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chlslnbd10's review against another edition
5.0
This book follows the stories of several characters. There’s Miranda. Lucia. Yonah. Manuel. Esperanza. Miranda is the big sister, protective of her little sister. She promised her mother who was on her death bed, that she’d protect Lucia and she tries so hard. Lucia, the little sister, has schizophrenia. When she takes her pills, she’s okay. When she doesn’t, Miranda has to step in. Lucia marries Yonah and all is fine until she has a schizophrenic episode and ends up in a mental hospital. She recovers and leaves Yonah. Meets Manuel. They end up having a baby: Esperanza. Life is good until it isn’t.
I found this book to be a very good representation of mental health. Schizophrenia is so misunderstood and I appreciate that Lee didn’t portray Lucia as this psychotic woman who wants to kill everyone. Miranda’s character is neurotic and mistrusts everything Lucia says. I understand she wants to protect her, but as the synopsis says, only Lucia can decide when to truly get help. The ending was heartbreaking. I felt so sorry for Miranda. It was a raw portrayal of how mental illness affects not only the person afflicted with the illness but also their family and friends.
I enjoyed the author’s choice to change up who was narrating the story. We get to see the same “scene” from at least two viewpoints and it truly changes the way you experience the events of the book. In the beginning, this is a story of the bond between sisters but it transforms into so much more than that and it was absolutely beautiful.
I found this book to be a very good representation of mental health. Schizophrenia is so misunderstood and I appreciate that Lee didn’t portray Lucia as this psychotic woman who wants to kill everyone. Miranda’s character is neurotic and mistrusts everything Lucia says. I understand she wants to protect her, but as the synopsis says, only Lucia can decide when to truly get help. The ending was heartbreaking. I felt so sorry for Miranda. It was a raw portrayal of how mental illness affects not only the person afflicted with the illness but also their family and friends.
I enjoyed the author’s choice to change up who was narrating the story. We get to see the same “scene” from at least two viewpoints and it truly changes the way you experience the events of the book. In the beginning, this is a story of the bond between sisters but it transforms into so much more than that and it was absolutely beautiful.
schwarmgiven's review against another edition
4.0
A super fun book of sisters dealing with mental disorders--some great characterization of modern life. A fun reflection of cities and towns. fairly easy summer read by an author who will do better stuff--a solid novel.
emmamgregory's review against another edition
5.0
This book should have been called Everything Written Here is Beautiful. Never have I read a book that told of a tragically mentally ill girl with such poetical stunningness but accuracy too. Lee either spotlessly did her research or has lived her story. Amazing.
ashleybhaley's review against another edition
4.0
This was our September book club pick! Sisters Miranda and Lucia Bok are complete opposites. While Miranda is responsible, Lucia is unpredictable. But when it becomes apparent that Lucia is suffering from mental illness, Miranda is determined to protect and seek help for her.
I found this book incredibly thought provoking. My preconceived ideas of mental illness were drastically different than what was described in this novel and it helped me open my eyes.
The book is told in alternating points of view with Lucia, Miranda, and other supporting characters. At times I struggled with this (mainly the formatting), but I later appreciated how it helped show the reader both the internal struggles that Lucia was facing as well as the outside experience from family and friends.
I found this book incredibly thought provoking. My preconceived ideas of mental illness were drastically different than what was described in this novel and it helped me open my eyes.
The book is told in alternating points of view with Lucia, Miranda, and other supporting characters. At times I struggled with this (mainly the formatting), but I later appreciated how it helped show the reader both the internal struggles that Lucia was facing as well as the outside experience from family and friends.
victoriagonzalezz_'s review against another edition
5.0
One of the best books I’ve read that tries to depict the complexities of psychosis and schizophrenia. It amazed me and also made me extremely curious how they manage to deconstruct stigmas by humanizing and bringing a beautifully empathetic view upon delusions and hallucinations. The changing view points are immersive and the character’s personalities really get across in each of them. Topics of immigration, internalized racism, and complex families are also explored with delicacy but with a heartbreaking rawness. Very beautiful.
barefootamy's review against another edition
5.0
A deeply moving book about the relationship of two sisters, one with a mental health condition she is blind to, and the other with the overwhelming responsibility of unwanted caretaker. Having some personal experience with a sister thousands of miles away experiencing psychotic episodes this book was a challenge to read.
bianca89279's review against another edition
3.0
3-3.5 stars
Everything Here is Beautiful is a good debut novel, exploring mental illness and how it affects both the sufferers and those close to them.
It's wonderful that mental illnesses are no longer taboo. I don't know if it's because we're getting more enlightened or because so many people have mental health issues. I'm guessing it's a mix of the two.
I enjoyed the very multicultural aspects of this novel that added another dimension and layer of complexity to the story. This story is mainly about Lucia and her sister Miranda. Their Chinese mother was pregnant with Lucia when she immigrated to the USA. Miranda was seven years old. The beautiful Lucia was the unlucky one, as she suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disease or something in between. When not medicated, her behaviour became erratic and uncontrollable - as you'd imagine. Miranda tries to help as much as possible, although she's got her own life to live. Another immigrant's perspective is added when Lucia marries Yonah, a much older Jewish man who seeks a new life in the USA. Manny, Lucia's baby daddy, provides us with insights into an undocumented Ecuadorian young man's life in the US, doing all sort of jobs in construction and kitchens.
