All You Could Ask For
Mike Greenberg, 2013
HarperCollins
264 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062220752
Summary
Three women are about to find their lives intertwined in ways none of them could ever have imagined.
Brooke has been happily married to her college sweetheart for fifteen years. Even after the C-section, the dog poop, the stomach viruses, and the coffee breath, Scott still always winks at her at just the right moments. That is why, for her beloved, romantic, successful husband's fortieth birthday, she is giving him pictures. Of her. Naked.
Samantha's newlywed bliss is steamrolled when she finds shocking evidence of infidelity on her husband's computer. She has been married for two days. She won't be for much longer.
Katherine works eighteen hours a day for the man who irreparably shattered her heart fifteen years ago. She has a duplex on Park Avenue, a driver, a chef, and a stunning house in Southampton, and she bought it all herself. So what if she has to see Phillip every single workday for the rest of her natural life? Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don't know one another, but all three are about to discover the conquering power of friendship—and that they have all they could ask for, as long as they have one another. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 6, 1967
• Where—New York City, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Northwestern University
• Currently—lives in the state of Connecticut
Michael James "Mike" Greenberg is a television anchor, television show host, and radio host for ESPN and ABC. At ESPN, he hosts the weekday evening, most often Monday, SportsCenter and ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning show with Mike Golic. At sister network ABC, he was the host of the now cancelled quiz show Duel. As of 2011, he co-hosts the 6 PM Eastern Monday SportsCenter editions during the National Football League season with Golic.
Greenberg was born to a Jewish family in New York City and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1985. In 1989, Greenberg graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he started work as a sports anchor and reporter at WMAQ-AM in Chicago. He left WMAQ in 1992 to work for WSCR-Radio as a reporter (covering events such as the World Series and the Super Bowl) and talk show host.
From 1993 to 1995, he also wrote a weekly syndicated column for the California-based Copley News Service. In 1994, he added reporting for SportsChannel Chicago to his resume. In 1995, he left SportsChannel Chicago to work at CLTV, becoming an anchor, reporter, and host of a live call-in show. He left Chicago for ESPN in September 1996, where he became one of the first hosts of ESPNEWS when it began broadcasting in November of that year.
Television
In 1999, with ESPN Radio airing in just four markets, Greenberg was approached about returning to radio to be a part of a morning drive-time show with Mike Golic as co-host. Greenberg agreed, with the understanding that he would continue anchoring SportsCenter on a regular basis. On April 26, 2004, the show started a regular simulcast on ESPNEWS. Because of their continued success, the duo moved to ESPN2 in January 2005.
One of the most popular segments of the entire year on Mike and Mike in the Morning is the annual "Sheet of Integrity" wager, a bracket wager based on the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and the massive ESPN.com bracket contest. The bet originated after Mike Golic told of how he would enter a massive number of sheets into different pools to win the money involved in the pool. Greenberg, believing picks required a sort of integrity, insisted that any such entrant be required to enter only one "Sheet of Integrity." Golic would select one of his (presumably) dozens of sheets against Greenberg, with the loser having to perform a humiliating stunt, usually on the air. The first year, Greenberg won and Golic had to have an eyebrow wax on the air. The next two years, Golic won, and Greenberg had to wear the Notre Dame University Leprechaun mascot costume on the air, the second time on the Notre Dame campus. In the 2007 competition Greenberg, an admitted die-hard New York Jets fan, agreed to wear a New England Patriots jersey to a Jets game and to milk a cow live on-air. Greenberg received advice about milking a cow from ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney, who grew up on a dairy farm.
