RaveThe Seattle TimesMira T. Lee’s impressive debut novel, Everything Here Is Beautiful, is a tale of two sisters who, each in her own way, is victim of the same disease. That disease is mental illness, and it forms the yin to the yang of the book’s title because, doubtful though it may sound, Lee’s story is not the heavy lift you might expect it to be ... This is the pattern that frames the story but, fortunately, doesn’t define it, because the relationship between the two sisters has devolved into its own dysfunctional form ... Yes, her book is about the bond between two sisters, as indicated on its cover. But its real achievement goes beyond that relationship and depicts the way mental illness shapes family dynamics no matter how that bond is formed ... Everything Here Is Beautiful finds the sweet spot between the truth and beauty of a disease that can inspire hope in the midst of sadness and frustration.
