Two sisters: Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister’s protector; Lucia, the vibrant, headstrong, unconventional one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts to hear voices, it’s Miranda who must fight for the help her sister needs — even as Lucia refuses to be defined by any doctor’s diagnosis.

Determined, impetuous, she plows ahead, marrying a big-hearted Israeli only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant. She will move with her new family to Ecuador, but the bitter constant remains: she cannot escape her own mental illness. Lucia lives life on a grand scale, until inevitably, she crashes to earth. And then Miranda must decide, again, whether or not to step in — but this time, Lucia may not want to be saved. The bonds of sisterly devotion stretch across oceans, but what does it take to break them?

Told from alternating perspectives, Everything Here Is Beautiful is, at its core, a heart-wrenching family drama about relationships and tough choices — how much we’re willing to sacrifice for the ones we love, and when it’s time to let go and save ourselves.

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to try and read this book for its mental illness element.  I enjoyed Russian Winter by this author, but this was a difficult read for me.  There is an atmosphere of sadness and heartbreak, one I just couldn’t get past.

I found myself DNF’ing this book.  I NEVER DNF a book, and this is the first ever. I’m always able to get to the end of any book, even if I didn’t like it.  Perhaps, that is why I couldn’t finish this one. The one hundred or so pages I did read were written well. Everything flowed, fit together and worked. I just couldn’t get past the subject matter.

So for what I read, from a technical perspective…

I gave this book: