My Rating: 5 stars
Two weeks into the new year, I’ve come across my first 5
star read -- Mira T. Lee’s incredible debut novel Everything Here is Beautiful.
At its core, this beautifully written
story is about two sisters who, after losing their father at a young age, are
brought to the U.S. by their widowed mother, a strong woman determined to give
her children the best life possible. As
the older sister, Miranda is the responsible one, the one who always took care
of things, fixed things whenever they went wrong, and constantly played the
role of protector for her vibrant yet extremely headstrong younger sister
Lucia. After their mother dies, the bond
between these 2 sisters grows even stronger as they rely on and support one
another through life’s good moments as well as the bad. When Lucia is diagnosed with a debilitating
mental illness, Miranda dedicates herself to helping her sister live a normal
life, fighting to get her the treatment she desperately needs, the constant
driving force who steps in time and time again, regardless of distance, to put
her sister back on the right track. Over
the years though, their relationship becomes strained as Lucia refuses to let
her illness define her and instead chooses to live her life as she pleases,
letting her impulses guide her. As
Miranda and Lucia embark on their separate life journeys, their sisterly bond,
once so strong, is repeatedly put to the test, with each incident, each
confrontation, escalating in intensity, emotion, heartache – as things reach
breaking point, they are forced to reconsider how much they are willing to
sacrifice for the ones they love versus learning to finally let go and live
their own lives.
There were so many things I loved about this book! It wasn’t an easy read by any means, as the
story itself was heart-wrenching, with the chronicling of multiple lives
impacted by the complexities of mental illness.
I don’t have much experience dealing with mental illness so I can’t
speak to how realistically it was portrayed in this story, but it absolutely
felt so real to me and on an emotional level, the story moved me deeply. I felt
for all of the characters, really connected with them and grew to love them
despite their many flaws and in the end, I didn’t want to let them go. With each character, I found myself on an emotional
roller coaster ride –rejoicing with them during the small successes, feeling
saddened and heartbroken when things took a turn for the worse, feeling
frustrated and angered when their actions were self-destructive or hurtful to
others, yet couldn’t help smiling during the many tender moments. There was
also the humor, infused so wonderfully and perfectly throughout the story, in such
a way as to make some of the sadness more bearable, yet without making light of
the seriousness of mental illness and its impact on each of the characters. I especially loved all the “aiya” moments and
yes, my favorite character was Yonah, who made me laugh so wholeheartedly one
minute yet cry buckets and buckets of tears the next minute – my favorite chapters
were those narrated by him and when I had gotten to the end of that section, I
felt grateful to the author for giving such a wonderfully endearing character the
chance to tell his story in his own voice.
I felt that the emotion throughout the book was very raw and so very
real, which in large part contributed to what made this story so powerful yet also
beautiful at the same time.
In terms of the narration, this one alternated between
first person and third person, with each chapter told from the perspective of one
of the many characters who were part of Lucia’s life or were affected in some
way by her actions, her illness. I’ve seen other authors use a similar format
(alternating between first and third person), yet this one stood out in the way
that it was able to seamlessly transition between perspectives, almost to
perfection, resulting in a narrative that was richer and fuller but didn’t
detract at all from the power of the story and the many emotions it elicited. I loved how the author Mira T. Lee was able
to give each of the characters their own voice and do it so well! Once again, I am blown away by the fact that
this is a debut novel, one written with such skill that it really speaks to the
talent of the author.
This beautiful story is one that will stay with me for a
long time, its characters now among my favorites. Needless to say, this one comes highly recommended
and absolutely should not be missed! Everything
here is indeed beautiful!
Received ARC from Pamela
Dorman Books / Viking via Edelweiss
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