Everything Happens Today

by Jesse Browner

“A stupendous, thought-provoking, devilishly delicious novel that reads like Zen koan meets Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . . . Highly recommended” ( Library Journal , starred review).

Everything Happens Today records a single day in the life of Wes, a seventeen-year-old who attends Manhattan’s elite Dalton School and lives in Greenwich Village in a dilapidated town house with his terminally ill mother, distant father, and beloved younger sister. In the course of one day everything will happen to he will lose his virginity to the wrong girl and break his own heart, try to meet a Monday morning deadline for a paper on War and Peace , and prepare an elaborate supper he hopes will reunite his family. Wes struggles through the day deep in thoughts of sex, love, Beatles lyrics, friendship, God, and French cuisine―a typical teenager with an atypical mind, a memorable young man who comes to the poignant understanding of how fragile but attainable personal happiness can be.

“A deeply compassionate novel by a very fine writer.” ―Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, New York, Realistic Fiction, Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2011

About the author

Jesse Browner is the author of six books including the novels Conglomeros (Random House 1992), Turnaway (Random House 1996) and The Uncertain Hour (Bloomsbury 2007). He has also translated a number of notable books including the award winning Celine: A Biography. He lives in New York City. http://jessebrowner.com/index.htm. "

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verrassend goed boek: soms wel erg langdradig, maar toen ik daar eenmaal aan gewend was kon ik het filosofische coming of age-verhaal wel waarderen. Het is goed geschreven, ontvouwt zich heel anders dan verwacht en de dynamiek tussen de personages vond ik echt heel sterk. Zeker een aanrader, als je eenmaal door het eerste stuk heen bent! Uitgebreide recensie: http://thebookreview.nl/recensies/con...

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forced myself to finish this, it was kind of mechanical at times, pretty dull. "Everything" amounted to not much. I almost laughed when I saw Browner was a food author - but didn't, because my throat would have made me start coughing. The care he put into that sweetmeats plot finally made sense. I liked the writing at times, and the way the plot weaved, but the main character was an insufferable snot and it often got sidetracked on weird thoughts/tangents/visions that made me roll my eyes at how hard they were trying to be insightful/witty.

2 stars means it was ok.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/revi...

[Larissa Peusen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dat was hem dan; het laatste boek voor mijn jeugdliteratuur verslag. Heel eerlijk weet ik nog steeds niet helemaal wat ik gelezen heb. Door de gigantische hoeveelheid verwijzingen in dit boek heb ik het idee dat als ik alle verwijzingen kende ik hier veel meer uit had kunnen halen. Ook maakt het feit dat het één heel lang verhaal is het moeilijk om tussendoor even te reflecteren op wat je nu gelezen hebt.

[Raffaella Cavaletto · Rating 4 out of 5]

La risposta a "The Catcher in the Rye": Tutto accade oggi


Holden Caulfield si è interrogato sulla vita in tre giorni, nel 1947, tornando a casa, a New York, dopo l'espulsione. Un assaggio del dolore e delle gioie del crescere.

Wes, in "Tutto accade oggi", pensa al significato della vita in un solo giorno del nuovo Millennio.

Browner tesse un romanzo di formazione, cucito su un adolescente, ispirandosi a Salinger, implicito creditore, mai menzionato esplicitamente.
Wes è un ragazzo intelligente, amante della letteratura, spigliato. Un po 'come Caulfield, Wes ha dei traumi che hanno plasmato il suo io, a tratti ombroso. Una madre malata, una sorella amorevole di cui non si occupa nessuno e un padre apparentemente assente sono lo sfondo: la famiglia di Wes, in una città, New York, ancora calda, in autunno.
Tra I-phone, Facebook, SMS e libri, musica e passeggiate, Wes prova dolore e realizza gli insuccessi, confrontandosi con il suo passato e il suo presente, paragonando la sua vita con quella dei protagonisti di "Guerra e Pace" o ascoltando le canzoni dei Belle & Sebastian.
Timido e acuto, Wes ha idealizzato una compagna, Delia, ma poi fa l'amore con Lucy, durante la serata che precede il fatidico oggi che dà titolo al romanza. Tutte le sue ambizioni idealistiche sembrano cadere, proprio oggi.

