I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This review is my voluntary and unbiased opinion.

This is a humorous story of a quirky, depressed 27 year old who tells her story through the internal musing of her mind. Often her thoughts are logical and sometimes overly obsessive. She is aware of her own mental health limitations and how it overshadows her life. She somehow manages to live alone in an apartment which she allows to become cluttered with dirty dishes and trash. I find it to be an external view of her internal state of mind. That is messy, chaotic and disorganized.

Gilda is in a car accident where she’s certain her arm is broken. She handles it like someone broke her pencil. She’s calm and says she’s alright as she drives herself to the ER. As it turns out, she is well known in the ER for her frequent visits due to panic attacks and fear of death. She had been fired from jobs for being late for work or not showing up. Trying to make sense of herself in the world is not new to Gilda who came out as gay to her brother Eli at 11. Although she has relationships no one has really understood her until she met Eleanor. Although no particular diagnosis is provided it is clear that Gilda has ADHD and is somewhere on the autism spectrum. She tends to be self absorbed often forgetting about Eleanor who is the devoted and understanding friend she needs.

Gilda sees a flyer about a support group at a church but when she shows up the priest mistakingly thinks she’s there for an interview. The church secretary has passed away and they are in need of a replacement. Gilda has always been intelligent but at some point she becomes unfocused and distracted. She finds herself in unexpected situations because she gets caught up in her own thoughts and never verbalizes her confusion. She finds that she is now replacing Grace as the church receptionist. She manages to do such a good job and begins to learn more about the people with whom she works. She feels like a fraud and gets lost in pleasing other people.

Some people might find the story depressing if they aren’t familiar with mental health issues like ADHD and ASD. Gilda is practical with concrete logical thinking. She learns a lot about herself as she pretends to be a Catholic, church going receptionist. Again, she finds herself being set up on a date with Giuseppe, by a well meaning church woman. Her attempts to make everyone happy eventually reaches a breaking point. There’s a weird situation regarding the death of the former secretary and Gilda emailing her friend Rosemary.

It is a hopeful story where Gilda learns to speak up for herself and finds what truly makes her happy.

I struggled to like this but could not. Quirky characters but not engaging. I was surprised at the positive comments so maybe timing...

Everyone in This Room Will One Day Be Dead by Emily Austin
⭐️⭐️.5/5

What to say…..well, this one didn’t really do it for me. It was kind of depressing. Lots of depression and anxiety throughout the story. The main character, Gilda, is a quirky, lesbian atheist. She can’t keep a job, is obsessed with death, has anxiety and always thinks something is wrong with her. I thought I might be able to connect with her, as I have anxiety as well, however I didn’t. It was hard to connect with her, she felt one dimensional.

She finds a flyer for mental health support and decides to check it out. When she gets there, a priest thinks she is there for the job interview of the receptionist who just passed away. Gilda goes along with it and gets the job. Somehow she winds up being a murder suspect in the death of the receptionist she has never met.

This story had its funny moments that I enjoyed, and was a super easy read. It is pretty short, around 250 pages. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, that doesn’t mean it won’t be yours though!

3.5 stars.

This was an interesting read. It is a bit dark and definitely depressing, so I highly recommend checking the trigger warnings and other information before picking this up if you are a sensitive reader.

The writing is good, with an internal monologue type of delivery that really places the reader firmly in the mind of Gilda. She is a very complicated character in some ways, but also incredibly easy to identify with (at least she was for me).

The reading was a bit of a slower pace due to the structure and the heaviness of the content. The narrative is told in a bit of a choppy way, with small flashbacks taking place throughout the book amidst the present day movement. The primary story line is a journey through depression and anxiety and it hits incredibly hard. Austin definitely evokes emotional content very well.

Other than the protagonist, the majority of the characters felt a bit like sketch comics. They were there as basic shells, but they kind of floated in and out through Gilda's life. None of them were super concrete, though they did often act to present a lesson of sorts. This is not to say that they weren't well constructed. They definitely had purpose and were definable, but simply felt a bit muted in order to keep the focus solidly on Gilda. This kind of character construction, along with the fitful movement of the plot did feel a little Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the underlying intent was very clear and there were good messages woven into the plot.

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is short and sweet, but hits with a big stick. It's heavily impactful and a strong thinking piece. The plot and character movement can be a bit strange, but this read definitely delivers.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

In Everyone in This room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily Austin poignantly expresses the anxiety so many of us have been feeling for the past few years, especially the past eighteen months. Refusing false optimism, Gilda is an anti-heroine who might make readers feel a little bit better (and a little bit less crazy) for simply being who you are.

