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== Everything Here Is Beautiful ==

The original cover has a butterfly, which can be symbolized as change, life, hope, and endurance, all themes of the novel.

Everything Here Is Beautiful, is a 2018 debut novel by Chinese-American author Mira T. Lee., first published by Penguin Publishing Group, Jan 16, 2018. The novel centers around two sisters who have relationships with other people, while trying to figure out their own connection as siblings. Lucia has a schizoaffective disorder, which leads to numerous personal issues. The other sister, Miranda, needs to find ways of caring for Lucia, all while exploring her role in life. The story is told from various perspectives, and is a heart-wrenching family drama about relationships and hard choices.

Plot

The novel spans decades, and the story crosses numerous borders between New Jersey, the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Queens, Ecuador, Switzerland, and Minnesota. There is a great emphasis on immigration and mental illness. Early in the novel, we find out Lucia, the younger sister, is struggling with a mental illness, a combination of bipolar disorder with psychotic features and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mind that is split, a representation on Lee's book cover, where there is a butterfly that is not connected at it's spine. It is not united. Miranda, her older sister, tells the story of how lively and neurotic Lucia was when she first married her husband Yonah, a Russian Jew.

When their mother dies of lung cancer, which is a major stressor, 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, Yonah, only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant, Manuel. 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.

Told in multiple perspectives:

We see this illness from the loving, but sometimes suffocating and over-bearing eye of her dedicated and caring sister, Miranda. We see this illness from the eyes of her loyal and loving husband, Yonah. We see it through the eyes of her younger, romantic partner, Manuel. We see it through the eyes of the town of Meyer, MN. We see how it both complicates and enriches Miranda’s marriage to Stefan. And we also experience Lucia’s illness through her own eyes and heart. She goes into details as to how she felt when the voices would begin. How lonely being in the psychiatric ward, Crote-Six would make her feel. How it was against the law for them to keep her there. Lucia described what it was like to not be able to take care of her daughter. She viewed doctors as people who checked her off a list with no humanity. In the novels she states that as they examine her, the checklist goes accordingly: Hears voices = schizophrenic; too agitated = paranoid; too bright = manic; too moody = bipolar; depressive = suicidal; overall unruly or obstructive = personality disorder. It is impossible to inject logic into an irrational mind. The story of Lucia allows readers to see that person's suffering and how their network of friends and family should provide constant empathy.

Cast

Lucia - Chinese-American immigrant with schizophrenia, Miranda's younger sister

Miranda - Lucia's older protective sister, Stefan's wife

Yonah - Russian Jew, from Israel, Lucia's ex-husband

Stefan - American physician, moves to Switzerland with his wife Miranda

Manuel - An Ecuadorian illegal immigrant, who has a child with his girlfriend Lucia

Esperanza - Manuel and Lucia's infant daughter, born in the United States

Themes

• Immigration in America – Manuel is an illegal immigrant fighting his way through the bureaucracy of immigration to bring his loved ones from Ecuador to the United States.
• Mental illness – Lucia has a crippling and debilitating mental disorder
• Romantic/Familial love – There are several relationships that are explored, Lucia/Manuel, Stefan/Miranda, Yonah/Lucia, Lucia/Miranda (as siblings), Lucia/Daughter (Esperanza)
• Motherhood – Lucia’s battle of taking care of her newborn Esperanza in her current mental state
• Loss/Death – Miranda and Lucia’s close death of both parental figures. Mother dies of lung cancer and their father dies in a car accident
• Survival – Manuel is shown to go through tough measures to not be discovered by immigration agencies
• Stress – Miranda is constantly strained due to her sister’s mental illness. Lucia was pushed into turmoil from the stress endured from her mother’s passing

Reception

The book received positive reviews from critics. From O, The Oprah Magazine, the book was on the list of - Our 15 Favorite Books of 2018, "So many of Lee's sentences cry out to be underlined, reread, shared...". Amazon: Top 20 Best Literature/Fiction of 2018. Goodreads Choice Awards: Nominee, Best Debut Author of 2018; Nominee, Best Fiction of 2018. Real Simple: The Best Books of 2018, "This gorgeous yet heartbreaking debut follows Miranda's and Lucia's lives after their mother's death and sheds light on the sacrifices people make for loved ones with mental illness." Reader's Digest: 12 Best Audiobooks of 2018. Chicago Public Library: CPL Best of the Best Books 2018, The Book Depository has it listed on their, Best Fiction of 2018. It was the Winner, 2018 Whirling Prize‟A tender but unflinching portrayal of the bond between two sisters.” — Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere. “Lee's debut novel is a profoundly relatable drama about how far you would, or should, go for family.” —Marie Claire. "Sisterly ties take on brilliant nuance in Mira T. Lee’s shattering debut about love, loss, psychosis, and what we owe ourselves and the family we love. . . beautifully written.” —The Boston Globe.