La narrazione non è in prima persona, a differenza di quella di Salinger. Il lettore può osservare dall'esterno Wes e scoprire che il suo melodramma è estremo, artificioso, e il giovane protagonista, spesso smentito dalla simpatica sorella minore, e anche dal padre (amato e odiato), capirà che tutto accade e che non succede nulla, ogni giorno.
Questo è il modo in cui Browner corregge la prosa "à la Salinger". Holden ha sofferto per la mancanza di un vero confronto. Le sue domande non sono state soddisfatte, perché egoriferite. Sintomatico di questo soliloquio è la domanda: "Cosa succede al laghetto delle anatre a Central Park in inverno?".

[Lies Cornelissen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Als je elke zin waar Wes zeurt over hoeveel beter hij is dan alle andere mensen en hoeveel hij van Delia houdt, verwijdert, blijven er misschien 20 pagina's over waar hij kookt, naar de cinema gaat en Bob Ross kijkt.

Ik werd helemaal gek van dit boek, vooral omdat ik Wes zo onuitstaanbaar vond. Hij bleef maar doorgaan over hoe niemand hem begreep en over hoe hij wou overkomen als een inteliggente jongeman, maar in werkelijkheid was hij net zo'n geile puber als iedereen.
En wanneer hij niet bezig was met zichzelf ervan te overtuigen dat hij een goed persoon was - wat hij overduidelijk niet was, wie vergeet zijn eigen zusje nu in de cinema? - dacht hij wel na over één of ander filosofisch vraagstuk, waar hij in de verste verte geen antwoord op vond.

Kortom, het verveelde me. Niets wat Wes deed leek echt betekenis te hebben, maar het voelde alsof hij zelf wanhopig probeerde om alle kleine dingen een betekenis te geven. Ik kan boeken met een filosofische achtergrond echt wel waarderen, maar geen 183 pagina's lang.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as young-adult novels go, I think this ranks right up there with Perks of Being a Wallflower and Speak. There isn't anything traumatic about the book as there is in those other two, but that doesn't mean the novel doesn't equally capture teenage angst and the sort of intellectual machinations teenagers go about. I particularly liked the ways in which Browner tied teenage judgment of adult decisions/situations into the character's thought process: all teens judge their parents particularly harshly, which perhaps becomes one of the biggest regrets of many adult lives.

I gave my copy of this book to my teenage son to read. I hope he likes it as much as I did.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite _Catcher_ status but certainly a modern coming-of-age story that seems to push hard in that direction. The narrator's circumstances aren't typical but the teen whiny angst seemed real enough. I kept waiting for something to happen. And that's just it, isn't it? Things are absolutely happening to (for?) this guy. In my old age it's easy to think things are going nowhere, but with the benefit of hindsight I'm reminded that's what the teen experience is often about.

Format: Overdrive EPUB, Contra Costa Library

[Rebecca Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without question one of the best books I have read this year-- and a new favorite. I'll write a longer review later, but for the meantime, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a very intelligent, character-driven, and insightful read-- and one that's full of humor, too. I could hardly put it down because it was such a delight to read.

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Irritating beyond belief.

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF pg 27 : couldn't get into it

[Tan Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more you think, the more you feel you should think less, and the more you feel, the more you think you should feel less? And the worse thing about it was that those who actually did think and feel less didn't seem to suffer from a similar sense of insufficiency-the smart people wish they could be more like the stupid people, but the stupid people never seem to want to be more like the smart people. Which hardly seemed fair
- pg 64

Wes wasn't sure that he believed, as he once had, that there was a right way and a wrong way to do anything, but it certainly felt that way when he was cooking. Wes could not think of any other activity in his life or the life of anyone else in which control, mastery and vision were applied to such satisfying, foreseeable ends. People said writers were driven by the need to create a world which they could exert total control, but Wes knew from his own experience and from observing his father that in writing you often ended up making something that was very different from what you had intended to make when you had started out. That was not and could not be true in cooking. Even if you do get it wrong, there is something reassuring and simple in the knowledge that certain rules and procedures, if followed, will and must yield certain results. If you understand what you want, and precisely what you need to get it, you ought not end up with your heart broken or your thoughts confused. You can congratulate yourself and people will love and admire you for your ability to follow instructions. That was the theory. Wes thought there must be a way to make life more like cooking-a series of recipes that could be followed faithfully to predictable results.
pg 195-6

I'd rate it 3.5. Some people would find the protagonist Wes whiny and all his bemoaning over nothing. However I do enjoy his mild snarky remarks and funny musings, especially those which he incorporates the literature texts of War & Peace and Brave New World. I guess it is because I can empathise with the problem of never being fully at ease and comfortable with both myself and others, an awkwardness which nags at Wes all the time.

