Everything Here Is Beautiful: A Novel Paperback – January 15, 2019

“For the families. Empathy: because the commonality among human beings is emotion, and the only way we can bridge our vast discrepancies in experience is through what we feel. Let us be humbled in the knowledge that one may never fully understand the interior lives of others – but let us continue to care.”Mira T. Lee’s hauntingly-beautiful, debut novel begins with this mantric, prayer-like author’s note. In the ensuing pages is a first-rate novel, and story about emotion, empathy, loss, mental illness, family, and the love that binds us all.The novel spans decades, and the story crosses borders between New Jersey, the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Queens, Ecuador, Switzerland, and Minnesota. Early in the novel, we find out Lucia is struggling with mental illness, some combination of bipolar and schizophrenia.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.And perhaps most importantly, we experience Lucia’s illness through her own eyes and heart.We also see how the illness ripples through the broader family.We see how it both complicates and enriches Miranda’s marriage to Stefan.We see how it binds Manuel’s extended family through a near-tragedy.We see how it provides support to a friend that Lucia meets when both are seeking help at a treatment facility.We see how it teaches Yonah what it means to love.Lee’s narrative form evokes empathy in the reader. Chapters are told from shifting points of view: the protagonist Lucia, her sister Miranda, her two lovers, Yonah and Manuel. In this way, we see Lucia’s mental illness and life through the same kaleidoscope through which all families experience the suffering and triumphs of their loved ones.At one point in the novel, Miranda feels she needs to visit her sister in Ecuador. Stefan, her husband, views another cross-Atlantic trip from Switzerland as futile.Husband and wife’s difference of opinion in this scene echo an earlier moment in the story, when Miranda says to her husband, “But that’s not her, Stefan.” With Miranda’s exasperation, we ache that her husband only knows the Lucia that is not well, not her fullest self. We bemoan this gap in knowledge between Miranda and Stefan, arising from the Lucia each knows. We see how, at times, this experience gap can be a wedge between Miranda and Stefan.Stefan much later says to Miranda, as he questions whether she should go see her sister and whether the trip will make a difference, “I love you, Miranda…I love you.”To which Miranda says, “This is me, Stefan.”“This” being her relationship with her sister, and all that it encompasses.In this small exchange, Miranda is trying to tell her husband that through blood, empathy, sisterly-bond, love, through mysteries untold, whatever you want to call it…Miranda and Lucia are one. Lucia’s life is inseparable from Miranda’s.But also, love is not finite. Miranda has enough of it for her husband and her sister. Love makes Miranda and her husband one too. Makes us all one.To embrace me, Miranda seems to be saying, you must embrace Lucia’s illness as if it were your own.And this invitation is not just for Stefan or any one person. Miranda’s beckoning is perhaps the overriding call-to-action emanating from this story. The story of Lucia and her family is a mandate for us all. We cannot love in isolation. “For the families” - the author’s note is intentional in its broad address. We must love one another, love all, in sickness and in health. Further, empathy within a family need not stop there, should not stop there. It must expand beyond the family to community, and ultimately beyond that to all humanity.In this honest, bare-naked, and authentic story of family and the ties that bind them, Lee will surely turn the hearts of readers outward. The story of Lucia and the pain/love that connects everyone around her is from the same batch of pain/love that connects us all to each other. Empathy and emotion binds everyone, and must be indiscriminate and open towards those enduring mental illness or experiencing suffering of any kind.The story of Lucia will help us see that when anyone suffers, that person - like Lucia is for Miranda - is not another, but is us too; and so, he/she deserves our undying empathy.

I’m not sure how to review this book. It was deeply disturbing - mid way I didn’t like it at all yet towards the end I couldn’t put it down and felt connected to all the characters. This book was well written, interesting, sad, more sad than any other emotion I can come up with. Not sure if I’d recommend it, and yet it was a good read. Very mixed feelings on this one. CH

