I'm Fine and Neither Are You

by Camille Pagan

A Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller.

Honesty is the best policy…except maybe when it comes to marriage in this brilliant novel about the high price of perfection from bestselling author Camille Pagán.

Wife. Mother. Breadwinner. Penelope Ruiz-Kar is doing it all—and barely keeping it together. Meanwhile, her best friend, Jenny Sweet, appears to be sailing through life. As close as the two women are, Jenny’s passionate marriage, pristine house, and ultra-polite child stand in stark contrast to Penelope’s underemployed husband, Sanjay, their unruly brood, and the daily grind she calls a career.

Then a shocking tragedy reveals that Jenny’s life is far from perfect. Reeling, Penelope vows to stop keeping the peace and finally deal with the issues in her relationship. So she and Sanjay agree to a radical proposal: both will write a list of changes they want each other to make—then commit to complete and total honesty.

What seems like a smart idea quickly spirals out of control, revealing new rifts and even deeper secrets. As Penelope stares down the possible implosion of her marriage, she must ask herself: When it comes to love, is honesty really the best policy?

• ISBN10: 1542042550
• ISBN13: 9781542042550
• Publish Date: 1 April 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: Lake Union Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 270
• Language: English

Reviews

Penny is a relatable character for many woman in today’s world. The stresses of being the perfect wife, mother, and successful career can be quite daunting.

I also applaud the author for addressing some current and difficult issues we see today (ie; opioid addiction).

Despite the potential this book had though, I think it lacked substance. There’s no mystery, twist, or action found anywhere in this book, so if you’re looking for that sort of thing.... look elsewhere.

Some of my irritations surfaced when Penny’s obsessive complaining continued despite things improving. I understand that life is tough, but she seemed to *want* to hate her life and found every reason why she should. Her tone was also a little preachy and judgmental at times too, especially towards Matt and her husband. For someone who’s so miserable (my own words) she sure does have a lot of opinions about how others should be.

I think the point though, is that people (in general) tend to see their own lives negatively when comparing themselves to someone else’s perceived perfection. The strongest message this book offered is that not everything is what it seems. We end up comparing ourselves to a false (and often times unrealistic) image of what we think our lives should look like, and therefore become unhappy with ourselves overall.


It was hard rating this book so I settled on a neutral 3 star review.

[Jeff Sexton]

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.