[Carolyn DeCarlo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book for free from Book Thing's December event. It's basically The Catcher in the Rye, which leads me to believe I no longer relate to The Catcher in the Rye. The voice fluctuates between authentically sounding like an annoying teenaged boy and pretension beyond the scope of my imagination. Is there a reality in which preppy NY teens chug bloody marys at parties? That's Wes's drink of choice at the rager he's attended the night before the events of this novel. I didn't know anyone chugging tomato-based drinks at my high school parties. I found his mom's degenerative condition and its ripple effect on the rest of the household to be the most true-to-life-feeling aspect of the book. Overall, this made me feel sad for the state of American teens today, which isn't necessarily fair since this book was published in 2011. Again, Europa editions sucked me in with a cool cover that ended up being better than the book.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited for this book when I spotted it at a library book sale but it really fell short for me. It was marketed for young adults and adults alike but made repeated literary references to books I didn’t read until going for a second bachelor’s degree in literature. It came off pretentious and I found it to be a sweet idea wrapped in overly wordy disconnected vernacular from teenagers today. I have worked with teens since having been one and this book will not resonate with a large part of its intended audience. Nice weekend read for a well-educated and well-read audience but misses the mark for a larger audience who may very well have been able to relate to Wes.

[Ljg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very hard to get through. At times enticing and an easy read, while mostly absolute drudgery, like walking through molasses. Seems to be written by an English or Canadian, whose words don’t align with the setting of the book (NYC). Author has a messy knack for repeating obscure words. Feels like he learned a bunch of words and had to incorporate them into this novel to show off or fill space. I kept hoping the plot-line would improve… it didn’t.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has an intriguing premise, but it just was boring for the most part. I feel like it was trying to be THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, but it just didn't work in this modern format. I did really like our protagonist's transformation in the novel, and how he cares for his mother and sister. I also do feel like he is self-aware even when he is so confused about his feelings, which represents the teenage experience well.

[Chantal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ik weet niet hoe dit boek in mn kast is gekomen maar ben in ieder geval wel blij dat ik het nu ook weg kan doen.
Mocht je nu wel van een pretentieuze tiener die denkt dat hij echt wat is houden die overal een mening over heeft maar vooral heel kut is, vooral dit boek lezen

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un romanzo piuttosto piacevole sui disagi che l'adolescenza apporta alla vita. Molti passaggi sono purtroppo noiosi o fin troppo dispersivi, tanche che quando si ritorna alla storia vera e propria, non si ricorda dove si era rimasti. In fin dei conti è una lettura piuttosto leggera e piacevole.

[Lewis Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty standard story punctuated with overwrought passages by an author who is not as clever as he thinks. The story is fine, the author is deeply embarrassing.

[Gail Kennon · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderfully propulsive prose. good story..want to read more by browner.

[Anne Mellenthin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century.

[Francesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant surprise! a Catcher in the Rye taking place in the years of iPods, iPhones and Gossip Girl

[Charly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inhalt:
Wes hat sich in der letzten Nacht sein komplettes Leben versaut. Zumindest glaub er das. Fast 1 ganzes Jahr lang hatte er sich für die schöne und überaus kluge Delia aufgespart und dann... Dann hatte er einfach so mit Lucy geschlafen. Er kann sich gar nicht mehr richtig daran erinnern wie es dazu gekommen war, aber das will er auch gar nicht. Es ist passiert und man kann es nicht ändern, seine Unschuld wird er nicht wieder zurück bekommen. Seine Facharbeit über die Bedingunganleitung ist auch nicht so gut bei der Lehrerin angekommen, sein Vater hat schon wieder eine Studentin nach Hause eingeladen, während seine Mutter sich Bob Ross zum 500sten mal ansieht und seine Schwester das alles miterleben muss. Das wird ein schwieriger Tag.


