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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Emily R. Austin, you are a genius. This book was not an easy read by any means, but it is an important one!!
Gilda is depressed and she has anxiety. She is an atheist, a lesbian and she can not tell the truth to save her life .... literally.
Gilda is unemployed, and needs a job, however when she finds herself at the local Catholic church, she is looking to join a therapy group, but instead lands herself a job. She is taking over a job from a lady who has passed away, and Gilda is in the right place at the right time. Gilda needs help, but will she get it??
This story is told in a way to make you feel the anxiety and depression that Gilda feels. Short choppy sentences, random thoughts all of which make you FEEL what the character is feeling. So much so, that I had to put the book down just to get perspective. I have never read a book that showed just what mental illness feels like. I have personally known many that have felt this way and because of this book, I can now relate more to them. And that is why I say it is an important book! Just WOW!
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Gilda is depressed and she has anxiety. She is an atheist, a lesbian and she can not tell the truth to save her life .... literally.
Gilda is unemployed, and needs a job, however when she finds herself at the local Catholic church, she is looking to join a therapy group, but instead lands herself a job. She is taking over a job from a lady who has passed away, and Gilda is in the right place at the right time. Gilda needs help, but will she get it??
This story is told in a way to make you feel the anxiety and depression that Gilda feels. Short choppy sentences, random thoughts all of which make you FEEL what the character is feeling. So much so, that I had to put the book down just to get perspective. I have never read a book that showed just what mental illness feels like. I have personally known many that have felt this way and because of this book, I can now relate more to them. And that is why I say it is an important book! Just WOW!
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
challenging
dark
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Anxious, awkward and cringe main character, just like me.
funny
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book made me laugh out loud so many times. I love the main character’s neurotic, neurodivergent brain. I saw so much of myself in her. The way she just let things spiral out of control kept me on edge- I never knew where it was going.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked this fine, I guess. It was full of heart. Gilda was a very complicated character - so complicated that I can’t decide if this book was good.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Solace: Emily Austin has written anxiety and depression so vividly that it felt like she cracked my brain open and spilled a bit of gray on the pages. It was such a surreal moment to read a spiral. I have and think spirals all the time, but to READ one was an insane feeling. And Gilda’s spirals aren’t just relatable—they’re real. The way her thoughts leap from one fear to the next with dizzying speed made me feel deeply seen. There were also so many moments of sameness that I felt - it really is beautiful to read a book where your bit of crazy is experienced. There were also a lot of blurred lines between dream and reality and the past, which adds to the book’s trippy, chaotic tone (intentionally, I think). At times, it made me feel like I was floating in Gilda’s foggy mental state. I underlined so much of this book because the writing is beautifully dark—death is a constant theme, yet it’s presented with such strange tenderness and humor that it never feels heavy for the sake of being heavy. The line “I’m disappointed God is so homophobic that he forgot about lesbians” is just one of many that balances bleakness with wit. And the whole subplot with Flop? It quietly threaded a deeper understanding of Gilda’s lifelong mental state, and I loved how subtly and steadily it unfolded.
The Dread: Almost every character in Gilda’s life drove me nuts. No one gives her space to feel—they brush her off, redirect her emotions, or dismiss her altogether. It’s frustrating because it mirrors how so many people with anxiety and depression are treated in real life. Maybe that’s the point—but whew, I rolled my eyes hard more than once. And the ending? I’m torn. After so much unraveling, it almost felt too tidy and packaged up too well for what we went through in the rest of the book. I’m glad we saw Gilda improving, but I would have loved even just a glimpse of how characters like Eli, Jeff, Barney—or especially her parents—reacted to her send-offs because it had to be a little messy. Still, that final interaction with Rosemary and the spring/Easter/new beginnings imagery was a gorgeous way to close out a long, hard winter.
Overall, this book is wild, dark, funny, and quietly devastating. It walks through grief, religion, queerness, and mental health in ways that are raw and weirdly comforting. Gilda is not an easy character, but she is an honest one. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead doesn’t offer answers—it just sits with the questions, in all their anxious, awkward, chaotic glory. And that felt… strangely hopeful.
The Dread: Almost every character in Gilda’s life drove me nuts. No one gives her space to feel—they brush her off, redirect her emotions, or dismiss her altogether. It’s frustrating because it mirrors how so many people with anxiety and depression are treated in real life. Maybe that’s the point—but whew, I rolled my eyes hard more than once. And the ending? I’m torn. After so much unraveling, it almost felt too tidy and packaged up too well for what we went through in the rest of the book. I’m glad we saw Gilda improving, but I would have loved even just a glimpse of how characters like Eli, Jeff, Barney—or especially her parents—reacted to her send-offs because it had to be a little messy. Still, that final interaction with Rosemary and the spring/Easter/new beginnings imagery was a gorgeous way to close out a long, hard winter.
Overall, this book is wild, dark, funny, and quietly devastating. It walks through grief, religion, queerness, and mental health in ways that are raw and weirdly comforting. Gilda is not an easy character, but she is an honest one. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead doesn’t offer answers—it just sits with the questions, in all their anxious, awkward, chaotic glory. And that felt… strangely hopeful.