Thank you to Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan for a copy of We Are All So Good at Smiling in exchange for an honest review.
Summary
Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.
They are both terrified of the Forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.
The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years. – From the publisher.
Fairy tales
Amber McBride’s We Are All So Good at Smiling is short and sweet. Well, sweet in that it hits all my sweet spots: fairy tales, mental health and, as I’ve recently learned, novel-in-verse. At first, fairy tales and poetry might not seem like they match, but they so do. I assume it has to do with oral tradition.
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I’ve only seen a couple episodes of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, but I imagine Whimsy’s and Faerry’s experiences are the full-on nightmare versions of that show. I also loved that McBride chose fairy tales from around the world and provided a glossary at the end.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmcRk_xoxzu/
The tough stuff
The comparative titles for this book are The Bell Jar and They Both Die at the End. I feel this book is more hopeful and uplifting than They Both Die at the End. While I haven’t specifically read The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath is a better comparison (despite how her real life ended).
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As you can probably tell from these comparisons, We Are All So Good at Smiling is not a light book. As someone who has personally dealt with the topics in this book, please read the content warnings and author’s note at the beginning of the book before picking diving in.
Should you read it?
Absolutely. We Are All So Good at Smiling is a quick, sumptuous read that is a perfect in-depth look at what clinical depression feels like. As someone who struggles with mental illness, I felt very seen. This is a book I’ll be rereading. I don’t have much to say besides that this book is flawless.
We Are All So Good at Smiling is out today, January 10, 2023. Pick up a copy at your local indie bookstore or library. 📚🧜🏿♀️
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/most-anticipated-young-adult-books-2023/
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