I did not finish this novel as it was too depressing for my liking. I understand that this is the sort of genre that a lot of people will enjoy. The book was well written

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

This is quite sad (and yet hopeful) account on life of a young woman who has had all the odds against her all her life. So yes, it could only go wrong. Or, maybe, not - and young Beth tries to go down the memory lane, motivated by her therapist, in trying to find the good things about her life. And we are going with her to see how easy was it for Beth to choose the wrong turns again and again. But also, how there is not only the black-and-white colour scheme in life.

I kept getting sad while reading this novel. Because yes, sometimes we are victims of our circumstances (in this case, the mental health problems and neglect). It is very hard not to listen to the very persuasive voices in our heads and to love ourselves the healthy way. Especially, if there was no one to show us.
Yet, Beth is not any "damaged goods". She has a light in herself, and this light is shining even if she has been choosing one mistake after another. This inner light also brings friends into her life, a few moments of laughter and shared happiness. Might seem like just a small thing, these few moments - but they shows that there are other possibilitues, that people do love Beth the way she is. That even the big "bad thing" she done (revealed only in the last chapters) might not be end for her and that she can forgive herself and that she can choose the new beginning for herself everyday.

It sadly also shows how we as a society (and individuals) are not really seeing the suffering people in front of us. Sure, we are not clairvoyants. But it also is a choice - to offer something even so small like a kind word.

Beth, good luck to you. And all the Beths of life.

Beth has done a very bad thing... but does that make her a bad person? I didn’t look too closely at this book before I dived in and wow. This is a hard hitting book. I nearly cried several times. This is a really good read and if you haven’t yet then I would seriously recommend it. It makes you look at people as a whole rather than just as moments. I completed this in a day and haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

A hard hitting book written by Bethany who finds herself in prison after doing a bad thing. In discussions with her therapist she is asked to list and consider all the good things in her life.

A great book reinforcing the idea that everyone deserves a second chance.

All the Good Things by Clare Fisher

Summary: Therapist suggests to a woman in jail that she write about the ‘good’ things that have happened in her life. Slow reveal of the ‘bad’ thing that she’d done to land her in jail.

Thoughts: I never quite connected with the main character, Beth, although I enjoyed the writing style and the structure of the story. Oddly, a week after finishing the book I couldn’t recall the ‘bad thing’ – that says a lot. There’s an interesting theme around remorse but joining the dots between Beth’s self-awareness, intelligence, childhood, and time in jail didn’t work for me in the way that I think the author intended.

Recommended for readers who enjoyed: Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

2.5/5

I received my copy of All the Good Things from the publisher, Penguin Books UK, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Bethany Mitchell does a terrible thing and now she's in prison. Her therapist thinks that it would be helpful for her to make a list of all the good things in her life that have happened. It's not easy for Beth but she's trying her best.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It has a very intriguing and interesting concept and I liked how the story turned out. But my biggest concern was I couldn't feel any connection or at least symphatize with the main character. I personally liked that the author used the items on Beth's list as chapter titles. I also appreciated how well the author handled the mental illness theme in this book.

Beth has done a very bad thing, but does that make her a very bad person? She does as her therapist advises and explores the answer to this question by making a list of all the good things in this world. What Beth and the reader uncover along this path of self-discovery is that most things live in the grey sphere of the world; where bad isn't always terrible and good doesn't always mean great.

This absolutely compelling narrative and its intriguing chapter titles had me sold from the very first page! I found Beth's distinct voice and the nuances of her personal history made for utterly commanding reading and I devoured this in every spare moment of my day.

The events this novel leads up to revealing are horrifying! Brutal! Unforgivable? I was emotionally taxed throughout my entire reading of this, so great was my affinity with the protagonist, and the ending brushed harshly against this rawness until I was transfigured into a state of numb acceptance. It seems the author purposefully pushed against the reader's boundaries until the only way to view the horrors pronounced is with an openness that belies all the preconceived judgements that would have come with a chronological order to the story.

I adore stories that make me think and ones where I feel I come away from reading them as a sightly different person. This is one such tale. This discourses on some emotional and triggering topics, and manages to do so in both a confrontational and yet a graceful way. Whilst this certainly made for painful reading, it also provided a reason for doing so other than just emotionally bruising the reader. We are invited to embark on our own learning curve as the story progresses, as a moralistic edge is provided that advises against pre-judgement and the belief in one perspective

This book was not written or plotted in a way that i personally enjoyed it.
I think the idea was nice, and i know there is an audience for this book that will love how it is written.
But for me the strange mixture of harder to talk about topics and a writing style that i am guessing is supposed to be funny or at least light hearted where just strange for me and didn't work.
Not every book works for every reader, but its not a bad book at all.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It's compelling and certainly made me feel things (there may have been some tears...), but it won't rock your socks off by any means. An interesting set-up that kept my attention despite a lack of mystery. A one-sitting read, so save it for a rainy day.

I was absolutely blown away by this book. It’s a heartfelt, moving story that’s so very genuine & believable that it stays with you for a long time afterwards. Highly recommended.

I thought this was a captivating story and really well written. I’ve recommended it to my book club. Thank you.

This novel is such an incredible read, it’s one of those books that really got under my skin and I still find myself thinking about Beth. I loved the idea of the novel – we know from the start that Beth is in prison and she’s working with a therapist to find good things in her life that she can focus on. The novel is told via the stories Beth is writing down. I knew I was going to like this novel but I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. The novel slowly shows how Beth’s life has been, and we gradually begin to fit it all together and to really understand how she has been let down. I began to get a sense of why Beth might be in prison but I was hoping I was wrong. This book broke my heart, I actually shed tears as I was reading and I just wanted to reach into the page and make things be different than they were. This is a book that will stay with me, and one I’d like to re-read again in the future. I highly recommend this book, it’s stunning!

I found this a little slow, didn’t overly enjoy, found myself reading it to finish it not to rush to get to the end

Easy read, likeable main character, voices not always clearly differentiated

Well I really enjoyed this book. It's basically about a girl called Bethany who's in jail for doing a "bad thing" it's a journey of her descivering herself basically. She talks to a therapists who tells her to make a list of all the good things that have happened in her life and away you go! This is a list of the good things. You learn about beth and her life and what the bad thing was along with other bad things that have happened to her to make her who she is today. Won't say anymore as it's hard to review without spoiling it tbh, but I will say I loved it and it was an emotional and very enjoyable read! Loved it

Such an interesting concept, I really liked how this story turned out. The vocabulary was really good and the writing style itdelf was incredible. I missed *something* though, I think I just didn't completely connect with the mc

Such a sad and sorry tale but ultimately uplifting. I liked the way Beth took responsibility for her life and rose above the circumstances dealt to her.