Book Review: "Okay Then, That's Great" by Susannah Wise

Again, this is a book I borrowed from the library. No it wasn't in my reservations, I simply found it and became intrigued at the chaos of the cover. I was reluctant to find another dark-comedy-horror to start because of the fact it would very quickly become dull for me and it's a genre I enjoy too much to allow it to do that. Instead, after reading the back of this book, I decided that a lighter approach was probably the best way to go. This book is titled Okay Then, That's Great and follows a protagonist who is clearly having some deep personal problems. By the time it was over, I really felt like I knew Marnie very well...

Marnie is a middle-aged woman with some psychological issues that are made clear to the reader by her infrequent visions of her dead sister. The theme of guilt runs deep into the novel as Marnie tries to communicate with the ghost and thus, reach her deceased sister in a way that, as we know, simply isn't possible. Throughout the book, we are met with Marnie's memories which are littered with guilt and loss as well, setting the tone for some really deep unresolved emotional issues she has buried down there. I think the writer really did work hard to make Marnie as realistic as possible. She feels almost like a character incomplete, a human being who has over time, lost pieces of her soul to her emotional crumbles. It really does help us to connect to the character.

The author portrays Marnie as constantly wrestling with existential questioning and shows her as a disconnected soul in her own life - perhaps like a side character. Her unreliable therapist who's grasp on reality is even worse than her own, seems to shed light on the fact that Marnie's main issue is her disjointed relations with others. But apart from that, there's nothing to be learned from him about Marnie. Even though she sees a therapist regularly, her mental state deteriorates quickly. The author definitely grapples with some difficult characteristics of Marnie through her therapy visits and manages to come out of the other side with her being this very imperfect character that has been so well-crafted into her situation that the reader does feel as though they know her well.

One of the main points of the whole book is that Marnie eventually finds a friend in a woman who seems to be Katherine Mansfield. This is something quite interesting because of the disjointed nature of Marnie's own life and her journey towards self-discovery. The question is: is this woman a source of inspiration for Marnie, or will she just become another moment in her life where she still has no idea where she is going? The whole situation seems to challenge Marnie's own ideas about fame and creativity. It gives us, the readers, also somewhere to see Marnie act out the anxieties she was so scared of creeping up on her in other relationships she tried and failed to keep. She is headstrong in maintaining this one, but we are also confronted with her wavering sense of character and her unpredictability. It's a great device by the author to keep the reader on their toes.

Another thing that this novel does really well is it makes us question our main character's perception of reality. For example: the writer blends what is real with what cannot physically happen - Marnie cannot be communicating with her dead sister's ghost in mundane places. Everything that is not real therefore becomes a projection of Marnie's psyche and thus, when it comes to her friendship with the Katherine Mansfield woman, reality and unreality blend once again - forcing the reader to confront the fact that they don't know what is truly real. And thus, cannot fully trust the protagonist's judgements.

All in all, I thought this book was a fantastic effort at showing us a character who truly does have mental health struggles, but is also being challenged and tested along the way. This story definitely was something out of the box for me, but I am glad I found it. This is what I get for picking up random books in the library.