EVERYTHING UNDER BY DAISY JOHNSON x3
Saturday, 31 August 2019
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(spoiler free x)
"THE PLACES WE ARE BORN COME BACK TO US"
hello world,
This book was a roller-coaster and a half, but I absolutely loved it.
Sometimes, I'll pick up a book or be gifted it or so on and I'll read the blurb and just think 'oh no, this is either going to be a train wreck or one of the best things I've ever read'. And luckily for Daisy Johnson (not that she knows who I am), this was one of best things I have ever read.
I've read this book three times now and I think I can officially say it's my favourite book EVER. Okay, okay - I've definitely said that about at least 6 other books, but now I truly mean it. So to honour my newly found 'favourite book' I wanted to do a little review - slightly different from my usual ones. Since I've read this book 3 times now, I've basically written three mini reviews for each time I read it (I had different thoughts each time). This may be a terrible idea, it may be a great one, we'll see...enjoy x

PART ONE : FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Before I delve into the actual story, I NEED to talk about the cover - oh my gosh, didn't I nearly just cry when I saw it. It's literally so gorgeous and so colourful and initially I think I only read the book because the cover is just so gosh darn beautiful - I mean, before reading the book, I had no clue what the cover actually was, but I soon realised it's a very abstract, drawing-thingy of the river at the heart of the story.
BEFORE READING : Clearly the cover is gorgeous and I'm totally in love, but the blurb is so vague yet very intriguing. I can't quite tell yet whether this is going to be an absolute flop or just flippin' brilliant.
THE STORY : It's extremely hard to summarise Everything Under. The book not only uses multiple perspectives, but jumps back and forth in time and uses 1st person, 3rd person AND 2nd person, so it's fair to say it's pretty confusing (but in a good way, I promise). Anyhow, we mainly follow Gretel - who has not seen her mother for sixteen years. She's hoping to find her, and ends up meeting a few important people who influenced Sarah (her mother)'s life. Throw in a river with a pretty unsettling, unconventional 'monster', a whole lot of secrets, a boat that doesn't work and a kid called Marcus who literally the entire story relies on, and you've got Everything Under.
That probably sounds vague, or just downright weird, but to say anything more is strictly out of bounds.
AFTER READING : Okay so it's weird. Very weird.
Johnson has managed to create such a unique tale, using multiple voices which all seem to have this indescribable raw feeling to their narratives. Especially with Gretel, she often has passages where she directly addresses her mother using 'you', which creates this almost accusatory tone where Gretel explains everything she's been through as if you were the mother. It's strange yet a surprisingly effective way of making you realise everything she goes through as a character.
This book is also very loosely based on a Greek tragedy, however much of the story has nothing to do with it. It's like Johnson has taken the mere scaffolding of the story and layered over her own unique vision and just made it something completely new and definitely much more modern. I absolutely loved this - I LOVE A RETELLING and I love a retelling even more when it's made unique by different characters and stories kind of intertwined over the top. I just think it's so well-done and so well-written and just so damn clever.
TAKE TWO : THE METAPHORS
It's rare for me to pick up a book again so soon after reading it the first time, just because there are so many good books out there that I haven't got my hands on yet, but this was just too special to banish straight to the bookshelf. And anyway, I feel like this book sort of needs the second read to really, truly appreciate it. Everything Under is just so built up on metaphors and symbolism and everything having some kind of meaning behind it, so I didn't want to miss anything. Also, with it being such a complex story, with the first read it was a lot of just trying to work out what was going on and understanding what was happening with the plot, so I didn't really have the chance to really enjoy the novel. So here goes...
FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE WRITING : I'm usually one to appreciate the effort that has gone into the writing of a novel, but it's not often that I sincerely admire what a writer has done. Through the complex use of perspective and time Johnson has done something that I haven't ever seen before. It's so complicated but I don't think at any point I ever became annoyed by how confusing it is - which happens a lot by the way. The writing is just simply so beautiful and incredible and defies all genres and stereotypes, that I didn't care about the wonderfully messy plot line.
FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE STORY : Everything Under is an exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, a highly problematic childhood, blind love and unbreakable bonds and the reversed roles of that mother-daughter dynamic. It explores this impeccably, capturing how impossible Gretel's life becomes and all the hardship she experiences and the writing symbolises her confusion throughout the whole novel. Without ruining it, the book explores some very modern issues which I think it handled extremely well, and I would suggest that this is a book that will age very well.
THE METAPHORS : This book is so good at having hidden meanings which I'm not sure was actually thoroughly intended by the writer, or just me looking for metaphors where there aren't many. However, there are so many metaphors which stood out to me the second time around reading this book, which made me in enjoy it 100 x more.
THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM : IT'S JUST FLIPPIN' AMAZING
I think after reading this book after the third time, I can officially say it's become an all-time favourite. I think it's a very good sign that I managed to get through this book for a third time as well and I didn't even get bored and still loved it by the end of it.
BECOMING A FAVOURITE : Over the years I've called many books my 'favourite', but I think since it's one of the only books I've dared to pick up 3 times I can officially say this is actually my favourite book. It's so incredibly well-written and one of the most unique things I've ever read and just so bloomin' amazing, I actually love it. It's just so wonderful how piece by piece the story begins to unravel and it's just the best feeling when you begin to realise what's happened (although it is quite a sad ending (no spoilers)).
____________________________________________________________
There you go, that's my review of newly-found, all-time-fave Everything Under.
