Fat River, a small town with a "thinnish stream," a gas station and a Walmart, has plenty of eccentric characters, such as a transgender waitress and a disabled Russian gymnast to name a few. When 13-year-old Ruthie and her mother, Rita, pull off the highway for a quick stop, their only plan is to refuel, steal doughnuts from the local gas station and keep driving. Instead, they stay and try to go straight for the first time—no men, no cons—which means buying a broken-down house with the help of a less-than-reputable mortgage broker. Part commentary on the subprime crisis past, comic novel All We Had keeps you reading for its small observations, such as why mothers apply lipstick when upset ("There was something about the act of moving the stock of color across her lips that soothed"), as well as its larger, scarier questions about the path to adulthood after a childhood spent simply trying to survive.
— Leigh Newman