Meine Meinung:
Wer sich bei der Inhaltsabgabe schon denkt; "Was soll das denn?", dem sei gesagt dass es Absicht war, es so chaotisch und undurchdacht da stehen zu lassen. Denn so ist leider das ganze Buch. Primär geht es um Wes letzte Nacht mit Lucy, doch eigentlich geht es auch noch um seine kranke Mutter, seinen gescheiterten Vater, seine arme Schwester um die er sich ganz allein kümmern muss und noch gaaanz viele andre Sachen. Mir hätte es vollkommen gereicht, wenn man ein Buch geschrieben hätte, indem es nur darum geht, wie ein Teenager mit seinem ersten mal mit der falschen Frau umgeht. Doch hier... es ist einfach zu viel.

Auch der Schreibstil trägt nicht gerade zur Übersicht oder zum Lesespaß bei. Die ganze Geschichte ist ein zusammenhängender Text, es gibt keine Kapitel und nur sehr wenige Absätze und dass obwohl Zeitsprünge und ähnliches durchaus vorhanden sind. Ich war oft verwirrt, wenn er plötzlich wieder bei der gestrigen Nacht war, wo er doch eben noch gekocht hatte und brauchte erst mal ein paar Sätze und zu verstehen wo wir uns eigentlich gerade befinden. Solche Situationen hatte ich in diesem Buch fast nur, was ich ziemlich schade fand. Nach längerer Überlegung bin ich jedoch zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass der Autor absichtlich diesen Schreibstil gewählt hat; Er wollte die ganze Geschichte nicht nur aus der Sicht von Wes erzählen, er wollte das man in Wes Kopf ist. Jeder kennt ja die Tage an denen man sehr viel und über viele verschiedene Dinge nachdenkt. Da springt man in Gedanken schon mal schnell von einem Thema zum anderen, ohne das eine vlt. ganz abgeschlossen zu haben oder eine Überleitung zu machen. Man selbst, versteht seine Gedanken natürlich vollkommen, aber jeder Außenstehende könnte damit nichts anfangen. Jesse Browner hat meiner Meinung nach versucht, diese völlig wirren und chaotischen Gedanken eines Teenagers zu fassen und irgendwie verständlich darzustellen, leider ist ihm das aber nicht gut gelungen.

Zudem ist mir das ganze irgendwie zu philosophisch. Ich meine, jeder philosophiert in seinen Gedanken gern über so ziemlich alles. Aber Wes macht vergleiche, die ich ein bisschen zu krass fand. Er vergleicht sein Leben mit Gott als Schaf auf einer Wiese im Reich der Toten... Irgendwie war mir das... naja... ich finde es hat nicht gepasst. Generell kann man sich in diesem Buch sehr schnell dumm bzw. nicht ganz so klug fühlen. Denn Wes ist ein ganz schöner kluger Kopf und da man, wie ich eben schon vermutet habe, in seinen Gedanken ist, bekommt man davon auch ziemlich viel mit. Er zitiert viel aus Büchern, hauptsächlich Klassiker die ich nicht kannte(oder die es vlt. gar nicht gibt), vergleicht Figuren und Handlungen aus diesen Büchern mit seinem eigenen Leben... Ich denke ich fand dass es einfach nicht Alters gerecht für ihn war. Wes ist 17 Jahre alt und vergleicht da Sachen miteinander, die andere in seinem Alter gar nicht kennen. Klar kann man das z.B. damit erklären, dass er auf eine teure Privatschule geht und er vergleicht sich selbst auch oft mit Erwachsenen und so was. Aber wenn ich mir überlege, dass vlt. andere Leute in meinem Alter diese Buch lesen wollen, dann denke ich, werden sie ganz schön vor den Kopf gestoßen.

Nun möchte ich auch mal was gutes zu diesem Buch sagen, denn eigentlich hat es mir ganz gut gefallen. Klingt jetzt blöd, aber ich fand den Inhalt eigentlich echt cool ;) Ich fand es recht gut, dass sich das Buch damit beschäftigt hat, dass Wes eine an MS erkrankte Mutter hat und das z.B. beschrieben wird, wie er sie pflegt. Ich fand auch die Handlung mit seiner Schwester Nora und Bobby ganz lustig. Ich fand nur, es war zu viel für knapp 250 Seiten. Da hätte ich entweder mehr Bücher daraus gemacht oder halt ganz einfach, die Handlung ein bisschen ausgeweitet auf weitere 200 Seiten oder so, dann hätte man auf einige Dinge mehr eingehen können und es wäre nicht so gequetscht gewesen. Aber die Ansätze die da waren, die fand ich eigentlich ganz gut.


