Amanda is a new mother, and she is breaking. After a fight with her partner, she puts the baby in the car and drives from Queens to her hometown in rural Ohio, where she shows up unannounced on the doorstep of her estranged childhood best friend. Amanda thought that she had left Carrie firmly in the past. After their friendship ended, their lives diverged radically: Carrie had a baby the summer … summer after high school, became a successful tattoo artist, and never escaped Ohio’s conservative grid of close-cut grass. But the trauma of childbirth and shock of motherhood compel Amanda to go back to the beginning and to trace the tangled roots of friendship and family in her own life.
Compelling and engaging, Everything Here Is under Control is a raw, honest, occasionally hilarious portrait of the complexity, conflicting emotions, and physical trauma of both modern motherhood and the intense, intimate friendships that women forge in their youth.
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Real world portrayal of motherhood and friendship, in a life can be messy story.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~Quick Statistics~
Overall: 5/5 Stars
Plot: 5/5 Stars
Setting: 5/5 Stars
Characters: 4/5 Stars
Writing: 5/5 Stars
Memorability: 5/5 Stars
~Quick Review~
I was very skeptical of Everything Here is Under Control at first, but as I read more of the novel I became more and more involved in the story. The novel is a great look into the struggles of motherhood that some might overlook. Overall, the novel is great and I really enjoyed it.
~Other Information~
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Page Count: 272 pages
Release Date: July 28, 2020
There is some politics involving the election of 2016 in the novel, so be aware that the characters might not hold the same political views as you.
~Quick Synopsis~
After a fight with her boyfriend, Amanda decides to take her newborn son, Jack, and pay her old friend, Carrie, a visit. Once she arrives unannounced, she feels a mixture of emotion toward her old and new self, and how her life is right now. She is forced to relive her childhood and friendship with Carrie, events she is not proud of, and events that she is proud of. Between balancing motherhood and her ever-receding childhood, Amanda feels overwhelmed and in need of help from the only person she knows can help her, Carrie.
~Characters~
The main characters of Everything Here is Under Control are all such strong characters. I found myself in love with Amanda, Carrie, Jack, Nina, and Gabe and their various struggles.
At first, Amanda came off to me as self-absorbed and immature, especially when she complains about her newborn, Jack, needing attention from her and his father. Granted, her character growth in the novel made me like her a lot more, but I still found Amanda very snobby and selfish. Even Amanda’s mother points out that Amanda seemed to expect the baby to conform to her needs and life, instead of the other way around. However, Amanda eventually learns to grow up and see that not everything is about her and that she should be grateful for Jack.
Carrie, Amanda’s best friend, had a child with Gabe at the age of eighteen. This ends up leading to many of Amanda’s issues during the novel. Amanda feels that since Gabe had a child with Carrie first, that he loves Carrie more (which isn’t the case), which just makes Amanda and Carrie’s friendship strained for the first half of the novel. Anyways, let me say that Carrie is amazing and probably my favorite character from Everything Here is Under Control. She is so strong and independent, she shows the true power of single moms and how difficult it is to be one. I genuinely love this character.
Nina is Carrie and Gabe’s daughter, now thirteen years old and very politically active for her age. Throughout the novel, Nina is seen putting “Hillary for President” (The story takes place during the 2016 election, but more on that later) signs around her hometown, which eventually gets her home vandalized, yet she still takes pride in her political views. Also, Nina decides to take a picture of a funeral procession displaying the Confederate flag so as to raise awareness around her town of the problems and racism the flag represents. (Good for her!)
The character development in the novel is amazing and made it such an awesome read!
~Writing and Setting~
Everything Here is Under Control has a unique writing style that I really enjoyed. Also, as mentioned before, Emily Adrian brings up issues such as the Confederate Flag being used despite representing racism and a dark time in America’s history, which I commend her for.
The novel takes place in Deerling, Ohio during 2016 (hence the election). The setting actually plays a huge role in the story, inducing Nina’s secrecy in placing “Hillary for President” signs around her hometown, which generally supports Trump in the election. As I said before, her enthusiasm for politics ends up with her house being vandalized by her friend’s sister’s boyfriend, the jerk. Anyways, I loved how the setting actually impacted something in the story, unlike other novels where the setting is just a place, time, etc.
~Plot~
Everything Here is Under Control is very well-paced, I never found myself bored or longing for the chapter to end, instead I was so excited to get to keep reading! I felt that the entire novel showed me an insight into motherhood and how it’s not all fairies and rainbows, but there are actual struggles to being a good parent. As I am not a parent myself, I wasn’t at any point in the novel connecting to the characters on a level of parenthood, but I can see how much of an actual job that being a parent truly is.
Anyways, I really enjoyed the ups and downs of this novel and the character’s fights and apologies, it was so, so good.
~Overall Review~
Everything Here is Under Control was a great novel and I really enjoyed it. It’s characters, plot, setting, just everything is perfect and I really recommend that you read this (even if you aren’t a parent, haha).