“We Are Not Ourselves” by Matthew Thomas – The Myth of the American Dream

The idea of going from rags to riches and gaining all that we've never had and always dreamed of is something innumerable people think about night and day, and needless to say, it has been explored through literary works through and through.

However, we never get tired of the idea, and that is certainly what drives Eileen, the protagonist in We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas, a work of literature that has made a splash on an international scale, praised by virtually every book review out there.

In any case, the story told here begins with Eileen's quest to escape her tumultuous life in Woodside, Queens along with the rampant alcoholism she must deal with at home, and she eventually finds an escape route in Ed Leary, a young scientist who is up on the rise in this world. Fast forward to a little bit later, and the two find themselves married and with a son.

However, Eileen seemingly isn't done striving for more, for what she doesn't have, and consistently pushes her husband to have a better life in every aspect; money, friends, dwelling... everything.

Unfortunately, around that time the dream-like family Eileen had always sought begins to unravel, and so the persevering and caring mother finds herself desperately fighting to keep the family together, to find solace from the doom looming over them and restore hope in the future they've always longed for.

As you can probably tell from that short description of the plot, this isn't the kind of fast-paced book that will have you turning one page after the next. On the contrary, this makes for a slower, more thorough and thoughtful experience, one where you can enjoy watching the characters slowly and intricately develop through the many unusual situations they are thrust into.

Now, it is true that this style does render a few sections of the book a bit more tedious than they should have been, but rest assured it won't knock the joy of reading out of you as there are always elements that make your brains work and retain your attention.

Even though the characters may not exactly always be likeable, and in some cases downright infuriating, they always remain one thing: human. Their struggles are felt by the reader, and the decisions they make are imperfect, just like they are.

I believe it would be accurate to say that on the whole, this is a story about regular people being dropped into irregular life situations and finding ways of persevering through them.

In the end, you'll feel some sort of connection to the characters, even the ones you don't like, merely because they act in realistic ways and have an understandable logic.

We Are Not Ourselves probably isn't a book for everyone, but it gives such a solid, touching and relatable story that I believe anyone who enjoys slower-paced literature, character development and the exploration of the human condition will have a wonderful experience with it.

This is one of those books that transcends genres in my opinion, in the sense that it can stand as a magnificent work on its own, one that may very well become a classic many years down the line.

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Matthew Thomas Personal site Matthew Thomas is an American writer who has a BA from the University of Chicago, an MA from the Writing Seminars at John Hopkins University, as well as an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. He only recently published his first novel, We Are Not Ourselves and was shortlisted for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, and was dubbed as one of the best fiction books of the year by numerous publications.