All Better Now by Neil Shusterman
Publication Date: february 4, 2025
Summary from Netgalley:
A deadly and unprecedented virus is spreading. But those who survive it experience long-term effects no one has ever seen before: utter contentment. Soon after infection, people find the stress, depression, greed, and other negative feelings that used to weigh them down are gone.
More and more people begin to revel in the mass unburdening. But not everyone. People in power—who depend on malcontents and prey on the insecure to sell their products, and convince others they need more, new, faster, better everything—know this new state of being is bad for business. Surely, without anger or jealousy as motivators, productivity will grind to a halt and the world will be thrown into chaos. Campaigns start up to convince people that being eternally happy is dangerous. The race to find a vaccine begins. Meanwhile, a growing movement of Recoverees plan ways to spread the virus as fast as they can, in the name of saving the world.
It’s nearly impossible to determine the truth when everyone with a platform is pushing their agenda. Three teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in very different ways find themselves at the center of a power play that could change humanity forever.
ARC provided by Simon and Schuster via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book. While I found the plot engaging and intense at times, it also tended to drag. The characters were also kind of hard to like and I struggled to connect with them. But the social commentary was on point without overwhelming the story. So this review is going to be a bit hard to write and might not make much sense but I will give it a shot.
There are many points of view in this book, but basically there are three main ones, all teens. There are some secondary characters that jump in, but there are also some that are one offs, which I liked because these gave the perspective of what was happening to people affected by the virus all over the world. I am usually fine with this type of storytelling, but this time I found it hard to still connect to the main characters. I did however appreciate their stories and how they faced the many choices they had to make concerning the pandemic. I found their choices compelling and they made me wonder what I do in if I was faced with the same choices.
The plot is the main focus of this story, and the virus is what drives it. There are two factions, people who embrace the virus and how it makes them feel afterwards and those who are afraid that the world will change too much because of it. The author does a great job of keeping you engaged in the story while also sneaking in social commentary and how the world works. There is a lot about corporate greed and a little bit about government overstep, and great fake news commentary, but at no time does this overwhelm the story and become preachy. The pacing does drag a bit, especially at the beginning, but it is such a compelling story that I found myself needing to read on to see how it all ends.
It is unclear if this is a standalone or perhaps the start of a new series. I’m hoping for the series as the ending was left a bit open. The world as we know it is ending, but it is unclear which way it will fall.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 