Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I know this book has garnered a lot of controversy for the blurb. The blurb is unacceptable and also not representative of the book. I don’t know if this author wrote their own blurb or even had a say in it. If so, this egregious mistake should have been caught and corrected. If not, I want to make sure we don’t punish the author for something they had no say over.
This is the story of Jess and Josh. It’s mostly the story of Jess navigating spaces where as a black woman she’s consistently in the minority and undermined. She’s incredibly smart and very hard working and yet consistently experiences racism, misogamy, and some micro and some macro-agressions.
Josh stands up for her sometimes but then lets her down spectacularly other times. His political and personal beliefs are wildly opposed to Jess’ and yet he is also kind and loving to her and truly seems to think he loves her.
The book explores Jess’ journey as she navigates corporate finance and New York and her relationship and her friendships and her hometown and dad. It also explores the political climate.
Even though the blurb would like to convince you otherwise, this is not a romcom, it’s not a cutesy book. It does not tie up in a nice bow. It’s complicated, real and messy. Both of the characters are imperfect (in fact deeply flawed in some ways) and the book doesn’t shy away from making the reader uncomfortable.
I think it was a worthwhile read.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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