing to her, creating delightful (and often humorous) misunderstandings, she also uses them with such beauty and originality. She uses language in her own distinct way to describe her world, and taking readers along for that ride. Rose uses her unique style of word play to make sense of her world, but those around her do not always understand what she is trying to say. The frustration of not being understood often leads to the pain of being overlooked. The book explores the challenges Rose faces when the world assumes incompetence due to her age or perceived mental state.

As Rose works to solve the mystery of what is going on behind closed doors at the care facility, she also works to prepare her relationships with her family. She finally comes to an understanding of what they have been feeling and is also finally able to express her feelings to them. In the end, Rose is a true hero. She solves the mystery and brings her family together. The book shows that it is never to late to make amends, build bridges and become your true self.

Rose is in her eighties, living in assisted living, and has dementia.
Rose has an adult son and daughter who visit and help care for her. Her son manages her money, and she suspects he is dipping into her funds. Her daughter comes weekly to water her plants and cleans her bathroom. She sometimes brings her two granddaughters who spend most of their time texting friends on their phones.
When her friend is found lying on her back in the parking lot after falling out of her room window, Rose doesn’t believe that she jumped.
Rose notices abuse toward a transgender aid in the facility. She also feels intimidated by the care manager that she calls the scare manager.
Rose spends her days walking through the halls with her walker. She has a scarf tied to the door to her room to help her get back to the correct room. After her friend’s death, a man is moved into her room. All he does is lie in the bed and watch T.V.
Rose overhears her son talking to the scare manager and it sounds as if he is threatening her son that she will be moved. She does get moved from the room that she liked because it had trees and greenery outside her window. Now she overlooks the parking lot.
She starts to feel threatened by the scare manager, but I couldn’t tell if it was true or her dementia.
This was a very difficult book for me to read. It was hard to read because of dementia and the author wrote as if Rose was telling the story with dementia. She often repeated phrases and said nonsensical words. It was difficult to catch the story because it was mixed in with so much nonsense.
It was also difficult to read because I had a family member who had dementia, and it was painful to think that she may have experienced some of the same things as Rose.
I understand what the author was trying to do but I feel like it took away from the story. I felt there was too little story hidden within so much dementia. It was not an enjoyable read for me.
Instead of entertaining me, it brought back bad memories.
This is a new release scheduled for July 1st.
I do want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for the advance readers copy and introducing me to a new to me author for my honest review.

This book was pretty rough for me. Written from the perspective of someone with dementia, it tried to capture the fragmented mind, but instead just turned into constant repeating. It got very repetitive and boring, and I skimmed the last 25% of the book. I appreciate the effort, however.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I found it very repetitive and hard to connect with the characters.

I hope others love this one!

I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley. Okay, first off, I don't think I've ever read a book like this before written from the POV of a older woman who likely has dementia so that is unique. I don't think I'd want to read an entire series with this word stew, but as a standalone book, it works very well to stand out in a sea of cozy murder mysteries. The mystery lead me in several different directions as to what could actually be going on before it wrapped up heartily.

I'll start by saying that aspects of this title hit home a little differently for me than it might for others. My dad has Alzheimer's and we'll just say that the journey is interesting from my perspective. He also is living in a senior living facility where people range from your average retiree to those who need assistance or memory care.

Nash does an amazing job of capturing the internal struggles experienced by Rose. Over the years, Dad has expressed how hard it can be to find the correct word or information. When his diagnosis was still new, he talked about having to hunt for a long time for the right file in his brain.

Unlike where my Dad is, the senior living facility where Rose wanders the halls has something nefarious going on. Her friend in a wheelchair is found lying dead in the parking lot. And, there is now a man lying in her friend's bed. A nurse wanders the halls with pillows that Rose thinks may be for smothering. And, the Scare Manager is always lurking around.

Her son goes on about her money, but at least he has a thoroughly wiped bottom. (Sorry, but that phrase had me laughing out loud as Rose thinks it a lot!) Rose has to move to a room without a nice window because of cash flow issues. And, she keeps wondering why her son and daughter move a particular photo to the front each time they visit. In her mind's wanderings she sees that man in a garden. But, she doesn't remember who he is.