I appreciated this novel, but I never fully got into it. I understand why Mira T Lee chose the multiple points of views, but I thought some of them were better executed than others. For instance, sometimes, Manny's perspective wasn't fully believable - he sounded way too eloquent, which was inconsistent with his less educated, culturally different background and upbringing.
Despite not being fully engaged and a few small quibbles, I don't regret spending the time in its company. It was good enough for me to be interested in reading Lee's sophomore novel.
Everything Here is Beautiful is a good debut novel, exploring mental illness and how it affects both the sufferers and those close to them.
It's wonderful that mental illnesses are no longer taboo. I don't know if it's because we're getting more enlightened or because so many people have mental health issues. I'm guessing it's a mix of the two.
I enjoyed the very multicultural aspects of this novel that added another dimension and layer of complexity to the story. This story is mainly about Lucia and her sister Miranda. Their Chinese mother was pregnant with Lucia when she immigrated to the USA. Miranda was seven years old. The beautiful Lucia was the unlucky one, as she suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disease or something in between. When not medicated, her behaviour became erratic and uncontrollable - as you'd imagine. Miranda tries to help as much as possible, although she's got her own life to live. Another immigrant's perspective is added when Lucia marries Yonah, a much older Jewish man who seeks a new life in the USA. Manny, Lucia's baby daddy, provides us with insights into an undocumented Ecuadorian young man's life in the US, doing all sort of jobs in construction and kitchens.
I appreciated this novel, but I never fully got into it. I understand why Mira T Lee chose the multiple points of views, but I thought some of them were better executed than others. For instance, sometimes, Manny's perspective wasn't fully believable - he sounded way too eloquent, which was inconsistent with his less educated, culturally different background and upbringing.
Despite not being fully engaged and a few small quibbles, I don't regret spending the time in its company. It was good enough for me to be interested in reading Lee's sophomore novel.
goosemixtapes's review against another edition
2.0
3 stars on a technical level, knocked down to 2 for personal enjoyment.
this book is full of absolutely gorgeous prose and it absolutely did not do it for me. if i had to guess why - i don’t think i ever connected to any of these characters the way i was meant to. i had sympathy for all of them and i never openly disliked anyone! but i also didn’t… like them? and i don’t know; oftentimes, despite the periods of time when we see lucia mentally stable, it still kind of felt like she was mostly seen in the context of her illness. i know as the book progressed there was an emphasis on the question of how much is her illness versus how much is HER, and while i think that’s a complex topic that needs exploration, it just fell flat for me personally because i did not… see a lucia outside of her illness. even the periods on-page when we see her “stable” are colored by the way everyone treats her and the sense that she’s a ticking time bomb, and i get that the author did this purposefully but i still think it didn’t go deep enough.
that said, there’s a chance i am just inherently biased against this book based on [major spoilers]
tl;dr: very well written book. not for me, though, and i am conflicted about it.
this book is full of absolutely gorgeous prose and it absolutely did not do it for me. if i had to guess why - i don’t think i ever connected to any of these characters the way i was meant to. i had sympathy for all of them and i never openly disliked anyone! but i also didn’t… like them? and i don’t know; oftentimes, despite the periods of time when we see lucia mentally stable, it still kind of felt like she was mostly seen in the context of her illness. i know as the book progressed there was an emphasis on the question of how much is her illness versus how much is HER, and while i think that’s a complex topic that needs exploration, it just fell flat for me personally because i did not… see a lucia outside of her illness. even the periods on-page when we see her “stable” are colored by the way everyone treats her and the sense that she’s a ticking time bomb, and i get that the author did this purposefully but i still think it didn’t go deep enough.
that said, there’s a chance i am just inherently biased against this book based on [major spoilers]
Spoiler
the ending alone. yes this book was a complex layered compassionate look at a family struggling with mental illness & etc etc etc but GOD i am so tired of Mental Illness Books where the mentally ill person dies. and describing her place of death as “beautiful,” saying she went out “looking for something beautiful…” again, i GET what the author was going for but it tasted bad. i hate to judge one book and its unique story based on a larger trend of many books, but, like. when i realized lucia had died my gut reaction was a sigh and an “of course” so. there we are.tl;dr: very well written book. not for me, though, and i am conflicted about it.
gottarun31's review against another edition
5.0
Everything Here is Beautiful is heartbreaking. A story of a beautiful soul, Lucia, who suffers from schizophrenia or bipolar disease or something on the spectrum that makes her life difficult in unfathomable and scary ways. Her story is told from various perspectives- her sister Jie, her boyfriend Manny, her husband Yonah, and Lucia herself- all of their lives so deeply intertwined with Lucia, her illness, and their love (in whatever form) of her.
There was a line in the book during one of Lucia's sections that talks about when she was first diagnosed. At the age of 27, they gave her a 20% chance of holding a steady job and like a 40% chance of living until an old age (I'm butchering the stats since I dropped the book off at the library). Those stats are terrifying and to see Lucia when she's good, but have those numbers in the background, my heart broke for her. Completely foreshadows the struggles and the ending.
There was a line in the book during one of Lucia's sections that talks about when she was first diagnosed. At the age of 27, they gave her a 20% chance of holding a steady job and like a 40% chance of living until an old age (I'm butchering the stats since I dropped the book off at the library). Those stats are terrifying and to see Lucia when she's good, but have those numbers in the background, my heart broke for her. Completely foreshadows the struggles and the ending.