Fazit:
Wer auf ein bisschen was philosophisches steht, oder einfach mal wissen will, wie es denn wirklich im Kopf eines Jugendlich so aussehen kann, der sollte sich diese Buch wirklich mal ansehen. Den trotz seiner Kritikpunkte ist es durchaus lesenswert(!!) und hat sich seine 3 Sterne verdient.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wes is the lovable, seventeen year old protagonist of this novel. He attends the prestigious Dalton school in Manhattan. Wes is there on scholarship and lives in a run down house in Greenwich Village with he terminally ill mother, a father who brings his girlfriend home, and his younger sister Nora, who he is very protective of. As the novel begins we learn that Wes has lost his virginity to the wrong girl and is sure he has ruined his life. In addition he has a major assignment on War and Peace due on Monday and he wants to cook a special meal in hopes of having all of his family together and happy.

What a delightful read and protagonist you'll root for. The entire novel takes place in a single day and since Wes is a literary lover, the novel has loads of literary references, some serving as metaphors for the things he is dealing with. There's some touching scenes when he spends time caring for and talking with his ailing mother which really moved me. I loved Wes and think this novel will stay with me for a while. (4.5/5 stars)

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tutto accade oggi.
Un titolo che fa decisamente centro e che rivela il cuore di una storia profonda, matura, quotidiana.
Un romanzo che pur avendo per protagonista un adolescente, un diciassettenne, sa elevarsi a romanzo per tutte le età.
E' accaduto tutto in poche pagine: ne bastano 222 per comprendere a fondo inquietudini, timori, desideri di Leslie, un adolescente che preferisce cambiare il suo nome in Wes per non rischiare di essere preso in giro per quel nome fin troppo femminile.
Wes ci appare immediatamente fragile, combattuto, un ragazzo che non vive tranquillamente o magari superficialmente la sua età.
Scopriamo che è alle prese con una coppia di genitori disastrati: una mamma malata, ormai allettata, di cui prendersi cura come fosse una bambina; un padre che pare chiuda gli occhi davanti a ciò che non va all'interno della famiglia, e che sceglie quel momento delicato per dedicarsi alla sua crisi di mezza età; una sorellina, Nora, la più saggia e in gamba di tutta la famiglia, che quando non riesce ad affrontare la situazione si trasforma in Bobby, un personaggio molto più maturo di lei che sa essere d'aiuto per tutti, e che presto diventa indispensabile per ognuno di loro. Sempre più spesso sarà proprio Wes ad occuparsi della mamma, della sorellina, della spesa, dei pasti.
Accanto all'impegnativa vita familiare, il ragazzo ha la sua non troppo movimentata vita sociale: la scuola, il migliore amico, la ragazza di cui pensa di essere profondamente innamorato da un anno, (anche se non ha mai mosso un dito per farglielo capire).
Tutto sommato, la sua condizione non è troppo detestabile, se non fosse per quel particolare che fa crollare l'equilibrio precario del ragazzo: la sua prima notte di sesso.
Con la ragazza sbagliata.
Nel momento sbagliato.
Tutto inizia e finisce lì, per Wes. Ma per il lettore affascinato da questa storia, in realtà la frase andrebbe scritta così: tutto finisce e inizia lì.
Non voglio continuare a riassumere gli eventi di quella giornata, perché Jesse Browner lo sa fare in maniera perfetta attraverso le parole e i pensieri di Wes.
Voglio stare qui a raccontarvi come questa storia sia una storia necessaria, spesso, per comprendere il mondo degli adolescenti, senza alcun bisogno di effetti speciali. Necessaria per comprendere il bisogno di una famiglia unita, una famiglia che si sappia comportare come tale, dove ognuno possa svolgere il ruolo che gli compete. Necessaria ancora per capire che a 17 anni è bene essere maturi, è bene riflettere, è bene avere i propri ideali, ma è giusto sapersi lasciar andare, accettare i cambiamenti che intervengono contro la nostra volontà, saperli vivere.
E' uno di quei libri che sembra nascondere tante piccole verità, da scoprire ad ogni nuova rilettura.

anche qui:
http://cuoredinchiostro.blogspot.com/...

