A review by keithmac
Everything Matters! by Ron Currie Jr.

3.0

You may think me a cranky quartenarian with a heart of concrete for giving only three stars this beautifully written slice of what I'll call experimental, cosmos-conscious fiction. Bear with me here. I'll go into the good: it's wonderfully lyrical, with a continuous trickle of sadness in its deceptively simple prose that left me breathing a little heavier and contemplating the essence of life and everything all around me. It also drew me in because it was so fluid and easy to read - I blazed through it during my twice-daily commutes on the Orange Line to and from work in Boston - and more so, I especially loved the second-person "God" voice that addressed the protagonist himself throughout. Quite original and refreshingly so, although I'd question the comparisons to Vonnegut, because the latter is much more savage in his satire than Mr. Currie was in this book.

Now, that being said, two days after finishing it, I felt that annoying emptiness of feeling that I sometimes feel when I read a book that's pretty darn good but doesn't have that powerful lasting impact. I'm not saying it's pablum - it's far from it, actually - but for me, however sad, introspective, insightful and clever the book was, it just didn't leave me thinking too deeply once I was done. It could just be the frame of mind I was in at the time, but there it is.

The second-person narrative also gets a little long towards the end. I won't offer spoilers, but I will say this: it felt as if the ending was rushed and contrived. That's probably my main issue with it.

All that being said, what a wonderful and beautiful story. I definitely encourage reading this, especially on a rainy Sunday.