All This Could Be Different

A Novel

By: Sarah Thankam Mathews

Narrated by: Reena Dutt

2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

ONE OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES' TOP 5 FICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR

ONE OF TIME AND SLATE'S TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Named one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by NPR, Vogue, Vulture, BuzzFeed, Harper's Bazaar, and more

“One of the buzziest, most human novels of the year…breathless, dizzying, and completely beautiful.” —Vogue

“Dazzling and wholly original...[written] with such mordant wit, insight, and specificity, it feels like watching a new literary star being born in real time.” —Entertainment Weekly

From a brilliant new voice comes an electrifying novel of a young immigrant building a life for herself—a warm, dazzling, and profound saga of queer love, friendship, work, and precarity in twenty-first century America

Graduating into the long maw of an American recession, Sneha is one of the fortunate ones. She’s moved to Milwaukee for an entry-level corporate job that, grueling as it may be, is the key that unlocks every door: she can pick up the tab at dinner with her new friend Tig, get her college buddy Thom hired alongside her, and send money to her parents back in India. She begins dating women—soon developing a burning crush on Marina, a beguiling and beautiful dancer who always seems just out of reach.

But before long, trouble arrives. Painful secrets rear their heads; jobs go off the rails; evictions loom. Sneha struggles to be truly close and open with anybody, even as her friendships deepen, even as she throws herself headlong into a dizzying romance with Marina. It’s then that Tig begins to draw up a radical solution to their problems, hoping to save them all.

A beautiful and capacious novel rendered in singular, unforgettable prose, All This Could Be Different is a wise, tender, and riveting group portrait of young people forging love and community amidst struggle, and a moving story of one immigrant’s journey to make her home in the world.

Just couldn’t get into it

There are many things one could say about this book. The majority of the time the protagonist seems to have nothing but angst. It seems to be the only emotion that’s felt within the book whatsoever.

Fabulous

Loved this book. It had great character develop, plot line and awesome narration. Highly recommend.

Wow!

What a book. Loved the audio version as the reader is amazing with varying accents for different t characters. And the novel is so well written, powerful, dynamic characters and a theme that most of us can relate to.

That’s not a NJ accent

It was ok. The story isn’t the most captivating. The New Jersey accent of the narrator was terrible!

It was…….

Hard to get through, a lot of the time…some beautiful moments, even witty and funny ones. Overall though, it was tough to hang there with it. Didn’t much like the ending and felt the characters could have gone in so many different directions!