This title blends humor and mystery with the challenges of dementia woven into the mix. She is the narrator and you experience her stream of consciousness. Reading it may feel disjointed to those of us in full command of our faculties. However, I have seen the struggle in people with dementia and expect it is hitting the mark.

As someone in the midst of caring for a parent with dementia, I appreciated the bit of levity this novel brought to my evenings.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Bruce Nash for the electronic advance reader copy to read. All opinions are my own.

This started out to be a very difficult book to read for a variety of reasons. It is written as a stream of consciousness book but the mind you are privy to is an older woman with dementia so it was hard to follow at first until you got into the story. It was also hard to read if you have ever dealt with someone with dementia because it gives you real insight into what they might have been thinking and that was sometimes painful to think about. Once you got into the story it was very interesting and you just had to know how it all turned out.

Talk about a one-of-a-kind mystery novel! All the Words We Know by Bruce Nash is a fever dream of an experience. Readers are inside the mind of a mentally deteriorating woman who lives in an assisted living facility where something just isn't right. Do her conspiratorial ideas have any basis? Or is her unwell mind playing tricks on her as she edges closer to the last ending?

I've never read a book quite like this one. Stream of consciousness through the lens of someone who can't remember words in most of her thoughts. It's a little disorienting at the beginning, but as things ramped up, I found I couldn't 'look away'.

Rosie is frequently visited by her two children, who seem concerned at her state of health. She has forgotten almost everything about her life, and it was so interesting and heartbreaking as hell to experience her, in real time, remember she was once in love, that she was once a person who was loved, once upon a time.

It's a terrifying premise. In a place that has full control of you (including your medications), when you are so helpless...gah. The elderly are so vulnerable, and this novel made me feel for them more than ever.

This is what we know (probably): Someone died falling from a window, others are also dying (it is an end of life facility), Rosie has forgotten the password to her accounts, and her son loves her very much. We also know that the doctor in charge is telling her son how concerned he is for her recent behavior and decline, her medications are adjusted, and she has this deep resounding feeling of something not being right, and not knowing why.

Wow. For a book where I didn't know what the heck was going on 100% of the time, it was quite impressive. I'm inclined to dock a star or two for how difficult it was to stay grounded in a novel where everything is so disjointed and garbled, and it is quite repetitive, but I think I'll stick to 5, because I am blown away by the concept and it was consistent all the way through.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

All the Words We Know is a poignant look at aging and Alzheimer’s, of what it’s like to live in a memory care unit and deal with younger people who don’t really have time or the patience for you. It rang so true. Nash made me feel I was Rose - the confusion, the gaps in her vocabulary, trying to make certain connections. I loved the word play. “Passwords. Passing words. Past words.” The Scare Manager. It’s obvious Rose at one point had a large vocabulary. But now, it’s often whatsitsname. (Some of us can relate to that!).
Rose’s memory may be Swiss cheese, but she is still emotionally astute. She knows how her children are feeling. And she remembers the love she had with the more recent old man.
I think those going into this hoping for an amateur sleuth mystery might be disappointed. That part of the plot is really secondary. It’s much more an exploration of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s and how they see their world. Because of that, it’s not always an easy book to read. But Nash did a great job of giving us a glimpse into their world. It’s not maudlin. There’s a wonderful, subtle humor to the book. This may be a book that’s best appreciated by those of us with a certain number of years under our belts.
My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

Funny, quirky and utterly entertaining, ALL THE WORDS WE KNOW, is one of those books that will always put a smile on your face.

Rose is in her 80s and suffers from dementia. She is the epitome of an unreliable narrator, and she’ll make you laugh, think, and fall in love with her. When another resident falls from a window to her death, Rose makes it her duty to investigate what really happened.

Though sometimes hard to read, in more ways than one, this book really hits home about what the older generation can go through and how to navigate dementia as a family member. Some readers may struggle with the writing but I quite enjoyed it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.