Books
In 2006, Greenberg released his first book entitled Why My Wife Thinks I'm An Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad, which reached 14th on the New York Times Bestseller list and was nominated in the 2006 Quill Awards for best sports book. In 2010, Greenberg, along with co-host Mike Golic, released a book entitled Mike and Mike's Rules for Sports and Life. In 2013 Greenberg released his novel All You Could Ask For about a group of women who bond because of their shared experiences with cancer. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
This upbeat, snappy debut novel from ESPN sports talk host Greenberg (Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot) involves three iron-willed, independent-minded ladies who meet and become friends through an online support group for breast cancer patients.... Greenberg’s promising first effort, told partly in the form of message board postings, develops the lead characters well enough for its predictably feel-good conclusion to feel justified.
Publishers Weekly
Sportscaster Greenberg's (Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot) first novel delves with authenticity and compassion into the lives and minds of three female characters.... These women are strangers to one another until they learn something that changes their lives, forever linking them in friendship and courage. Verdict: This well-written page-turner by a surprising author features true-to-life characters who are entertaining and compelling. A must read for fans of smart women's fiction. Fans of Greenberg's show might be curious as well. —Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.
Library Journal
The shared adversity these women face is portrayed realistically and tenderly.... The three women are well drawn, and Greenberg displays an admirable ear for realistic dialogue. Fans of Deborah Copaken Konan, Sarah Pekkanen, and contemporary ensemble fiction will enjoy this debut novel.
Booklist
Sports pundit Greenberg tries his hand at chick lit, with somber overtones and mixed results.... The unifying element, intended to lend gravitas to the frivolity, involves cancer. Although the cancer section provides opportunities for the women to discover what is truly important in life, it also affords Greenberg too many pretexts for preachy cliches and oversimplification. Any automatic sympathy conferred by illness will be mitigated, for most readers, by how little we've come to care for these superficial and uber-privileged characters.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Would Samantha have become friends with Katherine and Brooke under different circumstances? What do the three women have in common besides the event that brings them together?
2. Samantha is horrified when she finds those pictures on Robert's laptop, but is she partially to blame for invading his privacy?
3. Why do you think Katherine chose to stay at the company for as long as she did? With her education and experience, she could have found a comparable position elsewhere. Is there a part of her that wants to suffer by witnessing Philip's success? Is there a small part of her that believes she can win him back if she sticks around? Or is it something else entirely?
4. Brooke stakes much of her own happiness on her husband's satisfaction and his perception of her. Is this problematic?
5. Brooke says you need three core girlfriends: one who's like a sister, one who knows everything, and one a generation ahead of you. Do you agree? Who occupies these roles in your own life?
6. Robert seemed genuinely contrite when he went to see Samantha. Would you have taken him back? Why or why not?
7. Samantha is always trying to help people, and she wants to extend her generosity of spirit to Brooke. Do you think she was wrong in forcing Brooke to share her story? Was she at all motivated by guilt?
8. Why do you think Brook decides to do what she does? Do you agree with her choice? Do her loved ones deserve to be included in her decisions?
9. Brooke sees her life as divided into stages – her sweet sixteen, her wedding. What are the stages of your life?
10. Samantha reflects on her evening with Andrew Marks as "the night [she] learned that [she likes] being pretty." Despite confronting a serious life hurdle, she does not abandon her vanity. Is this something many women can relate to? What does being pretty mean to you?
11. When Katherine meets Stephen, she knows she has "met the man who [is] going to change [her] life." Do you believe in love at first sight? Are her strong, serendipitous feelings for Stephen in any way related to this phase of her life?
12. Katherine and Samantha have a few "absolute deal-breakers": a grown-up who calls his mother every day, a man who buys maxi pads for his dog. What are your absolute deal-breakers?
13. In her last person-to-person to Samantha, Brooke writes, "Please leave me alone." She tells her she'll be in touch when she's ready. What do you think ultimately moved her to reach out? What changed?
14. Brooke is the only one with a husband by her side, and yet she does not share her secret with him. Is she motivated by fear? Do you think that has more to do with her or with Scott?
15. In the last chapter, Katherine has run off to Aspen to be with her dream guy, Samantha is dating a pediatrician, and Brooke is laminating meaningful quotes for her fridge. Where do you see them each in five years?
(Questions issued by publisher.)