I really liked this novel. It's rather similar in style to Eleanor Oliphant, which isn't really a style I'm in love with, but it allows itself to step away from conventionality at least a bit more, especially with the fragmented, memories-mixed-with-present structure it takes on. Somehow, it feels a good measure more sincere, despite having arguably some less realistic plot developments. I suppose, despite those plot developments, the main character herself, and the journey she goes through, is more realistic and relatable, and this book lacks the occasional unearned moments of self awareness of Eleanor Oliphant.

The side-plot about the murders and all that was just a little odd and out of place to me, especially considering it seems like a lot of build up is for the conclusion of that plotline. However, plot aside, Gilda's mental state is very nicely rendered, along with her relationship with all of the other characters.

It probably could have been longer, as I would have liked to see more of Gilda's relationship with Eleanor, which seemed rather sweet, but the novel concluded itself probably a little too quickly and cleanly. But, at the same time, it doesn't force any unnatural development, which is appreciated, and not something every book like this achieves.

This felt like what a downwards spiral feels like. Gilda is a lesbian who while looking for help ends up at a catholic church and doesn't say no when they mistake her as the new hire.
Gilda is often ruminating about death and that life feels like it could be cut short at any moment. There were parts that felt like disassociating. Just simply existing but I'm a total daze.

I have a feeling that Everyone in this Room Will Someday be Dead is either a love it or a hate it type of book.

I fall decidedly in the love it group, but it’s not a book that I would necessarily recommend to someone unless I knew they liked unusual books with quirky characters.

Gilda, an atheist and gay, ends up by chance working at a Catholic church, where she has to keep both of those things secret. She also visits the emergency room frequently and has a constant loop of doomsday thoughts running through her mind.

I can’t even do this book justice by trying to explain to you Gilda’s life. You just have to read it.

It’s both depressing and humorous at the same time and somehow manages to be hopeful too.

It’s a quick read and I loved the ending.

I didn't love or hate this book, but it was certainly different than what I was expecting. I thought I'd be able to relate more since I struggle with my own issues, but everything about this was depressing. It just kind of missed the mark for me personally. I appreciate the opportunity to read it, though!

At times this book was very touching, and the main character endearing, at other times she was frustrating and the book plodded along painfully.
The main character, Gilda, is in her late 20s and, from my professional opinion (which holds no water), suffers from extreme social and generalized anxiety. Speaking from someone who has had many of the same thought progressions and feelings as Gilda, I will say that the author did a decent job of describing on page what a thought process of someone experiencing extreme anxiety might look like. Gilda takes a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church though she is not Catholic and gay. She soon finds out at the previous receptionist, Grace Moppett, died under suspicious circumstances. We then are presented with a disjointed series of thoughts coming from the main character that seem to bounce back and forth between past and present. At first, I felt like the author was trying to emulate Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine but I felt like there were more uplifting and/or humorous plots in that book that made the tough, annoying and frustrating parts of the book more bearable.
That’s not to say that there weren’t any uplifting/humorous parts of this book because there certainly were; it just felt that slogging through the mind of this socially stunted person deserved more of a humorous and uplifting reward than what we received. On the positive side, though, I was happy with the seemingly positive character development. I was worried when I had finished most of the book that the character would not grow at all, so I will give kudos for that.
Overall, this was just an ok story for me that took a lot longer for me to get through than it should have for being less than 300 pages (according to my kindle page count). There were a lot of preachy parts that seemed a lot like bandwagon hopping, and the memories and story line just didn’t feel extremely coherent to me. I don’t know exactly how long the story took place, it could have been a week, it could have been a year, it could have been months…I just don’t know.
I do think that the book is worth reading though, if for nothing else than to gain perspective on what it’s like to live with anxiety. There were just so many topics that the author could have explored more deeply that were just left untouched.

In Emily Austin's debut novel, a young woman named Gilda shares the inner workings of her desperately, darkly anxious mind. Obsessed with death and catastrophe, Gilda stumbles through her life in a way that is simultaneously painful and endearing. Reminiscent of the titular character in the breakthrough TV series "Fleabag", Gilda's fears and foibles are equal parts raw and outrageously real.

"I clench my steering wheel while I stew intensely with the reality that I am a living, breathing thing that is one day going to die. Reckless drivers can snuff me out. I am trapped inside this fragile body. I could be run off the road. I could be crushed by a van. I could choke on a grape. I could be allergic to bees; I am so impermanent that a measly bug could hop from a daisy to my arm, sting me, and I could be erased. Black. Nothing."

Though Gilda's anxiety is palpable and all too familiar, it is also often snort-inducingly funny. Her wryness is infectious, her irreverence a delight. When Gilda, a confirmed atheist, poses as a devout Catholic to secure a secretarial job at a church, her foibles brought tears to my eyes.

“The body and blood of Christ,” Jeff shouts at the head of the church while holding up a chalice and a small gold pot full of what is, allegedly, the body of Jesus Christ himself. I glance around the room to see if anyone else looks put-off by the grisly, cannibal concept. The crowd booms an affirming, “Amen,” and I realize as they do, that I, alone, am disconcerted. Jeff pops a piece of God into his mouth and chews.

“The body of Christ,” the old woman at the front of the line says to me while holding up a small white circular piece of God’s human body.
I nod, and she places the flesh in my hands. I reluctantly chew on God’s bland, Styrofoam-cracker body while Jesus’s woeful eyes stare down from the crucifix above me.

When Gilda begins to study the Bible to aid her in her deception, her insights are once again deadly serious and deeply funny.

"I can’t help noting the use of the male pronouns. I wonder whether this directive applies to me. Am I subject to a womanly loophole? Whoever wrote this book prioritized men so much, he forgot about the other half of humanity. It seems like I can curse my parents with no repercussions at all. If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death. Yikes. Thank God this one doesn’t seem to apply to women either. I’m disappointed God is so homophobic that he forgot about lesbians, but I guess I would rather be forgotten than put to death. Wait. Would I?"

Emily Austin's first novel is a rousing success. While it's form and content are often choppy and flit from one moment to the next, they are exactly right for the personality of the main character. The story forces you to embody Gilda's angst and anxiety in a way that, as an anxious person myself, is somehow charming rather than triggering. "Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead" is a perfect novel of the moment.

Thank you to Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for providing an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

DNF - Did not finish. I decided not to keep reading this title because I did not connect with the writing or plot. Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the early copy!

This book is a quick and rather quirky read. The vignette style doesn't always follow chronology which I think may not be to every reader's liking. And though it did make me laugh out loud a few times, I am not sure that I would categorize the whole book as "hilarious" the way some other early reviewers have.

Narrator Gilda is in her late twenties, unemployed and suffering from panic attacks when the book begins. A self-described gay atheist, Gilda accidentally ends up with a job as a receptionist for the local Catholic Church parish. It's not long before she becomes fixated on uncovering what happened to her predecessor. Gilda's crippling anxiety, while it does lead to some funny situations, isn't really all that funny in and of itself. The book has some quite dark moments, that's for sure. But the ending is honestly more upbeat than I expected.

It's an interesting debut novel - and one that I think will do well with book clubs and discussion books as a good starting off point for lively talks. I think that the audience for this one is a bit younger, as it made me feel old and I am not even a decade older than the main character. It's definitely a different sort of read if you are looking for something fresh!

First person account of a twenty-something Gilda, a lesbian atheist who is suffering greatly from anxiety and depression. When she loses her job from no-shows, she encounters a woman passing out flyers for free therapy held in a Catholic Church. When she goes to attend the meeting, and in a comical set of errors, she ends up as the Church Receptionist. She is completely ignorant of Catholic theology and practices and tries to copy those around her when forced into Mass or prayer or even entering the sanctuary. The title of this book is drawn from one of the sermons delivered by the Priest, Jeff. These are the funniest moments.
Not so funny is Gilda's constant ER visits during her many anxiety attacks and subsequent suicidal ideations. Her relationship with her parents is fraught with non-spoken needs. Her fear for her brother, whom she suspects is an alcoholic, is palpable. And finally, her budding relationship with a new girlfriend is all awkward and one-sided.
When it's discovered the elderly woman that used to be the Church Secretary may have been murdered, Gilda finds herself not just distraught over the end of life but also a glimmer of interest outside of her own miseries. Gilda takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the possible murder which in some weird way may lead to her own salvation.
Overall the book's theme of there is nothing for us in this life that we didn't choose to enter is a depressing theme. It's not for everyone.
Thank you to Book Clubs Favorite FB Group for access to an E-copy.

This book wasn’t what I expected but I loved it. The humor was incredibly dry and dark (meaning it was hilarious) but the study also shows the ways that anxiety, dread, and the insatiable need for validation from others can consume our lives and the damage that can do. The author struck a strong balance between humor and grim reality, and managed to resolve the story in a realistic way that felt right fir the characters. If you’re on the fence, definitely just pick it up and give it 50 pages and I predict you’ll get sucked in.

TW: Suicide, suicidal thoughts, depression, alcoholism

Gilda is an animal-loving lesbian atheist who is struggling with severe depression and anxiety. She responds to a therapy ad at a local Catholic church only to be confused as someone who is there to interview for the receptionist position. Gilda, too embarrassed to correct the pastor, finds herself with the job replacing Grace who held the position before her and had recently passed away. As Gilda struggles with her mental health, a new girlfriend, pretending to be someone she is not, an overwhelming family and her brother’s alcoholism: she receives an email directed to Grace’s old inbox from an old friend named Rosemary. Gilda not wanting to break the news to Rosemary that Grace is dead, begins to correspond with Rosemary pretending to be Grace. But once police start investigating Grace’s death as suspicious circumstances, Gilda is pulled into a situation where the spotlight is set on her and all of her struggles and secrets come to light.

•

Wow this book, so I def needed some time to collect my thoughts on this one. It was a one of the most unique and depressing stories I have ever read. Let me start with the warning that this book is very DARK, it goes into specific details of Gilda’s depression like her thought process and her fixation on death. Death is a heavy theme in this book, it is mentioned in almost every page. In some ways I could definitely relate to Gilda, having struggles with anxiety myself, I could relate to Gilda’s overthinking and empathy towards other people’s emotions over her own. In the beginning I was sort of confused yet captivated by the writing style and respecting how upfront and raw it was painting the picture of the struggles of mental health. This to me was a very important story to read. Despite everything Gilda is going through, she still manages to be there for her brother. This was a thought-provoking novel that I do believe won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, even though this was a dark read I found it to a very interesting. There is also some dark humor sprinkled in throughout and I really liked how the author tied everything together in the end.

What an unexpectedly brilliant and quippy read! Gilda is a depressed and anxious atheist death-obsessed lesbian who accidentally ends up working as a secretary for a Catholic church. Her story is one of funny circumstances, discovering who she is in this big world full of scary and unsure events and people, and a small cast of characters that I wasn’t ready to part with when I finished. Although parts felt repetitive or lulled a bit, Gilda’s inner and outer dialogue kept me smiling and reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a quirky read!

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About the only thing I can say regarding this book and its...whatever the hell this is is:

- If I was feeling depressed before reading it, this book's woe-is-me character slapped me right out of that nonsense.

- I was going to rate this one star because I was severely lacking empathy for the main character's misanthropy and self-pity, but then she finally decided to wash the dishes and I gotta give her some credit for that.

- This chic doesn't brush her teeth, doesn't bathe, doesn't run a comb through her hair yet she somehow finds herself laying in bed with a girl who is head-over-heels in love with her, face to face! What a way to force suspension of disbelief on your readers!

That's it. Done and forgotten.

Edit to add: This was supposed to be an advanced review for an ARC I received from NetGalley. Thus, many many thanks are in order for NetGalley providing an ARC and apologies for being late to finish and review this. I was trying my hardest not to DNF it.

This is one of those books where I think the writing was good, but story was not to my liking. It's depressive main character Gilda is hard to like and that is a result of the author's great writing. She paints a very clear picture of this poor young woman, her sadness, her neurosis and her paranoia. What I didn't like was Gilda's lack of development. I didn't need a happy ending, but I did need some glimmer of growth.
Read it for yourself and see what you think. This would be a very good book discussion pick.

I wish I could say I recommend this book, and while I feel like there are aspects of the book that deserve accolades, this is not a book I would recommend to the average reader.

What did this book do well? The way mental health was depicted was nearly flawless. I was impressed with the author's ability to convey the experiences of depression, anxiety, and hypocondriaism. I think the author made a good point that there is often a lack of mental health resources offered to patients, although I do wish the author had tackled how that can be overcome.

Unfortunately, that positive does not outweigh the fact that the plot of this book was anti-climatic, and the character development was poor. I would categorize this book as character-driven rather than plot-driven, and to make that work, it is vital for character growth and development to occur, and I saw very little of that.

This book was dark, heavy, and very weighing on the soul. I kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing really did.

While I wouldn't recommend this to the average reader, I think those who like to think philosophically about the nuances of life and death are an excellent audience for this book.