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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
challenging
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Everything’s Fine is on the whole, a pretty good book. The second half is better than the first (which gets a bit tedious) and explains the strawberries and the title. It’s an interesting read that looks at race, politics and the financial world but isn’t a book that I think I’ll remember years down the track.
The story is about Jess, a Black woman who hasn’t really found her calling yet. At university, she’s part of the crowd but separate for her lack of wealth and her race. She has good friends, but they don’t really understand that she needs to stand out as better to be accepted as average. She starts an internship at Goldman Sachs and finds her colleague Jack is the man she had many discussions and arguments with at uni about politics and race. At work, it’s not as fiery but sort of wary at first until Jack and Jess become friends. Later, Jack becomes Jess’ boss and it turns into a romantic relationship despite their very different views on politics. But it turns messy and Jess leaves New York after a family tragedy and finding Jack with a MAGA hat. It’s up to both of them whether they can put aside their politics and whether Jess chooses to accept Jack despite his lack of insight into marginalised groups.
The story is a little confusing as to whether it’s meant to be earnest or satirical. Jack has some strong beliefs in how the country should be run and how marginalised people should be treated. These are directly opposite to what Jess’ dad’s thoughts would be. She argues passionately early in the book, but then less so. Is she defeated or in love? As a romance, Jack doesn’t have a lot to offer as the male lead except being very rich. He does make some grand gestures towards Jess but at other times he is absolutely clueless to her needs, even belittling her career. His love of Trump leading up to the 2016 election really didn’t age too well. It’s hard to believe in their romance when he takes her down and tries to push her around multiple times. He is very much an ‘I know best’ character.
The strongest parts of the story are when Jess is on her own, working through her feelings with characters other than Jack. This is where she becomes stronger, less indecisive and inward looking. She is able to look at Jack’s strengths and flaws more clearly and decide if everything being fine (when it’s clearly not) is something she can live with. While the characters’ relationship didn’t work for me, I did like Rabess’ style of writing. She is good at setting the scene and building unique characters, in addition to clearly showing the discrimination and inequality Jess has to face as part of her daily life.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The story is about Jess, a Black woman who hasn’t really found her calling yet. At university, she’s part of the crowd but separate for her lack of wealth and her race. She has good friends, but they don’t really understand that she needs to stand out as better to be accepted as average. She starts an internship at Goldman Sachs and finds her colleague Jack is the man she had many discussions and arguments with at uni about politics and race. At work, it’s not as fiery but sort of wary at first until Jack and Jess become friends. Later, Jack becomes Jess’ boss and it turns into a romantic relationship despite their very different views on politics. But it turns messy and Jess leaves New York after a family tragedy and finding Jack with a MAGA hat. It’s up to both of them whether they can put aside their politics and whether Jess chooses to accept Jack despite his lack of insight into marginalised groups.
The story is a little confusing as to whether it’s meant to be earnest or satirical. Jack has some strong beliefs in how the country should be run and how marginalised people should be treated. These are directly opposite to what Jess’ dad’s thoughts would be. She argues passionately early in the book, but then less so. Is she defeated or in love? As a romance, Jack doesn’t have a lot to offer as the male lead except being very rich. He does make some grand gestures towards Jess but at other times he is absolutely clueless to her needs, even belittling her career. His love of Trump leading up to the 2016 election really didn’t age too well. It’s hard to believe in their romance when he takes her down and tries to push her around multiple times. He is very much an ‘I know best’ character.
The strongest parts of the story are when Jess is on her own, working through her feelings with characters other than Jack. This is where she becomes stronger, less indecisive and inward looking. She is able to look at Jack’s strengths and flaws more clearly and decide if everything being fine (when it’s clearly not) is something she can live with. While the characters’ relationship didn’t work for me, I did like Rabess’ style of writing. She is good at setting the scene and building unique characters, in addition to clearly showing the discrimination and inequality Jess has to face as part of her daily life.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this up to a point. Jess grappling with whether she could be with someone so fundamentally different in their politics was something I once went through with someone I was dating, and it was a big factor in me realising it wouldn’t work out. But the ending frustrated me, as clearly Jess was unhappy and Josh wasn’t willing to listen to her concerns about Trump as president. As a white cis man of course he isn’t going to feel the same way as Jess, but I didn’t see any attempt to empathise with her position. He called her a hypocrite for being bothered despite the lifestyle she led and yet she still went back to him! Maybe it’s an age thing but I was a similar age to Jess in the book when my dating experience happened.
The writing around Jess losing her father hit me really hard emotionally.
The writing around Jess losing her father hit me really hard emotionally.
I don’t even know how to rate this. The writing is good. What’s written is trash. An apologia for racism with no sympathetic characters. And like what is even the point? Feels like the author thinks she is being very provocative but it absolutely does not land.
Curtis Sittenfeld gushed about this one during an interview. I'm really grateful I wasn't deterred by the skewed GoodReads numbers; this book was so worth my time.
I loved Jess' unique perspective as a black woman amid a sea of finance bros, and this raises very compelling questions about what we should choose to overlook/accept in a romantic partner.
A+ humor, and the way Rabess engages with differing political views is thoughtful and nuanced.
Jess' hypocrisies were drawn in a very real and human way.
Please write more, Cecilia Rabess!
I loved Jess' unique perspective as a black woman amid a sea of finance bros, and this raises very compelling questions about what we should choose to overlook/accept in a romantic partner.
A+ humor, and the way Rabess engages with differing political views is thoughtful and nuanced.
Jess' hypocrisies were drawn in a very real and human way.
Please write more, Cecilia Rabess!
Really didn’t enjoy this — the main characters were unlikeable, the prose often felt clunky, and I don’t think they should’ve ended up together. That said, the depiction of finance bros was spot on…
A black woman falling in love with a racist white man is the worst type of “love” story and not one I’m interested in reading. Everything about this book pissed me off and activated my nervous system. Also, its representation of Nebraska was weird and unnecessary. It felt like the author used Nebraska as a way to include Malcolm X, which felt like an insult to Malcolm X’s memory and life’s work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
funny
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
when I say it’s complicated, I mean it’s complicated!! Josh comes off way too good to be true and Jess is completely in her head and always ready to fight. There were points I had to stop reading and vocally express my frustration at how a situation was turning out but they are who they are!
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very resonant as a woman of color in high stress work environments