A review by allysonwbrunette
Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

5.0

Wow, this book is easily one of my favorite reads of 2019. This novel follows the separate, but permanently intertwined lives of two immigrant sisters, Miranda and Lucia. Miranda is the Type A, over achieving, perfectly organized and coifed older sister. Lucia is headstrong, creative, a free spirit and is dealing with the devastating impacts of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Lucia’s battle with accepting her diagnosis of mental illness drives the family apart, but Miranda continually is drawn back to her sister’s side, despite the deep division that Lucia’s illness causes between them. This book was heart-wrenching as you felt so deeply for both sisters. I liked that there wasn’t a hero in this story, it exposed both sisters as humans struggling to accept the realities of living with mental illness on one-hand, and the free will and autonomy that individuals have, even if those decisions are not the ones that the same ones that they would make.