“Not yet okay and not exactly hopeful, but completely alive.”
Advertised as having a similar feel to the TV series This Is Us, Some Other Now definitely delivers. This book is a rollercoaster of emotions, much like the TV series. Sarah Everett has built a complex two-timeline story that will not leave the readers indifferent as they follow Jessi before and after the event that teared up the relationship she had with the Cohen brothers and their mother.
Jessi was a little girl when she became a part of the Cohens. With her mum struggling with severe depression and her dad also being absent, Jessi found herself spending most of her days with Ro, Luke, and their mother Mel, who became like family for her. Mel is the mother figure she never had, Ro has always been Jessi’s best-friend, and Luke, his smart and nerdy older brother. However, when Mel is diagnosed with a terminal illness, things start to fall apart. Jessi wants to be there for them since they are practically family, but Ro starts to push her away. At the same time, she starts to get closer to Luke.
A year later, Jessi keeps herself busy with two jobs and volunteer work as a way to cope with her past actions. Luke despises her which is why she finds it shocking when he asks her to fake-date to bring some happiness to his dying mother, and driven by her guilt, she accepts.
The flow between the two time periods is something that works really well in this book. The author did a great job of not giving the reader all the information at once so they remained engaged. Everett successfully managed to slowly give just the right details in a way that there is still a cloud of uncertainty as it makes the reader wonder what happened between Jessi and the Cohens that caused their relationship to fall apart and that kept them separated for a whole year. And, even if for some it could be easy to guess the twists, it will be very hard for the readers to take their eyes away from the pages. The writing itself is also wonderful and portrays the feelings and emotions of the characters really well and it does so in an honest and delicate way, thus helping the reader connect further with the characters.
Some Other Now offers a bunch of multidimensional and well-rounded characters. Every character has their flaws, none of them are perfect, but at the same time none of them are portrayed as unforgivable either. The author managed to capture the character’s feelings so well that it is so easy to connect with them and root for them. Even the supporting characters don’t feel flat and add some depth to the story. The relationships between the different characters are also a strong point, whereas they are familial, friendly, or romantic, they all feel authentic and realistic. The way Everett shows the characters stories and the way the plot unfolds is done in a very beautiful yet heartbreaking manner. Certainly, this is an author to look out for.
With themes of depression, terminal illness, loss, grief, alcohol abuse, love, second chances, survivor’s guilt, race, family, acceptance, and self-hatred, this book is definitely on the heavier side, which is why it’s probably better suited for an older YA audience; maybe those who are the same age as the characters in the book (final year of high-school/first year of university). That aside, the author managed to find the perfect balance between the emotional and hard moments and the sweeter, happy, and funny ones.
There is a lot to unpack in Some Other Now. All these themes shape the characters in a way that the reader will get to understand why they are the way that they are and why they behave a certain way. The reader goes on a journey with these characters, especially with Jessi. One sees her grow immensely as the story unfolds, how she lets go of some of her toxic habits to become a better version of herself, she is willing to work to accept herself and be okay with herself. The book pinpoints the growing pains of recovery and how some attitudes can affect our lives. It also portrays how hard it is to apply one’s advice to one’s own problems; whilst Jessi tells a character to stop pushing other people away, there is no denying that she herself has done that, but that’s how real life works. There are a lot of important and meaningful lessons of emotional growth throughout the book.
Along with all the tough topics the book deals with, it is also significant to point out that the novel’s leads are Black. This is a story that does not revolve around oppression, although it is discussed. Whilst unfortunately there’s always going to be people who hate on others for the colour of their skin; these types of stories show that, regardless of the colour of people’s skin, everyone is allowed and deserves to have a family, a love story, and friendships as well as to do things and live life like everyone else. Throughout the past few years, we’ve started to see more books that show that there’s more than one Black narrative, which is important, and we can’t wait to read more of them.
All in all, whilst Some Other Now is still quite a sad and heavy read, it also offers powerful messages of hope and moving on from grief. It’s not your typical coming of age YA novel. It’s a story narrated in a split timeline that deals with some heavy and complex topics that the author handled in a very delicate manner. A pleasant yet poignant read where the heartwarming moments are mixed perfectly with the heartbreaking ones. This balance will give the reader a break from all the crying, because yes, you will probably cry so bring some tissues!
Some Other Now is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 23rd, 2021.
Will you be picking up Some Other Now? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
This Is Us for teens, this luminous and heartbreaking contemporary novel follows a girl caught between two brothers as the three of them navigate family, loss, and love over the course of two summers. For fans of Far From the Tree, Emergency Contact, and Nina LaCour.
Before she kissed one of the Cohen boys, seventeen-year-old Jessi Rumfield knew what it was like to have a family—even if, technically, that family didn’t belong to her. She’d spent her childhood in the house next door, challenging Rowan Cohen to tennis matches while his older brother, Luke, studied in the background and Mel watched over the three like the mother Jessi always wished she had.
But then everything changed. It’s been almost a year since Jessi last visited the Cohen house. Rowan is gone. Mel is in remission and Luke hates Jessi for the role she played in breaking his family apart. Now Jessi spends her days at a dead-end summer job avoiding her real mother, who suddenly wants to play a role in Jessi’s life after being absent for so long. But when Luke comes home from college, it’s hard to ignore the past. And when he asks Jessi to pretend to be his girlfriend for the final months of Mel’s life, Jessi finds herself drawn back into the world of the Cohens. Everything’s changed, but Jessi can’t help wanting to be a Cohen, even if it means playing pretend for one final summer.