Have you read the book?
Update : I've now started reading this book for the 4th time woops
Thea
xxx
This book was a roller-coaster and a half, but I absolutely loved it.
Sometimes, I'll pick up a book or be gifted it or so on and I'll read the blurb and just think 'oh no, this is either going to be a train wreck or one of the best things I've ever read'. And luckily for Daisy Johnson (not that she knows who I am), this was one of best things I have ever read.
I've read this book three times now and I think I can officially say it's my favourite book EVER. Okay, okay - I've definitely said that about at least 6 other books, but now I truly mean it. So to honour my newly found 'favourite book' I wanted to do a little review - slightly different from my usual ones. Since I've read this book 3 times now, I've basically written three mini reviews for each time I read it (I had different thoughts each time). This may be a terrible idea, it may be a great one, we'll see...enjoy x
PART ONE : FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Before I delve into the actual story, I NEED to talk about the cover - oh my gosh, didn't I nearly just cry when I saw it. It's literally so gorgeous and so colourful and initially I think I only read the book because the cover is just so gosh darn beautiful - I mean, before reading the book, I had no clue what the cover actually was, but I soon realised it's a very abstract, drawing-thingy of the river at the heart of the story.
BEFORE READING : Clearly the cover is gorgeous and I'm totally in love, but the blurb is so vague yet very intriguing. I can't quite tell yet whether this is going to be an absolute flop or just flippin' brilliant.
THE STORY : It's extremely hard to summarise Everything Under. The book not only uses multiple perspectives, but jumps back and forth in time and uses 1st person, 3rd person AND 2nd person, so it's fair to say it's pretty confusing (but in a good way, I promise). Anyhow, we mainly follow Gretel - who has not seen her mother for sixteen years. She's hoping to find her, and ends up meeting a few important people who influenced Sarah (her mother)'s life. Throw in a river with a pretty unsettling, unconventional 'monster', a whole lot of secrets, a boat that doesn't work and a kid called Marcus who literally the entire story relies on, and you've got Everything Under.
That probably sounds vague, or just downright weird, but to say anything more is strictly out of bounds.
AFTER READING : Okay so it's weird. Very weird.
Johnson has managed to create such a unique tale, using multiple voices which all seem to have this indescribable raw feeling to their narratives. Especially with Gretel, she often has passages where she directly addresses her mother using 'you', which creates this almost accusatory tone where Gretel explains everything she's been through as if you were the mother. It's strange yet a surprisingly effective way of making you realise everything she goes through as a character.
This book is also very loosely based on a Greek tragedy, however much of the story has nothing to do with it. It's like Johnson has taken the mere scaffolding of the story and layered over her own unique vision and just made it something completely new and definitely much more modern. I absolutely loved this - I LOVE A RETELLING and I love a retelling even more when it's made unique by different characters and stories kind of intertwined over the top. I just think it's so well-done and so well-written and just so damn clever.
TAKE TWO : THE METAPHORS
It's rare for me to pick up a book again so soon after reading it the first time, just because there are so many good books out there that I haven't got my hands on yet, but this was just too special to banish straight to the bookshelf. And anyway, I feel like this book sort of needs the second read to really, truly appreciate it. Everything Under is just so built up on metaphors and symbolism and everything having some kind of meaning behind it, so I didn't want to miss anything. Also, with it being such a complex story, with the first read it was a lot of just trying to work out what was going on and understanding what was happening with the plot, so I didn't really have the chance to really enjoy the novel. So here goes...
FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE WRITING : I'm usually one to appreciate the effort that has gone into the writing of a novel, but it's not often that I sincerely admire what a writer has done. Through the complex use of perspective and time Johnson has done something that I haven't ever seen before. It's so complicated but I don't think at any point I ever became annoyed by how confusing it is - which happens a lot by the way. The writing is just simply so beautiful and incredible and defies all genres and stereotypes, that I didn't care about the wonderfully messy plot line.
FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE STORY : Everything Under is an exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, a highly problematic childhood, blind love and unbreakable bonds and the reversed roles of that mother-daughter dynamic. It explores this impeccably, capturing how impossible Gretel's life becomes and all the hardship she experiences and the writing symbolises her confusion throughout the whole novel. Without ruining it, the book explores some very modern issues which I think it handled extremely well, and I would suggest that this is a book that will age very well.
THE METAPHORS : This book is so good at having hidden meanings which I'm not sure was actually thoroughly intended by the writer, or just me looking for metaphors where there aren't many. However, there are so many metaphors which stood out to me the second time around reading this book, which made me in enjoy it 100 x more.
THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM : IT'S JUST FLIPPIN' AMAZING
I think after reading this book after the third time, I can officially say it's become an all-time favourite. I think it's a very good sign that I managed to get through this book for a third time as well and I didn't even get bored and still loved it by the end of it.
BECOMING A FAVOURITE : Over the years I've called many books my 'favourite', but I think since it's one of the only books I've dared to pick up 3 times I can officially say this is actually my favourite book. It's so incredibly well-written and one of the most unique things I've ever read and just so bloomin' amazing, I actually love it. It's just so wonderful how piece by piece the story begins to unravel and it's just the best feeling when you begin to realise what's happened (although it is quite a sad ending (no spoilers)).
____________________________________________________________
There you go, that's my review of newly-found, all-time-fave Everything Under.
Have you read the book?
Update : I've now started reading this book for the 4th time woops
Thea
xxx