Everything Here Is Beautiful, by Mira T. LeeReading is a pleasure, a joy, a wonderful juxtaposition of our prior knowledge, our future selves, and mostly a tangible reminder of how we spend our time. There once was a day when literature and book reading were limited. Now, with no limitations of what we can read, or how we can spend our time, any time we hear about a book, and spend the time actually reading it; time, our most precious resource, is of extreme value. I loved every moment of my time spent reading this book. I loved being transported to South America, to the most charming villages of New York City and the sparkling dynasties of the snowy Midwest. The characters are in my heart now. I will live with them forever as I have with so many of the beautiful characters of the greatest books I have experienced. Mira T. Lee has captured the essence of family, of sisterhood, of in laws from hell and heaven, while at the same time eclipsing the wonders of the brain and its disorders, and our relationship to that when it appears in our most beloved friends, lovers, and family. What great artists know is that great stories are real, and this story is real. It reads real. And it remains real, throughout the reading, and the remembering. I loved this book. The characters are real, the descriptions are beautiful, the text is lovely, the sounds, the dialects, the pictures of the surrounding backdrops, whether you are in South America, Europe or the United States, it is all touchable, fathomable and delightfully real. It is a story of love of the many different kinds of love and it is timeless.

This was well written and well researched. I have a niece who has been diagnosed as bipolar/schizophrenic. I could see her actions in Lucia's thoughts. It brought understanding, but much sadness. Parts of the book were painful to read, but I wanted very much to see how it all played out. I recommend the book, but prepare to feel sad for all three main characters.

If you're like me, you probably want to read the jacket and maybe even slide your hand over it. THIS is why I pay more for hardcover books. Someone has robbed me of that experience by slathering a larger than necessary barcode which covers nearly the entire backside of the book. Not a big deal - I consider this to be a 'champagne problem', but fail to see the reasoning behind this choice. Dude, they make much smaller barcodes. Don't destroy the book experience. I did try to peel it off which began to tear the cover itself.

A refreshing read on difficult aspects of being human. Perspectives from different characters was engaging and infused this novel with an aliveness that made me sad when the novel ended.

I read this book as it had been written by an old friend from primary school and thought it only polite to do so! It really was a beautifully written book and dealt with a difficult subject matter in an accessible way and was an ‘easy’ and very enjoyable read. It kept my attention and the characters were portrayed well and I must admit that I was disappointed when I got to the end, purely because I wanted to carry on reading. Am already hoping that another book is on the way!

This is a very meaty book, covering all sorts of ground. Miranda and Lucia (Jie and Mei) are Chinese sisters raised by their single mother in the US. The girls are very close. Lucia marries an older one-armed Israeli who runs an organic deli in NY. Despite their differences, it works. The trouble in Paradise that changes everything is Lucia’s mental illness. It changes a lot of lives.Author Mira T Lee takes us on a compelling journey as Lucia, wanting a child, leaves Yonah, hooks up with an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, has a baby girl Esperanza, has breakdowns, recovers, fights with her sister and partner about taking her pills, moves to Ecuador to live in a traditional campo, doesn’t quite fit in, plots to take Essie and go back to the States to live with Yonah ... and so on. Miranda meanwhile, marries a Swiss doctor and moves to Switzerland. Lee’s understanding of mental illness is profound, both from the point of view of the sufferers and those close to them. Miranda in particular examines her conscience, wondering how things would have turned out had she acted differently.Many things are beautifully portrayed. The fear illegals live with. Life in rural Ecuador. The shifts in people’s lives as folk make decisions about where to live and what to do. How the illness can affect a sibling’s marriage. How the life of a simple, good man can be changed utterly. How relationships change. It’s done with great skill and seeming effortlessness. As a meditation on life itself it will no doubt become one of our most revered books, and I don’t say that lightly. It’s deeply affecting.

It was an accident that I read a book about mental illness during the annual Bell Let’s Talk campaign. It was a story of two sisters. And that was the appeal. I am one half of two sisters. It was coincidence that I lost my sister to mental illness thirty years ago. I felt as though this book gave me a glimpse into my own sister’s tortured soul. Her struggle with accepting diagnosis and the prospect of a lifelong companionship with pharmaceuticals. It was a beautiful, sad story. Mira T Lee tells it well. She describes the two serpents in Lucia’s mind so perfectly. I could picture them. What was best was the unique points of view of all the characters and how far-reaching the effects of mental illness really are. Although I am already aware, my awareness is sufficiently raised. And sadly, love isn’t always the answer.

Engaging story that draws you in and makes you want to read from beginning to end