I really enjoyed this “messy” book! I liked how the main character was sorting through her own life while working as an organizer, helping sort messy lives of others! Quick read, had me laughing a few times.

I am not sure what to say about this one. It is a random snapshot of a few random, unimportant days of a random, not-very-interesting girl's life. Not very big on plot, but for some reason, very well written and descriptive. I enjoyed coming into the world of a professional organizer, especially one in southern california that caters to billionaires and others in the entertainment industry.

Jane has a boyfriend, Teddy, who is a generally happy and satisfied person, she is not. Jane weighs herself every day and measures her self-worth based on what the number says. She is in excellent health and pretty much is satisfied with her job, she just has this general sense of malaise. I am wondering if I missed something, like, did her coworkers and clients and friends have some sort of common thread that I didn't notice? Her mother is pretty critical and she has this negative self-talk. Every once in awhile she helps herself to something that her clients are getting rid of in their closets. Am I supposed to be angry about this? Is this supposed to make me like her less or more?

I am kind of ragging on this book, but it somehow was enjoyable to read. Again, it is really well written even though it was a bit boring. A solid 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC. Book to be published August 12, 2025.

While The Mess by Michael Chessler was not my favorite read of the year so far, I definitely think others will enjoy it.

Rating: 2.5 (rounded down)

Jane Brown is a Mess. Sort of.
And in many ways, so is this book.

Personally, I struggled a lot with this book from the first chapter. (Prepare for some intense, albeit therapeutic, ranting.)

Firstly, I genuinely believe Michael Chessler should have written a nonfiction book rather than disguising an unnecessary number of cynical worldviews as the main character’s experiences. It came off as an excuse to share personal thoughts rather than development of the character.
Because of this, it was difficult for me to get lost in the story when every other paragraph consisted of a long-winded (courtesy of a heavily used thesaurus) attempt at a “profound” observation of the world. And this would have been tolerable if the rants weren’t accompanied by off-handed comments of the same nature.

Secondly, I noticed a pattern of negativity surrounding only the women in this book. When Jane’s clientele was male, her judgments turned toward her female co-worker. Or, she turned to self-loathing. Whether this is Jane’s own insecurity/internal misogyny, or the author’s, I’m not sure. Truthfully, it became frustrating to read.

Now that I’ve laid a metaphorical dump on this novel, I’ll mention that there were some twinkling stars through the clouds.

The differences between Jane and her boyfriend, Teddy, were showcased incredibly well. Teddy, the laid-back and spontaneous boyfriend. Jane, the Type A, glued to routine counterpart. Every time she thought about him or was near him, it felt like opening a window in a stuffy room (though, this does feed into the aforementioned issue of women put in a miserable light.) And it was quite refreshing for them to have been in their relationship at the very start of the book.

As for the mother-daughter relationship, the complexity was well done and established from the very beginning. I do, however, wish it was shown more than it was told.

A lot of Jane’s inner turmoil represents many common struggles women face in real life. She debates having children, experiences insecurity about her weight (from both her mother and the world), and describes feeling as though time is running out because she’s in her thirties.

In summary, this book, to me, seemed to be less story than it was societal observations from a self-proclaimed “sardonic-realist.”

The premise drew me in and I loved the structure of the novel - each chapter features a different client Jane is working with. However, we don’t really get insight into why Jane is the way she is (wishy-washy regarding her long-term boyfriend and whether she actually likes him, taking little mementos from each of her client’s closets, etc.) and she doesn’t demonstrate much growth throughout the novel so it was hard to connect to her or to feel invested in her relationships. Overall, a promising plot that is let down by a lack of discernible character development. Still, I enjoyed reading a story about a messy character with an interesting job.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Mess by Michael Chessler

The official blurb sounded fun! Jane (FMC) is a professional organizer (think: The Home Edit) and realizes her personal life needs “re-organizing.” The description suggested this story is “heartfelt, charming, and hilarious.” At the beginning, I thought wow, a FMC who is a chronic overthinker, and perfectionist, who thrives on structure, and will encounter her emotional growth journey? Sign me up, this is going to be relatable!

Spoiler alert, that was wrong.

The FMC was off-puttingly cynical, judgmental, and a thief. There is zero backstory about why she is the way she is, so there was never any reason to sympathize. And her growth journey was completely lacking (I don’t even know if I can call it that, to be honest).

This book was simply not for me. While the idea was good, the execution was not it. The wording was off-puttingly pretentious, and it seemed that the author was trying very hard to show how smart their writing style is when it did not help the story nor likeability of the characters.

I was glad that it was a short/quick read!

Either way, I appreciate the opportunity for an e-ARC from the publisher (Harper Perennial & Paperbacks), viaNetGalley, in exchange for an honest review!

