It’s an infection and a sort of mental cancer that builds and grows stronger because it’s ignored and disregarded, swept under the rug to be considered at a later date. At the heart of this story is Lucia - a sister, mother, and woman who struggles with mental illness. At its surface, Everything Here Is Beautiful tells the story of two sisters, Miranda and Lucia Bok. The novel involves a sisterly relationship, certainly, as two of the narrating characters are sisters, but the fabric of the novel isn’t primarily of one color. The book centers around two Chinese-American sisters : Miranda who is responsible and protector and Lucia t hat is known to be wild and headstrong. We read the novel we’re given, not the novel that could have been, but the potential for something better in a smaller format remains to be considered. After her pregnant mother flees China with Miranda, Lucia is born in America. Discussion Questions - PLG_CONTENT_PAGEBREAK_PAGE_NUM - LitLovers At the heart of this story is Lucia - a sister, mother, and woman who struggles with mental illness. Buy this book. Everything Here Is Beautiful is, at its heart, an immigrant story, and a young woman’s quest to find fulfillment and a life unconstrained by her illness. But it’s also an unforgettable, gut-wrenching story of the sacrifices we make to truly love someone—and when loyalty to one’s self must prevail over all. "Everything Is Beautiful" is a song written, composed, and performed by Ray Stevens. In the last few pages, a character we knew before she was born proclaims of her identity: ” ‘I’m Chi-meri-dorian.” It’s a sweet way to let the reader know we’re all in this together. It’s an example of aspirations and ambitions that come from Lee expanding her 2009 short story “While We Waited”, a fictionalized account of her mother’s final weeks, which appeared in the Southern Review (Spring 2009). Many of the characters in the novel struggle to find balance between self-fulfillment and obligation to others. They are two daughters of a Chinese immigrant mother, Lucia is the younger, more impulsive sister. Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee | PenguinRandomHouse ... mira t. lee, author of everything here is beautiful. The children heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little Children", are from the Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. In Mira T. Lee's debut novel 'Everything Here Is Beautiful,' two Chinese-American sisters are bound by love and pain. When Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a … For Manuel, though, there were problems. Everything Here Is Beautiful has a tragic ending that is inevitable yet still unexpected. Sorry, you have Javascript Disabled! Lucia is one of the main protagonists and narrators of the novel. Perhaps this is an advantage of writing it from the inside, of illustrating a modern story of interracial and cross-cultural relationships without infusing it with sensation and tragedy. Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee My rating: 5 of 5 stars Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee is a 2018 Pamela Dorman Books publication. They move into Yonah's small apartment adjacent to his health food store. Penguin Random House LLC, 2019. This pithy observation from poet Robert Browning has regularly been applied to writers of all sorts whose first major efforts incorporate everything in a package that seems manageable but too often proves expansive and wide-reaching for no real purpose. But it’s also an unforgettable, gut-wrenching story of the sacrifices we make to truly love someone—and when loyalty to one’s self must prevail over all. At the heart of this story is Lucia - a sister, mother, and woman who struggles with mental illness. 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