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A review by bookapotamus
I'm Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán
5.0
Being a woman is HARD. There's expectations upon expectations and your spirit can be crushed by the weight of keeping your home together, keeping your significant other happy, keeping your kids alive, keeping a job - the pressure can be paralyzing. But WHILE all those monkeys are jumping on your back, the hardest thing of all, is to pretend like you've got all of your sh*t together. Keep a smile on your face. Keep going.
Penny is desperately trying to keep it all together, and watching her picture perfect best friend Jenny sail though a Pinterest-perfect existence, is not helping. How on earth does she do it? Her home is immaculate, her daughter an angel, and a steamy relationship with her husband?!?! All the while Sanjay and Penny can barely sit down and have a conversation together.
But when an awful tragedy occurs and the cracks begin to show in Jenny's picture-perfect life .... Penny makes a proposal to Sanjay to get their lives back on track. They request from each other 3 things they'd like each other to change that have been affecting their relationship, and agree to work at them as hard and as honestly as they can.
The story is raw, and SO real, and it forces you to examine your life a bit as well. In this day in age, especially, it's so easy to portray a digital flawless life. And SO many people do. These fabrications spiral out of control to affect many who wish to aspire to unachievable standards. It's SO HARD to be a woman. It's even harder to be a woman you aren't.
It's an honest story that examines what you'd do to achieve the "perfect life". How honesty may not always be the best policy, and in the end sometimes something as simple as communication IS key.
I loved every minute of this book. The characters were flawed, yet relatable. The story was compelling and engaging - from friendship, love, and loss, to mystery and secrecy, while also tacking a prevalent issue that haunts our nation right now - I couldn't put it down, and I can't stop thinking about it.
Penny is desperately trying to keep it all together, and watching her picture perfect best friend Jenny sail though a Pinterest-perfect existence, is not helping. How on earth does she do it? Her home is immaculate, her daughter an angel, and a steamy relationship with her husband?!?! All the while Sanjay and Penny can barely sit down and have a conversation together.
But when an awful tragedy occurs and the cracks begin to show in Jenny's picture-perfect life .... Penny makes a proposal to Sanjay to get their lives back on track. They request from each other 3 things they'd like each other to change that have been affecting their relationship, and agree to work at them as hard and as honestly as they can.
The story is raw, and SO real, and it forces you to examine your life a bit as well. In this day in age, especially, it's so easy to portray a digital flawless life. And SO many people do. These fabrications spiral out of control to affect many who wish to aspire to unachievable standards. It's SO HARD to be a woman. It's even harder to be a woman you aren't.
It's an honest story that examines what you'd do to achieve the "perfect life". How honesty may not always be the best policy, and in the end sometimes something as simple as communication IS key.
I loved every minute of this book. The characters were flawed, yet relatable. The story was compelling and engaging - from friendship, love, and loss, to mystery and secrecy, while also tacking a prevalent issue that haunts our nation right now - I couldn't put it down, and I can't stop thinking about it.