(review posted on Goodreads)

The world that Jane, the main character of Mess, lives in is so foreign to most of America. This novel is a peek behind the curtain of the lives of Hollywood’s elite. I found the book to be a slow read. The author has a wide vocabulary, and my Kindle’s dictionary feature got a workout because of the frequent use of obscure vocabulary words. This book was a miss for me. While I enjoyed watching Jane’s growth through the novel, there was not enough “other” to the novel to make me excited about it. Just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This book was not for me- it felt litsless, our mc is a professional organizer whi is a mess, i feel like I never got to know her never got the back story about why she is the way she is which would have been nice some of the characters were good and her relationship needed more it was ok but not really for me

Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for the arc

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Mess by Michael Chessler is a third person-POV contemporary following a professional organizer to the stars in 2019. Jane has been going to the homes of the rich and famous to sort their closets and help them throw out what they know longer need. But her own life is in shambles as her long-term relationship with Teddy reaches a tipping point and she’s not sure how to salvage it.

Jane is very much an unlikable narrator. She’s judgemental of others, including her clients, she constantly pushes aside her own trauma and scoffs at the idea of triggers, and she’s not always the best coworker or friend. She’s also extremely unsure of her relationship with Teddy to the point that I struggled to figure out if she even wanted a relationship with him or if she just wanted a relationship. She’s going to be frustrating for some readers but she could hit right with readers who like to see the worst parts of themselves, or their generation, reflected back at them and take that reflection as a starting base for what to work on.

Teddy is into cryptocurrency and even mines it, he’s part of a band, he does Twitch, and he doesn’t really have a steady job that isn’t reliant on getting big eventually. As we know in 2024, people can become influencers and have successful careers, but it’s also hard to keep that train going for a lot of people and it can be very soul-sucking. Teddy isn’t really an influencer so much as someone who has a lot of ideas going because his friend keeps suggesting them but nothing is actually panning out. I can understand why Jane would be frustrated with him because I would also be frustrated if I felt like my partner was constantly pivoting towards the hot new way to make money without really researching it only to abandon it.

Each chapter follows Jane to a different client and how she connects it to what is going on in her life or what has happened. Jane’s mother focused a lot on Jane’s weight when she was a child and Jane has a younger brother who is Autistic that she hasn’t seen in a while. When we get these glimpses into what made Jane Jane, we do start to get why she’s so judgmental and why she’s constantly pushing things away. She’s not ready to deal with her childhood.

I would recommend this to fans of contemporary fiction with unlikeable narrators and complicated romantic relationship arcs that don’t follow romance genre rules

I was so intrigued by this book’s cover and premise, but I was ultimately let down. The main character is so unlikeable, and I can’t really say that I found the main character’s actions added to her character’s complexity but rather contributed to the loss of the point of this story. While not my favorite read, I greatly appreciated the opportunity to read this ARC. I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This arc was provided to me by Netgally & HarperCollins

This book was a solid 4.5 for me. This book deals with one's self-image, love, loss, heartbreak, guilt, complex family relationships, judgement, friendships, growth, and so much more.

Jane Brown may organize other people's life for a living, but she is nothing but messy herself in her relationships and in her own personal life. She is very cynical with her views the world, her boyfriend, her mother, her clients, and her coworkers. But deep down despite everything, there is a part of her that finds some type of clarity with each of these different characters that come into her life. Jane is not perfect, and she never claims to be. She is not a one dimensional character. Jane is going on a journey, and while she has a very long way to go, there are small steps being made.

I have to admit, as I was reading I felt like I could envision this book perfectly as a limited TV series with the way it was structured. I went through allllll the emotions reading this book laughing to crying & even thinking how I definitely related to certain things with Jane.

My only con is that I wish the ending didn't feel so abrupt. But also, I wanted more a glimpse into her future. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book and found it a surprisingly very emotional read for me.

I feel like the cover and description of this book were extremely misleading, the cover looks cool and the description sounds really fun.
However, I just finished this book and I felt as if I’ve read nothing.
The main character is a thief who just kinda coasts through life while making judgments on everybody and ends up exactly where she was when the book started.
Still cleaning up others lives, still making judgements, still with her just fine boyfriend.
I really can’t figure out the point of this book.

I appreciate the ARC but this book was not for me. I was intrigued by the synopsis but it didn’t hold up. The main character was not likable and her decision to steal at every job was so odd and didn’t feel like it lined up with her personality. If there had been more backstory about her, perhaps it would have helped me to understand this piece.

I enjoyed meeting some of the client characters but the back story for each, along with the need for every client to relate back to her previous entertainment industry experiences was too much. There really is no love story here at all. The book has great bones and feels like there could have been more with an actual plot but instead feels like the snapshot of 6 months of a random girls life.

Mess is a witty and heartfelt exploration of life’s imperfections, wrapped in the glitz of Hollywood and the soothing aesthetics of a well-organized closet. Jane Brown is the kind of protagonist who might initially come across as cool and collected, but her sharp judgments and insecurities give her a complexity that is both relatable and endearing. This book offers a humorous yet deeply insightful take on the things we hold onto, both physically and emotionally, and the freedom that comes with letting go. With sharp prose, charming characters, and a story that is as funny as it is tender.