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. Where do I begin? I'm giving it three stars because I can't make up my mind. I picked this up randomly at Book Culture because the summary made it sound super interesting. And it is. Kind of. My opinion went back and forth repeatedly as I read, so here's what I thought overall...When I first started reading I thought "wow, this is great." The language was a step up from most novels you'd typically pick out at random and at 37 pages in I publicly declared "this is going to become one of my favorites." But then I'd find myself rolling my eyes at some of the rambling pretentiousness and thinking "WE GET IT." The author tries WAY too hard to sound like what he thinks a Dalton teenager sounds like…the mentions of iPhones, Facebook, and Twitter are insane. At one point, and for no reason, he has the protagonist, Wes, explain Facebook and how it works to his father. It's almost like the author is saying "look, teens, I GET it." At the same time, the book is written as a stream-of-consciousness as Wes goes through his day following the day when "everything happens." Wes is Dawson Leery (what what Dawson's Creek reference!). He uses big words and philosophically strings together sentences as if he is the only one on earth who matters. I go to school with about a bajillion Dalton alums (and alums from similarly ridiculous Manhattan prep schools) and no one runs around talking like this kid. The problems Wes faces are typical (girls, school, parents) but of course to him they're THE END OF THE WORLD. At first I thought maybe the author understood how typical a teen Wes is and was commenting on that by making Wes so self-obsessed…but then the author spends time making excuses for Wes being a pain in the ass, talking about why his problems really do matter more than other teens'! He's the kind of main character you want to punch in the face and yell I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO WHINE ABOUT. He does hit on a few things that are maybe…philosophically interesting? But I think the problem is that most of it has been said before by people much more qualified than tho author. My biggest issue was flipping back and forth in my opinion of the writing, saying "this is really smart" and "this is really over the top." It's hard to strike a balance when you're writing a book that's trying to do more than just tell a story and I think that's where this goes wrong. Some are calling it "the next Catcher in the Rye" which I can kind of see due to the rambling of our central teen hero but I wouldn't say there's the same level of cathartic release as you might find in "Catcher"…not for the kid and not for the reader.

[Nereia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a hard day's night


Chi mi conosce lo sa: adoro la malinconia. Adoro tutto ciò che la richiama: i colori caldi dell'autunno, i libri tristi e privi di lieto fine, le statue presenti nei cimiteri, la luce fredda invernale.
Non che mi piaccia essere triste, questo no. Ma reputo che alcune emozioni, alcuni sentimenti, siano più cinematografici e fotogenici di altri.
Tutto accade oggi è un libro malinconico, a tratti davvero molto triste. Triste perché Wes, un diciassettenne della New York bene, è stato costretto dalle circostanze a non agire e a non pensare come un qualunque diciassette del Greenewich Willage.
La narrazione ha inizio mentre Wes torna a casa dopo una festa, festa durante la quale ha perso la verginità. Dovrebbe essere contento, vantarsene subito con gli amici, ricevere pacche sulle spalle, brindare a un nuovo inizio. Tutto quello che Wes, invece, riesce a pensare è di aver sbagliato tutto: ha sbagliato momento ma soprattutto ha sbagliato ragazza. Il motivo per cui Wes avrebbe preferito ciò non accadesse vien fuori piano piano grazie ai numerosi flashback che Browner piazza sapientemente un po' qua e un po' là, proprio nel momento giusto.
Grazie ai ricordi degli eventi accaduti sia durante la notte che nei mesi addietro, Browner ci mostra già dalle primissime pagine l'animo tormentato e un po' ottocentesco di cui Wes è dotato. I sentimenti che Wes prova e ha provato, così puri e forti, sono sì indici della maturità intellettuale fuori dal comune, ma sono anche e soprattutto il frutto di un'infanzia vissuta per metà.
Una madre malata e costretta a letto da molto tempo e, quando la badante non c'è, è lui a doversi occupare di tutto. Un padre pressappoco assente che Wes considera un fallito e che si preoccupa più delle donne da portarsi a letto che della salute dei figli. Una sorella minore che, per cercare di barcamenarsi in una situazione difficile ha inventato un personaggio, Bobby, con il quale cerca di far sorridere il fratello e che offre consigli pratici a tutti.
Appena 220 pagine per raccontare una sola giornata di Wes, la più importante, e farci riflettere su quanto a volte sia ingiusta e pesante la vita per un adolescente d'animo gentile come il protagonista di questo libro.
Un libriccino dolcissimo, la cui lettura destabilizza piacevolemente il lettore. Un libro malinconico, dai colori caldi dell'autunno ma dalla luce fredda dell'inverno.

