Book Review: Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess

Jess and Josh were sparring partners in a legal history class in college, and she only remembers him being ultra conservative and telling her how Affirmative Action is racist. Landing a job at Goldman Sachs after college, Jess is very displeased to realize that Josh is on her team but as the only person she knows in an ultra-competitive work environment she leans on him for support. As their tentatively formed friendship moves into something more romantic, in a world that is suddenly hyper political in the wake of Trump’s 2016 campaign, Jess struggles with the identity she has created for herself and what she’s willing to compartmentalize for a certain type of love.

I think the publishers of this book did Rabess such a disservice by categorizing this as romance. Yes, the vehicle for the author’s thoughts is very well served by using romance but this book is not primarily about romance. When the blurb for this book came out, it was 1 star bombed on Goodreads because of someone on TikTok reading the description without having even read the book. And then you go on Goodreads and see so many one-star reviews that proudly proclaim that they didn’t read the book, but they just know that it is racist! I felt really bad for the author and that’s why I put this on my list even though I too, was turned off by the blurb. But I consider it a cardinal sin to review a book that you didn’t read or didn’t finish. If I even read 95% of a book and then DNF it, I never rate it on a public space.

I think people expect works of fiction to further their viewpoints instead of it furthering the viewpoints of whatever character the author has created. I think evaluating any book should be – does this behavior sound accurate to the character the author is trying to sell us? Would this character do this? Is this in line with the foundation the author has set for us? In the case of Jess, Rabess is incredibly spot on. I know the exact type of black girl Jess is. The cool black girl who tries really hard to never rock any boat and seeks white validation. I don’t even understand the argument that this book is racist when both the main character and the author are black. Something dealing with race making you uncomfortable does not mean it is automatically racist. You’re supposed to feel uncomfortable. That is the exact feeling that Rabess is trying to create.

Jess grew up in Nebraska in a predominately white town that boasted only her and her dad as the only people of color. She went to school with only one other black person. She grew up with girls who would tell her that boys only wanted “blondes, brunettes, red hairs, in that order”. Her dad tried really hard to shield her from the effects of her childhood but honestly, you cannot self-esteem your way out of how the world treats you.

This background leads to Jess going to college and trying really hard to be as far away from blackness as possible. She doesn’t join the Black Student Union, she never makes any black friends, she dates white men exclusively. Even white men who are only fetishizing her and who she knows don’t actually want her as a human being. Jess says things like “I just don’t get Beyoncé” while her white friends give her a pat on the back about how she’s such a different black person because she doesn’t like Beyoncé and how it’s because she’s just too smart. This is the character Rabess has created, and you have to judge the premise of this book on who Jess actually is, not who you are or what you think is “right”.

So yes, Jess is the exact person who would fall for a Trumper. And frankly, Rabess does such a fantastic job of pacing out their relationship that you’re absolutely torn. You wonder if you too would fall for Josh if you knew him. Josh has so many redeeming qualities, he stands up for Jess so much that even you would wonder if you’d be able to resist him. The last lines of this book I absolutely love because this book was written years after the Trump era in which we’ve seen the effects of electing Trump as President. As women’s rights and affirmative action are now gone and Josh is trying to convince Jess that “Everything’s fine”, we all know that everything is not fine.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this one without reading the blurb and read it with an open mind. This is Rabess’ debut novel and she deserved better than how the mob treated her first offer to the literary world. I look forward to whatever she writes next. I gave this book, 4 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy