Cute, lighthearted read that brought a smile to my face on numerous occasions. Wonderfully developed, lovable characters. Quite enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada and Atria Books for providing a digital copy in return for an unbiased, honest review.

This book was a lot of fun but also really moving.

It's sold as being more of a comedy than anything else, but it definitely has dark moments and if it were a show, would certainly be labelled a dramedy.

I really liked it!

It's about a young queer Canadian Atheist woman who is struggling with her mental health and goes to a church to access their free support services but is mistaken for someone applying for the job as a church secretary and she just runs with it. The previous secretary died mysteriously and so she gets embroiled in all of it.

I don't wanna say too much more because it will spoil it but I recommend it! Watching an atheist experience Catholic rituals for the first time had me literally laughing out loud at a few parts because Catholicism is zany as fuck but because I grew up in that culture, it was just normal to me.

It's also a sly look at MAID, our right to die, what it means to be yourself and how easy it is to feel anxious at a time when so many bad things are happening and social media/24 hour news cycle makes it harder to feel hopeful.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada. This was a good book that involved mental health. A. book. that was very much in the minds of many characters. Some parts of it was not for me but that is just my own personal views but it was a good read.

I enjoyed this book so much! Gilda is a witty, atheist, lesbian, with a severe anxiety complex, which routinely manifests as intrusive thoughts. She reads an ad for free therapy and decides to give it a shot, but when she arrives she's asked if she is there for the job interview. Having just lost her job she says yes,only to find out it's for a Catholic Church secretary. Her anxiety and embarassment at the situation lead her to take the job. Gilda's anxiety then leads her on a hilarious adventure where she finds herself in a number of unexplainable situations.

As an individual with severe anxiety, I found this book to be a breath of fresh air. Allowing me to simultaneously know exactly how she is feeling, and also laugh about the silly things anxiety leads us to do.

It is a must read in my opinion. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book had such an interesting premise - with an atheist lesbian finding a job at a church. There were times that I would straight up laugh out loud and I have so many passages highlighted. Also, I think the depiction of anxiety was really good (although at some points, so good that it made me personally anxious). Overall it was enjoyable, but the story it self kind of lulled for me - with more editing I think this could have been a 5-star read. Excited to see what the author writes next!

I enjoyed the self perspective and related to the struggles of the main character. I appreciated the quirkiness of the story. But I feel like the story itself could have had so much more potential.

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this work, in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley quite a while ago and have been very delinquent in reading and reviewing it.

The first quarter of the book instantly grabbed me and made me want to read more. Gilda seemed quirky and a little neurotic and I couldn’t wait to find out how her story unfolded. Unfortunately, I struggled through the remainder of the book, especially with the stream of consciousness style of writing.

I wanted to love this book but I found the characters very one dimensional and the execution a little sloppy. It is a good book but not a great book, at least in my opinion. But I know that I am in the minority and that the vast majority of people loved this book!

Thank you @netgalley for providing an advance copy of this book.

SYNOPSIS
Gilda, a twenty-something, atheist, animal-loving lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Desperate for relief from her panicky mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, and finds herself being greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes she’s there for a job interview. Too embarrassed to correct him, Gilda is abruptly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace.

In between trying to memorize the lines to Catholic mass, hiding the fact that she has a new girlfriend, and erecting a dirty dish tower in her crumbling apartment, Gilda strikes up an email correspondence with Grace’s old friend. She can’t bear to ignore the kindly old woman, who has been trying to reach her friend through the church inbox, but she also can’t bring herself to break the bad news. Desperate, she begins impersonating Grace via email. But when the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace’s death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence.

I am really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I loved the main character Gilda, I found her very relatable . I could relate to her dealing with anxiety and her family troubles. I enjoyed that there was a murder mystery type tie in with this book. I thought anyone could have been a suspect , also that it revolved around a church made it even more interesting and at times hilarious. This book at times had me laughing out loud and it was just an overall interesting quirky book that I really enjoyed. If you are looking for a great read I would definitely recommend this book !!!!!

Thank you @simonschusterca for sending this copy of Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin.

This one was a lot for me. It was described as “quirky” and humorous but it was a tough read. Gilda has anxiety and depression. There are huge content warnings for this book for suicidal ideation and panic attacks. She continuously has panic attacks that send her to the hospital where little to nothing is done for outpatient care. She ends up stuck in downhill what if and runaway thoughts that are laid out on the page.

I would say that this book is incredibly well done because these thoughts are a lot of the ones that end up sinking me back down into anxiety and depression every time I think I am back out.

The depression sink holes of not cleaning, not fixing things, as well as the anxiety traps of not correcting people or being up front with the truth in case they think poorly of you. All of these things are what I experience as well.

But to label all those things quirky or lightheaded was a lot for me to handle. Reading this and seeing the thoughts and fears written out in the most beautiful way was a lot for me to handle. So go in this one with the knowledge that you are doing into the mind of someone with severe mental illness, and maybe learn a little about how pushing these thoughts off or hoping they will correct themselves actually looks to someone who hears them.

Overall, and after getting away from it for a minute to think, I really liked this book and really did not like the marketing. But I hope that doesn’t steer many people away from this open and honest look at mental illness and it’s affects on the person and all of their relationships.

Austin is a Canadian writer and this is her first novel. The plot revolves around Gilda who is in her early thirties, an artiest and gay. She also suffers from profound anxiety, which has caused her to lose her job at the library. When she is offered a job as a receptionist at a Catholic Church, she accepts, but hiding who she really is only makes the anxiety worse. Then she becomes obsessed with solving the potential murder of the previous receptionist. Gilda is a keen observer of the human condition and the book is a good recommendation for readers looking for something a humorous, but with some depth.

If Jerry Seinfeld and Annie Hall had a baby

If you loved Fern in The Good Sister or Eleanor Oliphant then you are really going to enjoy Gilda. She has the same social awkwardness, anxiety and literal outbursts that will have you uncomfortably LOLing.

We meet 27 year-old Gilda after a “small car accident.” She goes to the Cheers like ER, where we discover all the hospital employees know her name. Gilda is suffering from crippling panic attacks and throughout the novel is prescribed vitamin D, mindfulness and positive thinking. This girl needs help! She sees a flyer for a support group at her Catholic church and heads down to speak with the priest. Her therapy session turns into an admin job interview, which she lands because of her under 80 year-old status and awareness of the internet. There is just one problem, Gilda is a lesiban atheist …

Gilda learns her predecessor Grace has passed away under suspicious circumstances. While poorly managing her mental health, Gilda tries to solve Grace’s possible murder, keep her dual life afloat and most importantly find a missing cat!

Austin is Canadian and this is her debut novel so I’m sending her much love ❤️ I devoured this novel in a day because the writing was so unexpected. I love when you aren’t sure what a character is going to do next, and Gilda had me guessing.

TW: suicide, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, addiction, domestic abuse

3.5 stars for this novel. I am unsure of how to feel emotionally about this book, even as I write this review a day after I finished. I wanted to sit on my emotions and hoped that with some time, I could verbalize how I felt about it. There were times where I laughed reading this novel, but then questioned whether I should or shouldn't be laughing. It was an easy read and humorous at times but also very dark and morbid. The balance between these two styles is very fine and delicate, and I think the author did a decent job at balancing the two.

I don't think I've ever read a novel from the perspective of a character that is depressed and has anxiety. Obviously these are different experiences for everyone and in no way reflects how everyone experiences depression or anxiety but, it was an interesting perspective to live through in the novel. Just like in any novel, sometimes as a reader you think things like "[character name] should have done this!" or "they should have said this." As I was reading this novel and thinking these things, I also started to question how her mental condition affected her decision making. There were also a lot of interesting questions Gilda would pose related to life in general that I found profound in the way that most people don't think about these things, they just accept the world as the way it is.

I think one of my biggest concerns with this novel was the amount of triggers it could pose to readers. There were a lot of issues addressed in this novel from Gilda to her brother and her family, and a lot of talk about death. For someone who may not have the most stable mental health, this could be a very difficult read. But it could also be relatable for someone who sees their experiences validated. I also didn't really like how easily and prettily it wrapped up in the end, I did not think it particularly realistic given how quick the change was and Gilda's history and relationships.

Overall a good book but I would be careful about who I recommend it to.

3.75⭐
I quite enjoyed this book. The first person narration, while hilarious (lol'd many times), offered almost painfully immersive insight into Gilda's anxiety-ridden mind. I was surprised at just how good a job Austin did at conveying the cyclical, racing nature of Gilda's way of thinking. Seeing how it amounts to the debilitation she experiences in her day-to-day life and her relationships just makes you feel so bad for her.

Although the story is primarily character-driven, the story starts with Gilda waking up from a car crash, so I was hooked right in. However, the pacing slowed down for much of the second half. This might be attributed to the anecdotal storytelling, which felt kind of random at times when some passages didn't seem particularly noteworthy or insightful. The last ~20 pages consequently felt a little abrupt as well.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was definitely not my typical read, but I was looking for something different and thought this one sounded good.

It’s not a typical writing style, so might not be for everyone. It follows Gilda and her thoughts through her day to day life, so it was a bit choppy. But, I have to say it was an entertaining read and I did enjoy it.

It doesn’t have chapters, but has 5 parts that breaks it up.

Overall, this was a fun, easy read with enjoyable characters!

Initially, I read the title of the book and got so excited; at last, a book that addresses death anxiety! I assumed there would be some dark humour and perhaps a thought-provoking passage or two. I was terribly disappointed. This book is just sad. Really sad.

Some positive points: I did enjoy the random and mundane observations related to death that Gilda makes. I was a profoundly morbid child, so reading passages where Gilda makes the same sort of observations that I had made when I was younger did make me smile. Also, I attended a Catholic school even though I was raised by devoted atheists, so some of the observations Gilda makes about being in that Catholic environment as an "outsider" was very relatable.

Some critiques: As I read, I frequently wondered, “what's the point of this story?” I can imagine the author meant for some profound message to be gleaned between the lines but it’s impossible to find amidst the ramblings of an unreliable narrator. I found the characters to be underdeveloped and highly unlikable. I did not find Gilda endearing - quite the opposite. She does remind me a bit of Eleanor from “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” but Eleanor is multifaceted and relatable whereas I found Gilda to be one dimensional, self-absorbed, and dull. Very dull. Settling into the story was quite difficult as there are so many random back and forth narrations between time and characters. For instance, it took way longer than it should have for me to realise that Gilda didn’t live with her parents and those were her actual dirty dishes - as in she lived alone. Also, her relationship with her brother was infuriating. Why doesn't Gilda actually do something for Eli who is obviously struggling? She could have driven him when she knew he is drunk driving instead of standing in the middle of the road imagining his death (???). I understand she struggles with her mental health but this was not the most effective way of portraying her character. On that note, what is the point of Eli’s character anyway? Or the half-baked Giuseppe?

Final note: This book had so much potential, but it “died” off so quickly towards the end.

This book was quite disappointing. It had a really interesting premise, but I found the main character a bit intolerable and I found myself annoyed at being in her head often. I just couldn't understand the choices she made and the lies that she told. At any rate, its a very easy read and I sped through it quite quickly. I wouldn't avoid this author by any means though - a first book can always be hit or miss, and the general plot idea wasn't half bad and rather intriguing at first read.

Gilda is an atheist and a lesbian, two definitives that are at the exact opposite end of Roman Catholic philosophy. But when she finds a flyer offering free mental health support, something she desperately needs, Gilda heads out to 1919 Peach Tree to take advantage of 'said' help. Somewhere, however, there has been a mix-up in messages and Gilda finds herself standing outside an enormous gothic church to which she naively climbs the steps.
When the priest, Father Jeff, asks her if she is there for the receptionist job, one which has recently become available due to the death of the longstanding previous receptionist, Grace Moppet, Gilda, in her confusion stammers Y-Yes... and the delightful saga of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, begins.
Emily Austin's writing is full of witty phrases and truly laugh-out-loud imagery.
When told that Grace was ‘lost to the Lord’ Gilda opines that ‘losing someone to the Lord makes it sound like God steals people.’
And even though she is down and out financially, Gilda feels she can't take just any job as her skills and her employment options are limited. In fact, Gilda shares that she is a bad actress and so she wouldn't be good a sex worker as she is, after all, a lesbian.
Austin paints some charming images relative to the Catholic Church’s religious iconography, things such as the ubiquitous stained glass windows in Catholic buildings:
"[The] red-stained glass windows let bloodshot light spill all over the pews."
On one occasion when she is hungry and without many groceries, Gilda creeps into the church rectory to steal some crackers to go with her block of cheese.
"It turns out that the crackers I stole are the body of Christ. After eating more than half the bag, I googled the cracker brand and learned that I paired marble Cracker Barrel cheese with God's transubstantiated body."
And when Eleanor, Gilda's 'girlfriend' texts her while she is working at the church, Gilda doesn't respond. She feels uncomfortable answering her lesbian lover at work "because I'm worried Jeff and the Catholics will be able to sense I am doing something gay."
Narrated with self-deprecating and wry humour, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, happens over some of the most important seasons in the Catholic liturgy: Advent; Twelvetide; Ordinary Time; Lent; Easter;
Although Gilda's thoughts are often taken up with suicidal thoughts and she spends an inordinate amount of time in emergency departments, these situations are handled in such an intriguing and introspectively interesting way that as a reader I was happy to walk the path with Gilda knowing that she would make it - if only because of her delicious sense of humour.
I thoroughly enjoyed Austin's writing and delighted in both the storyline and Austin’s humourous turns of phrases.
#Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead #Netgalley #cecescott.com @cecemscott

Despite having a release date set for early July 2021, Emily Austin’s Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is not — if that title wasn’t obvious enough for you — a beach read. While it is breezily written and is easy to read, it deals with the serious subject matter of mental illness. Though the novel tackles this subject with a light touch, some may find the book to be too depressing. That would be a shame because the volume is a great illustration of what it is like to suffer from crippling anxiety and depression, as told from the point of view of someone who suffers from these diseases. And it is, often enough, quite funny and a touch lighthearted, particularly in the early going. For these reasons, this is a book that should be read by as many people as possible to help combat the stigma against mental illness. It also doesn’t hurt that the author is from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada — which is my hometown, and I love to be a cheerleader for local writers when it’s merited.

At the outset of the novel, we met Gilda — a 27-year-old animal-loving, atheist lesbian — who has just gotten into a small car accident that has injured her arm. It turns out that when she shows up in the Emergency Room, the nurses and even a janitor all know her, and she has been here many times before with seemingly minor complaints — meaning that they treat her condescendingly, though this aspect is handled with humour. (This shows that many health professionals don’t know how to deal properly with people who are suffering from a mental illness, which is a truth to which this novel speaks.) It turns out that Gilda has lost a job as a bookstore clerk because she hasn’t been showing up for work, but instead quickly falls into a job as an administrative assistant for a Catholic church when she meant to inquire about a therapy group. She gets the job without anything in the way of looking at a CV or any examination into her personal history — she’s hired solely because she’s young and, it is thus assumed, knows a thing or two about computers and the Interwebs. (This part of the book is perhaps a tad unrealistic as the church I go to always runs police background checks on those who get a job there.) However, it turns out that the former receptionist has died under mysterious circumstances and Gilda maintains, as part of her deception of being a devout and straight Catholic, the perception over email that the former secretary is still alive to elderly parishioners who wouldn’t know any better. What’s not helping is that a young male congregant has decided that he’s attracted to Gilda, and although she’s gay and has a girlfriend, she agrees to go out with him, again to maintain appearances. Hilarity and tragedy all ensue.

As you can tell, a lot is going on with Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead to varying degrees of success. Before it takes a serious and dramatic turn towards its end, the book is often slyly funny. You may not laugh out loud at some of the humour, but there are parts where you might crack a small smile, such as when Gilda learns that the password to the church’s computer is simply the word, wait for it, “password.” However, there is a serious side to the book, and that might deter readers who prefer their fiction to be light and airy. Still, this is an important book that should be read by many. It helps to some degree that the “chapters” (for lack of a better word) are short and typically only last a page or two, which helps to keep reading this book moving along. It’s a relatively short book — I read half of it in a sitting — and it flies by, which is an asset. A minor liability is that the novel does jump around a bit in time and space: one minute we might be in the church’s sanctuary, the next minute we could be in a flashback to something that happened with Gilda as a little girl, and the next she’s having an argument with her parents in the story’s current timeline. You must pay attention to the narrative, and it can be easy to let your mind drift, especially because the fragments of the novel are so short.

Still, this is an impressive debut novel from a young author who is bound to burn brightly on the Canadian and possibly international stage. Emily Austin is a talented writer who writes with flair and originality and is a powerful new voice in fiction. I’m sure that this book will go far, particularly as it makes you emphasize with someone who is suffering from a severe mental illness. It doesn’t hurt that it does so in sometimes a less serious manner, helping to personalize those suffering from mental illnesses to others. Austin is an emphatic writer, and the book is all the greater for that. I also didn’t mind the takedown of the Catholic Church, though it should be said that Austin doesn’t hit below the belt and say anything too barbaric. She simply examines the superficiality of religion to a degree from the perspective of an atheist, even if it turns out that her main character does receive some form of help from attending a church as part of her job. The criticism and satire are done with an even-keeled hand.

Overall, while Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead can be morbid in both its humour and its drama, it is a fun, entertaining book. This is a book that people with a mental illness might be able to find a little bit of hope in — even if I did find that the resolution wound up being quick and a little pat — and, despite not being a beach read, is something you might be able to find a ray of sunshine in. This book is wonderful and, perhaps if I should ever have the time and inclination and am not busy reading other books for review purposes, it might merit a second look. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead speaks to the obvious truth about mortality and is a book that can be savoured and enjoyed. This is an impressive first book, even with some of its limitations, and is something to look out for on your favourite bookstore’s shelves.

Destined to be polarizing, the nonlinear plot and offbeat writing style will either resonate with or repel the reader. I happened to fall in the former camp and thoroughly enjoyed the chaotic and dark inner snapshot of the self-identified atheist lesbian and Catholic imposter: Gilda.

There are other reviewers who found the novel too glib when dealing with dark subject matter, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Not every novel starring a mentally-ill protagonist needs to be a morose and somber affair- being mentally ill certainly doesn’t bar you from engaging in some good ol’ self-deprecation or sarcastic barbs.

<I>Everything in this Room Will Someday be Dead</I> covers a lot of ground and is a quick, yet challenging read. It largely succeeds at deftly addressing themes including: the deficient mental healthcare system, addiction, depressive episodes and even assisted-suicide. As the novel winds down, there are some pivotal moments that I wish had been unpacked in a less glancing fashion, but overall Emily Austin does an admirable job at balancing tone, pacing and difficult themes in a manner that does the topics justice without veering into heavy-handed after school special territory.

Overall, a great debut that delivers some genuine laugh out loud moments, while navigating the highs and lows of living with anxiety and depressive episodes.


Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Austin's sardonic wit is astounding. Exploring themes of mental health and queer identity, Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead is a multifaceted exploration of the life of a queer woman, one in which her her sexuality is not the only focus of her existence.

This heartfelt and hilarious character-driven debut introduces us to Gilda, a morbidly anxious twenty-something, who accepts a position as a receptionist in a Catholic church and becomes obsessed with her predecessor’s mysterious death. She is comprised of eccentricities and quirks—social situations handcuff her as does her anxiety-inducing panic attacks that make her a regular at the local hospital. Because she is so painfully honest and has a flair for sabotaging herself with what could possibly go wrong, Gilda struggles with forming relationships. But readers will fall in love with her.

Told from Gilda's point of view, the story is divided into five parts named after Catholic events. There are no chapters, but the narrative moves quickly with its short punchy paragraphs. Austin employs asterisks to change the scene and to break up Gilda's rambling. Her writing is witty and manic, touching and profound. She has brought to life some incredible and unconventional characters that are simply unforgettable.