Recensione tratta dal mio blog: Recensione Tutto accade oggi

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest, fluid, heartwrenching, and hopeful -- the author left his heart on the page with this one. Jesse Browner’s close third-person narration of this middle class, straight-As teenager in Greenwich Village is a model of the form, such that we come away from the novel feeling like we know Wes incredibly well, and through him we know his family, friends, and the two girls in his life confusingly competing for his affections.

To love this novel you must first love Wes himself. I find that easy. Wes is earnest, wounded, and searching for meaning. He has that particular brand of harsh judgment so particular to teenagers who feel disappointed or abandoned by their parents, but he has deep wells of compassion that he is learning how to access. Wes is the kind of 17-year-old kid who rations his own listening to his current favorite album “so as not to wear out its pleasures too quickly.” One presumes Wes would have performed very well on the marshmallow test.

Browner pulls every speck of emotional weight out of this one day through Wes’s running analysis of events and memories. As Wes navigates his day, buffeted by various teenagery obligations and angsts, he mentally performs exquisite close readings of, just to name a few, The Library of Babel , Brave New World , The Master and Margarita , Love You Forever , Bob Ross’s “The Joy of Painting”, and, quite extensively, War and Peace , on which he must write a paper to replace his unsuccessful submission of “Language, Poetry, and Narrative Trope in Operator’s Manual for Rifle, 5.56-MM, M16 (1005-00-856-6885) Rifle, 5.56-MM, M16A1 (1005-00-073-9421)”.

By now, you should already know whether this book is for you. You’ll either appreciate Browner’s elegant formality, his deep attention to emotional detail, his intellectualism mixed with the simple agony of having to sort out when in one chaotic day you are going to find time to walk the dog -- or you won’t.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes place over the course of one day: from Wes arriving home very early in the morning, to when he goes out to walk the dog that evening. Unlike many books that take place in short time periods, there aren't extensive flashbacks; only enough to fill in the necessary parts of the story, and even then they aren't flashbacks as much as a natural meandering of Wes's thoughts. Wes is a particular kind of teenager - intelligent, meditative, bookish - ahead of his years in some ways, but appropriately teenager-ish in others. More than almost any other novel I have read, Everything Happens Today captures the ongoing stream of thoughts and actions of one person throughout one day.

Wes thought that it was probably too late for his own father, too; he had invested too much already in all the paraphernalia that the blind need to get around in this world... (121)

How could he be sure he was in love? How could he know, now that it was so important to know?Is it easier to tell that you're in love if you've never been in love before, because it's something so different from anything you've ever felt, or if you have been in love before, because you recognize the feeling? And if you can't remember the feeling, is it because you've never had it or because it's different every time? (131)

[On cooking and life] But even if you do get it wrong, there is something reassuring and simple in the knowledge that certain rules and certain procedures, if followed, will and must yield certain results. If you understand what you want, and precisely what you need to do to get it, you ought not to end up with your heart broken or your thoughts confused. (195-96)

It wasn't the love that was difficult; it was the communication of love. It was the willingness of the other to be loved and to look for the love. (208)

[Olivia Loving · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this at the Brooklyn Book Festival a week before it was released elsewhere. I picked it up because I saw a lot of myself in it: I'm living in Greenwich Village, had been a teenager in prep school, etc.

The book was great. I just don't think Browner needs to be as insecure writing in a modern world. He was so intent on slipping in technological bits - "My iPhone chimed," over-abbreviated texts - that they came out wrong. And if you mess up on content in your book, even a little bit, it reduces its legitimacy and focuses attention on its author author. "I don't subscribe to her tweet," the narrator said to a friend. That doesn't make sense; he'd have to have said "Twitter" or "tweets." This might seem like semantics, but it's really not. Because of that element, the book became less true and honest than if it had been taken out.

I did like the premise of the book, and I think it's hard to make something like that work. It's hard to write a book focusing on just one day, and have the whole POINT of the novel to be about that day. Wes was a good character. His worries about girls, especially Delia, became a little too much, just because they didn't seem so realistic. I can't imagine someone "loving" someone from afar, sleeping with someone else, then spending more time worrying about the first girl.

But Jesse Browner is really talented, and my favorite part of his writing were the little things I picked up from its narrator. Like: If you focus on one thing, not on white space, that's better for meditation. Or just the truths about family and life. Not sure if I'd recommend, but I enjoyed.