Everyone in this Room will Someday be Dead Book Review


Gilda is a twenty-something-year-old lesbian who’s a hypochondriac, prone to bouts of depression, and generally doesn’t have much direction. Looking to appease her family, she decides to take a job as a receptionist at a church who are all instantly impressed with her ability to use technology, oh, and may also be prone to a touch of homophobia too. Navigating her new job while keeping her sexuality as secret, Gilda somehow ends up as a suspect in a murder investigation, being set up with a relative of one of the congregation (who is a man) and all the while cannot help but ruminate about death – her own and those around her. Suffice to say, there’s a lot to think about!
8.4Dark, Witty, Relatable
Title: Everyone in this Room will Someday be Dead
Author: Emily Austin
Type: Fiction
Published: 2021
Pages: 243
TW: Depression, Suicide Idealisation, Anxiety, Homophobia, Intrusive Thoughts

“I resolved not to involve an ambulance because I do not like to be a spectacle.
Well, this took a direction I wasn’t expecting; I didn’t know much going in, but I loved the messy and chaotic narrative it sounded like it would have. Right from the get-go I found so many aspects painfully relatable. The novel gets dark in ways that I didn’t anticipate but there are so many smaller moments that I could easily recall myself acting in the same capacity, for example after ordering a glass of milk, Gilda remarks: “She hands me some sort of smoothie, and I accept it without flagging that she must have misheard me when I ordered.”
From ignoring the dishes, to being unable to confront social situations, and being crippled by anxiety at even the slightest interruption to her life, Gilda was complicated to say the least. The character study on display in this definitely gets uncomfortable in places and Austin really makes us confront the nasty parts ourselves, the parts we try to hide from the world. Maybe we do think about death far too often? Or are overwhelmed by the sight of the washing up, but Gilda’s imperfections made her extremely relatable and I commend the book for its candour.



Review overview

CHARACTERS8

QUOTABILITY8.5

Summary

Without a doubt this is a book for our generation (that is if you are also an anxious bean in your twenties as I am!) and it’s brilliant to see someone put into words struggles that so many people are enduring. The perfect mix of dark comedy, relatability, and a potential murder thrown in for good measure, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!