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careinthelibrary's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
I have complicated feelings about this book but it was really good. Compelling and readable, I kept being drawn back in by my concern for these characters.
This book captures the imperfect responses of various family and friends to a loved one's schizoaffective disorder. Lucia's sister is so protective of her to the point of being overbearing and condescending, reducing her sister's life to "did you take your pills" out of her desperate, obsessive concern. But it is through love, which makes it hard to condemn her reactions although they clearly drive a wedge between her and her sister and hurt Lucia's self-esteem. Ironically, Miranda is experiencing deep anxiety and paranoia but her own mental illnesses are deemed much more socially acceptable and she isn't infantalized as a result.
Yonah is less concerned about his partner's condition, hands-off and allowing Lucia to dictate her own treatment. I loved his chapters, his character who is more accepting and accommodating to Lucia, is also funny and strange. He's irreverent and a bit offensive at times, but his charm wins out.
Manny is afraid of so much, avoids talking about it with her, secretly watches her but doesn't want to intervene because he doesn't know how she'll react. His inaction is harmful but is it more harmful than Miranda's overcare?
This book really grabbed my attention with its chapters from Lucia's point of view which I was grateful for, she is able to speak for herself and not just be seen through the eyes of others (esp Miranda) who catastrophizes her sister's future. I can't speak to whether the mental illness rep is accurate from Lucia's point-of-view but it gave me some clarity to the lens of logic through which she saw the world and how it made sense from her perspective. Is her way of thinking and experiencing life wrong or harmful to others? No, but she isn't supported by a pharmaceutical-driven medical system nor by her under-educated family and friends. This failing of her community causes her to accidentally harm herself and others, not her mental illness. Very complex depiction throughout the book, and it's hard to know if I'm reading into this more than the author intended.
Mental illness is so often discussed as a massive burden on the family but it's clear that this burden is produced in part by Miranda's desperation and clinginess to her sister because of her own fears of how the world will react to Lucia and Manny's inability to have a candid conversation with her about her behaviours. Lucia doesn't ask for much if any help in this book, just wants to live her life in a world which is unforgiving to those who are unpredictable to others.
One note on Manny as a character, he felt a bit like a reductive stereotype in the chapters where we're reading about him from others' perspectives, not so much from his own chapters though. Not sure if other readers felt this way in part or all of his portions of the novel and that being said, the scenes that address his deep fear of deportation were palpable and tense.
This book captures the imperfect responses of various family and friends to a loved one's schizoaffective disorder. Lucia's sister is so protective of her to the point of being overbearing and condescending, reducing her sister's life to "did you take your pills" out of her desperate, obsessive concern. But it is through love, which makes it hard to condemn her reactions although they clearly drive a wedge between her and her sister and hurt Lucia's self-esteem. Ironically, Miranda is experiencing deep anxiety and paranoia but her own mental illnesses are deemed much more socially acceptable and she isn't infantalized as a result.
Yonah is less concerned about his partner's condition, hands-off and allowing Lucia to dictate her own treatment. I loved his chapters, his character who is more accepting and accommodating to Lucia, is also funny and strange. He's irreverent and a bit offensive at times, but his charm wins out.
Manny is afraid of so much, avoids talking about it with her, secretly watches her but doesn't want to intervene because he doesn't know how she'll react. His inaction is harmful but is it more harmful than Miranda's overcare?
This book really grabbed my attention with its chapters from Lucia's point of view which I was grateful for, she is able to speak for herself and not just be seen through the eyes of others (esp Miranda) who catastrophizes her sister's future. I can't speak to whether the mental illness rep is accurate from Lucia's point-of-view but it gave me some clarity to the lens of logic through which she saw the world and how it made sense from her perspective. Is her way of thinking and experiencing life wrong or harmful to others? No, but she isn't supported by a pharmaceutical-driven medical system nor by her under-educated family and friends. This failing of her community causes her to accidentally harm herself and others, not her mental illness. Very complex depiction throughout the book, and it's hard to know if I'm reading into this more than the author intended.
Mental illness is so often discussed as a massive burden on the family but it's clear that this burden is produced in part by Miranda's desperation and clinginess to her sister because of her own fears of how the world will react to Lucia and Manny's inability to have a candid conversation with her about her behaviours. Lucia doesn't ask for much if any help in this book, just wants to live her life in a world which is unforgiving to those who are unpredictable to others.
One note on Manny as a character, he felt a bit like a reductive stereotype in the chapters where we're reading about him from others' perspectives, not so much from his own chapters though. Not sure if other readers felt this way in part or all of his portions of the novel and that being said, the scenes that address his deep fear of deportation were palpable and tense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Cancer, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Miscarriage, Car accident, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Deportation, and Racism
Mental illness stigmanytephoenyx's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Everything Here is Beautiful is not a book that I would typically enjoy. It’s incredibly slow paced and deeply character centric. I’m torn between feeling that it was actually a very long book or if it only felt endless. I can appreciate Everything Here is Beautiful for what it is – a dive into sharing the struggles of someone who has a mental illness but wants to live a normal life. But I can’t say I enjoyed the book.
This book is a good fit for some readers – those who prefer serious books with complicated relationships and an emphasis on motherhood will likely enjoy it. I will warn that the book’s description is a bit misleading. On picking up Everything is Here Beautiful, I expected to read a story of sisters, of two parallel lives. This book is very much about Lucia. Intellectually you can infer bits and pieces about Miranda’s existence, but only in so much as it revolves around Lucia and their relationship not with each other, but with Lucia’s mental illness.
I’m always ready to pounce on a book that has a hyperbolic or otherwise problematic representation of mental health conditions. In this respect, I think Everything Here is Beautiful did a good job depicting a life and how a person can choose not to be defined by their mental illness even while it tries to control them. I personally have no experience with Lucy’s kind of mental illness – in the book, the doctors disagree on her diagnosis, but “bipolar” and “schizophrenia” are both tossed around – so I can’t relate as to whether or not it’s an accurate experience, but from an outsiders perspective, it feels good and respectful.
Everything Here is Beautiful has an interesting story and good research. I appreciate the Ecuadorian immigrant representation, the Chinese-American representations from two sides, the mental health representation. This is a good book for the right person. It’s a serious, slow-paced slice of life. If that sounds good to you, I recommend picking it up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicide
Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Vomit
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