Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

What readers think of The Opposite of Everyone, plus links to write your own review.

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Discuss |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson

The Opposite of Everyone

by Joshilyn Jackson
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Feb 16, 2016, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2016, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

Reviews

Page 2 of 4
There are currently 32 reader reviews for The Opposite of Everyone
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

Dona H. (Muskegon, MI)

Strong appeal
At first I wasn't sure Paula wasn't just another hard boiled detective/lawyer, but this story is so much more. The suspenseful story of her current life and flashbacks to her broken family drew me in emotionally to the very end. I'm sure reading groups would find plenty to discuss here. I hope to read more by Joshilyn Jackson.
Amy M. (Southlake, TX)

The Opposite of Everyone
Thank you to Book Browse for the ARC of The Opposite of Everyone, by Joshilyn Jackson, I am anxious to share this book with Carroll Senior High Book Club, Southlake, TX. Once I got into this book, I was hooked. Having just recently losing my mother, I was caught up in the mother/daughter dynamics and how her mother, Kai, despite many shortcomings, always wanted her daughter to be proud of her roots and succeed in life. This book is full of love, twists, and finding the true meaning of family and real love. I loved the ending and how everything came together so sweetly, despite some unpleasantness along the way. I hope readers will give this book a chance and learn as much about themselves as I did.
Dorinne D. (Wickenburg, AZ)

An Unusual Tale
Upon reading the first few pages of this book, I was prepared to dislike it. The characters and the language were not in my field of interest, I thought. But the farther into the story I got, the more the story grabbed me. The development of the main character, Paula Vauss a/k/a Kali, was outstanding. The gypsy life she led with her mother, the strength of character she developed over the years, her acute insight in difficult situations, her ability to overcome all the obstacles to become a successful lawyer - this turned out to be a story worth savoring, and I did savor it, down to the last word.
Mary Ann B. (Louisville, KY)

The Opposite of Everyone
I must confess, I am a fan of all of Joshilyn Jackson's work, and this novel did not disappoint.

This story is about Karen Vauss ( a character from Someone Else's Love Story. Karen has had a tough and unusual upbringing to say the least. She also has many faults, but you are rooting for her to find happiness. That's the thing about Jackson's books. All her characters have many issues, but she has you keeping your fingers crossed, that they succeed, or at least find some happiness.
Diane D. (Mount Pleasant, SC)

Jackson is a great writer!
I'm a big fan of everything Joshilyn Jackson has written and this book did not disappoint!!! Her characters have such depth and are so real. I love her story development with flashbacks to the past. I get so wrapped up when reading her books, I don't know where the time goes!! I highly recommend this book!
Marion C. (Litchfield, NH)

I Was Born Blue
THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE is the perfect title for this cunning, captivating and delightful novel that hits home in a few spots. "I was born blue," completes the circle of this enchanting novel when Paula Vauss, a divorce lawyer in Georgia, receives a note from her mother that reads: "I am going on a journey, Kali, I am going back to my beginning; death is not the end. .." The rich stories of Georgia lore and Karma make this novel charming. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it as the novel moves along fast and a surprise ending neatly ties everything together. I will be reading Joshilyn Jackson's other novels as her writing is distinctive and enjoyable.
Power Reviewer
Mary Lou F. (Naples, FL)

Family Forever
This book shows no matter what, family always wins out. The complications involved with a dysfunctional family also show that things can turn around with faith and hope.
Sue J. (Brookfield, WI)

Great read!
Joshilyn Jackson hit a home run with "The Opposite of Everyone". I read it over the weekend and couldn't put it down. The main character Paula worms her way into your heart a little bit at a time. Living an unconventional childhood, she makes a "911" call that puts her mother in jail and she is sent to a group home. That wasn't the outcome Paula was expecting and she incurs a debt to her mother that follows her throughout adulthood. I highly recommend this book, it was a great read!

Beyond the Book:
  The Tridevi in Hinduism

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Sequel
    The Sequel
    by Jean Hanff Korelitz
    In Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Sequel, Anna Williams-Bonner, the wife of recently deceased author ...
  • Book Jacket: My Good Bright Wolf
    My Good Bright Wolf
    by Sarah Moss
    Sarah Moss has been afflicted with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa since her pre-teen years but...
  • Book Jacket
    Canoes
    by Maylis De Kerangal
    The short stories in Maylis de Kerangal's new collection, Canoes, translated from the French by ...
  • Book Jacket: Absolution
    Absolution
    by Jeff VanderMeer
    Ten years ago, the literary landscape was changed forever when Jeff VanderMeer became the "King of ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.