I'm Fine and Neither Are You

Title Says It All. A lot of times when I write these reviews, the book didn't really hit home or I've given myself some time to process before writing or a singular theme arose from my read of the book or some other thing that kind of “ties the review together”. None of that really applies here. This book hit hard on many levels, and I'm writing this review within just a couple of minutes of finishing it.

Ultimately, the title really does say it all. I'm fine - and neither are you. We're all messy, none of us are perfect. But most all of us are trying to do the right thing as best we can, even when life tries to keep us down. Sometimes we handle things amazingly, sometimes we run away and have a meltdown over something that should have been simple. It happens.

This is a fictional tale with a lot of real life issues thrown into the story and handled in a very realistic manner, to the level that the book comes dang close to veering into self help categories. This was my first book from Pagan, and it won't be my last.

I picked this because it was the only thing on the kindle read first list that I even remotely had an interest in this month, but I am far from the intended audience.

(Sidenote: I was grumpy the second the main character drifted across lanes because she wasn't paying attention whilst driving. Dangerous driving kills FFS, it's not ‘relatable'.)

Anyway, it was fine, well written, and an interesting read for most mothers-with-jobs-who-have-never-thought-about-gender-roles-before. As such, this book was ... well, fine. Just not for me.

Torn doesn't begin to describe my feelings for this book. I wish I had known what I do now before I picked it. Frankly, if I did, I wouldn't have read it. It's a relatable, emotional coaster of a book. The MC Penn is so self-absorbed and fickle, she drove me absolutely crazy. The thing about that though is I am not absolutely sure I just didn't see too much of myself in her. Penn faces many struggles, being a mom of two and married to a man following his dreams, she puts herself on the back burner. Probably has done so one too many times. She's at a point in her life where everything is unstable, and she's beginning to resent her relationship with the world her complacency has created. It's not until her world is turned upside down that she has this awakening and every little thing she has nitpicked in her recent life has become a problem that must be solved, and now. I was left asking myself who Penn was having a love affair with, Jenny or Jenny's Blog, because it certainly wasn't her husband. Penn gets so trapped in what she thinks her life should be that it leaves this gaping hole of nothingness. It pained me to read this sometimes, pained me to see her work her way backward out of this struggle. Where the book does end optimistically, I would still like to state that Penn is not fine, and she should really see someone. Till next time Pagan...