Totally Fine (And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself) by Tiffany Philippou. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Grief is universal, yet no two people experience it the same way. When Tiffany Philippou’s boyfriend Richard died by suicide while they were both at university, her life was turned upside down. But Philippou kept insisting that she was totally fine. The truth is that her grief was intertwined with shame, a shame Philippou did not know how to handle.
University and partying go hand in hand, so masking her true feelings wasn’t too difficult even from people who knew Richard and were also grieving. Once she finished university, Philippou threw herself into the world of start-ups. Working ridiculously long hours was another way of hiding from her feelings. As was not speaking about Richard with her colleagues. Eventually, Philippou moves to New York for a fresh start.
You cannot outrun grief. And shame that is untended will fester until you have no choice but to confront it.
At times Totally Fine (And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself) feels disjointed, which for me felt like an accurate representation of the messiness of grief but I can understand why it could detract from the reading experience for other people.
Totally Fine (And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself) by Tiffany Philippou is published by Thread and is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook format.
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