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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strange but sweet, June 29, 2009
This review is from: Everything Is Fine. (Hardcover)
Mazzy tells herself that everything is fine, that things will work out, that it will be okay. So what if her mom won't get out of bed? She will when she's ready. So what if Mazzy's dad is virtually absent? Mazzy and her mother can take care of themselves just fine. Everything will be just fine, or will it? And was it even fine to begin with? How can a family torn apart by tragedy and grief ever come together again?
Everything Is Fine is an interesting coming of age novel, one that also explores the effects of death of a loved one. The novel is told as Mazzy's stream of consciousness which allows great insight into Mazzy's character and mind. Some readers may be wary of Mazzy at first, because she is very strange; however, when readers learn about Mazzy's family's tragedy, Mazzy's odd habits and peculiarities are easily explained. This novel is completely realistic from a psychological standpoint; the remaining three members of Mazzy's broken family deal with death through escape, denial, self-blame, and severe depression. What made this story stand out to me was how this tragedy came at such a turning point in Mazzy's life; she's just a young girl, on the verge of puberty, heading into a new school, and she doesn't know how to deal with the numerous changes in her life. She doesn't really have a mentor to turn to. That made Mazzy so likeable to me, in spite of her strangeness, and the ending all the more sweeter and hopeful. I'll admit, I was a little put off at first by the untraditional format of this story and Mazzy's weird characteristics, but I'm glad I finished the book because Everything Is Fine was a touching story.
Some readers may be discouraged from reading this novel due to its strange format--it's not poetry, but it's a much simpler version of prose than in most other novels--but I hope this won't stop everyone from reading this sweet story. Everything Is Fine may be enjoyed by fans of The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott, Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe, and Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A middle-grade book?, September 25, 2010
I made the mistake of first picking up this book when my friend's little girl was going through the final stages of heart failure. Ashley was like a niece to me, so I'd cry every time I'd pick it up. I just couldn't deal with the sadness of everything. That was almost a year ago, and this book still brought up a lot of very painful memories, but in a way, it was also therapeutic for me.
The death of a child--no matter the circumstances--always brings about feeling of guilt and depression and the uncontrollable need to crawl into bed and sleep until you can be with that child again. This book illustrated all of those feelings, but because it's told through the eyes of a child, you are exposed to the raw emotion without the benefit of experience and wisdom that comes from the adult perspective of grief. Because Mazzy didn't understand what was really going on with her mother, she became the ultimate unreliable narrator.
While it is marketed for middle grade readers, I felt it more closely relates to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, though the book itself is far too short and simply constructed to be a successful adult novel. So while this book was powerful and moving and beautifully written, I'm not completely sold on it as a middle-grade novel.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Everything is fine ... everything is fine ... everything is ..., January 27, 2011
Maybe if Mazzy keeps saying it, it will eventually come true. Then everything in her life really would be fine. But Mazzy's life is not fine, and it hasn't been since the accident. The accident that no one talks about, the accident that everyone blames themselves for, the accident that left a trail of devastation in its wake.
Since the accident Mazzy's sports anchor father left. He said he had to leave for a business trip and would be back in a week. One week turned into two weeks, two weeks turned into three, and before Mazzy realized it months have passed. That's okay though, Mazzy really doesn't need her father, it's her mother that she needs the most.Mazzy seems to be the only functioning person this family has left, but she's just barely functioning. In many ways Mazzy is just as (mentally) ill as her mother is, it's just that she handles it in a very different way.
Mazzy's mother never really recovered from the accident. Instead, this once vibrant artist mother, has sunk deeper and deeper into a downward spiraling depression and is now in a catatonic state, where she lets no one in and not a word out. Keeping everything in and everyone who worries out allows Mazzy to live in the dream world she has created since the accident. It's a world where her mother will get up, eventually when she's ready. But she's just so tired. It's a world where she doesn't need her father, in fact she thinks her and her mother are better off without him. It's a world where she's making Peking duck when in reality she is microwaving some marshmallows.
But when Mrs. Peet a government worker shows up knocking on the door Mazzy knows the bubble she and her mother live in is about to be popped. But maybe, just maybe, if she let's her in everything really will be fine.
Ann Dee Ellis has written a thought-provoking novel that allows readers to see what mental illness really is and its effects on reality. As harsh as this novel could have been Ellis does a great job at handling the subject matter with dignity and with sensitivity. Authentic and believable, Everything Is Fine, will leave readers sympathizing with Mazzy and the situation she has been placed into.
Told from Mazzy's perspective, Everything Is Fine is written in short, conversational prose that allows readers to witness firsthand the way Mazzy thinks, sees, and feels. Full with vivid descriptions readers will have the chance to experience the same things Mazzy experiences on a daily basis: picking weeds with her fat neighbor Norma, feeling her heart race as Colby's thigh presses against hers, the sense of fear that immediately sets in when Mrs. Peet knocks on the door, etc.
Ellis even manages to work in a bit of suspense into Everything Is Fine. From the get-go readers will be aware that some terrible accident has taken place, but she doesn't given in until just the right moment. This element is what really makes the book so attention grabbing. Readers will truly appreciate how quickly the story seems to unfold.
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