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Everything Is Fine Ann Dee Ellis Books

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Everything Is Fine Ann Dee Ellis Books

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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Everything Is Fine Ann Dee Ellis Books Reviews

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.
Although Mazzy has two parents, it's almost as though she's all alone. Her mother, severely depressed, does not shower, speak or get out of bed. Her father, a famous ESPN sportscaster, is traveling for work and vague about when he'll return.

Yet Mazzy keeps insisting that everything is fine - to worried neighbors, to the social worker, even to herself. She can take care of things.

Throughout it all, there are flashes of something seriously wrong, something that is never talked about yet always present in Mazzy's life. Who is Olivia? What happened to Mazzy's mother, who was once a stylish, happy woman with a promising art career?

Over the course of one summer, Mazzy begins to come to terms with what happened last year at this time. Ellis' use of short, choppy segments can be a bit jarring to readers at first, but then it becomes clear this is the perfect depiction of Mazzy's mind, painfully jumping from memory to memory in disjointed fashion.
I love this book so much. I didn't like reading a while back, but ever since I've held this beautiful novel in my hands, I've been transcend. I just wish it hadn't ended.
I gave this book 5 stars because I LOVED it! It is uniquely written in the voice of a struggling adolescent. I loved the world through the main character's eyes, even though it was innocently sad. It was a quick read, and when I read it I ran upstairs and snuggled with my kids. The book was touching and amazing - I hope you love it, too!
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.