I'm Fine and Neither Are You

I am very touched by this story of sorrow, strife, marital discord, relationships between women, the various musts that are placed upon us or worse, those we place ourselves. This book had a very refreshing view to how we should look at ourselves and what we should expect of ourselves.Camille Pagán does an excellent job of showing the many circus rings that the average woman has to perform for in their daily life. Our protagonist, Penny, is very much her own person, but very relatable as well. We see through her eyes the multitude of issues and heartbreaks that life brings us. We also see the joys and we definitely learn something from reading this story. That is a Hallmark of this wonderful author. I sincerely recommend this book.I must put something out there that bothered me throughout the book. The focus on "The Opioid Epidemic". Yes, there are people who are addicted to opioids. Yes there are still people dying from this addiction. However, this issue is something that grew out of control due to pushes by the pharmaceutical industry over the past two+ decades, little to no controls in place, lack of information on how to handle ones medications, information to protect our children, and loopholes one could drive a bus through. What is not told is that there have been great pushes to fix these issues, with great success. There are a multitude of measures implemented to fix these holes. Much is largely taken care of by "mapping" patients in a new database kept in real time, thus allowing any doctor, dentist or pharmacist (who now by law all must use first ) to check to see if/what each patient has been dispensed, to prevent Doctor shopping and multiple prescriptions.The issue of the opioid problem has actually turned on itself and now people like me, who have documented, unassailable proof of chronic pain are now being forced to go without or to greatly cut down on the amount of medication prescribed. I've seen commercials from the pharmaceutical industries touting their new products that are supposedly not addicting. That's what they have said about so many of their other products, only to find out in a decade or so that they are quite addictive. Now we have "Pain Refugees', people who are not receiving the pain management they NEED.I am upset that people are in a lot of pain, we have the ability to lessen it greatly, yet all of the hoopla over the epidemic that has been as contained as possible has made doctors now vastly under-prescribe for pain. This is WRONG. You may think that this is all well and good, but I hope you don't end up in your second horrible car accident that wasn't your fault with terrible spinal injuries or break your leg in two places. Because all you're going to get is Motrin and a lecture on addiction. These both are real situations and the person who couldn't get anything for his broken leg ended up snorting heroin and dying. he didn't die because he was snorting too much oh, he died because there was fentanyl in it. Fentanyl in the heroin that he had to turn to because our medical system has made a decision for us. If you don't live with chronic pain, then count yourself lucky. I wish I would have known how lucky I was before I had to deal with this in and of itself, without compounding it buy a forced reduction by my wonderful pain management doctor. I'm lucky to have this doctor, he knows my history, he is very understanding, and I have no problems following the various measures put in place to make sure that I Don't stray. He trusts me because he can. And he feels bad that he has to lower my dosage. But he, the man who is specialized in pain management for 30 years and who holds a second degree in addiction, can't make a decision about his patient's care. That's ridiculous.What is far sadder is that you don't hear the stories of those who are in pain and cannot get the care and the medications they need. Their life becomes one huge Sharp knife repeatedly stabbed until some can no longer take it and they end up killing themselves. But we don't hear those stories on the news. We don't hear the cry for the people who take their medications as they are prescribed, who truly need to be treated with pain medication, and who are now left trembling with pain and fear. We don't hear about the millions of people who will not step foot into a hospital if they are on pain medication, because the immediate assumption is that anybody who's on an opiate is now that that person must be drug-seeking. I'm one of the people who won't go to the hospital. I tell them I don't want their pain medicine, I give them all of my information, I give them my doctors information, tell them I will just take my own medication while I'm there which they don't allow, and then they refuse to run any tests on me and just treat me like garbage. I almost died from an ectopic pregnancy because of this. So, just because it's the latest scare, do some research. Opiates are powerful, but they work

Title: I'm Fine and Neither Are YouAuthor: Camille PaganPublisher: Lake Union PublishingReviewed By: Arlena DeanRating: FourReview:"I'm Fine and Neither Are You" by Camille PaganMy Rationalization:I believe this could be a relatable story to anyone that has gone through what Penny had gone through. Now when she was now trying to fix things in her life...with her husband, her friend [Jenny's husband], her career, parenting, which indeed carried over to her family [her father] and even a noisy neighbor. This story touches so well with 'the complications of friendships [which explores addiction and maybe suicide], ups and downs in marriage with Penny being the head provider, a wife, and a mother.' Even though I found this novel heartbreaking it was still heartwarming with some touches of humor parts that will keep your interest by turning the pages to see what was going on next.A question that will be answered...would Penny be able to fix all of these things that were so important to her now after the death of her best friend Jenny? I thought this was a very thought-provoking read that will give you pause at the end to even evaluate ones their own life story especially if your story is similar to this one. I enjoy reading how this author was able to explore the 'dynamics of relationships between lovers, friends and parent's child.' By the end of this novel, one can see the courage that Penny presented in resolving past issues to present on to second chances that seemed to set her life for the future with more happiness. If you are looking for a story that is very engaging you have come to the right place for "I'm Fine and Neither Are You" will leave you with a different perspective of 'life, family and even love.'

So, I typically like stories like this, where people/situations appear perfect, but in reality, its anything but. This was my Kindle First pick for March, and as much as I wanted to like it and thought it had some good messages, ultimately it fell flat for me.I liked the message it sent that couples (people, in general) don't communicate enough, and that there's so much that can be fixed by just communicating more effectively. And homing in on the point that social media portrays only the "highlight reel" of one's life. Also, beautiful cover and great book title!I didn't care much for our FMC/narrator, and I wasn't sure if it was just because I couldn't relate to her, a working mother trying to hold her family together. And she came off as very whiny, and annoying after awhile. I didn't care if her and her husband made up at the end. Seemed like everything got better for them very quickly, when in reality, it takes much longer to make a permanent change. I guess I was hoping for something...a little more dramatic as far as family secrets and the friend's death? Also, there were a couple of subplots that seemed like they went nowhere (such as Penny and Russ).I liked the messages the book was trying to send, but ultimately, the story or the characters didn't resonate with me.

A very real book about life, marriage, kids. I loved it! I am looking forward to reading more of her books

Extremely honest and brutal. I couldn't stop reading. I felt connected with penny even though I'm not married nor a mom and made me wanna run to hug all my friends and ask them how are their lives are really going.

I expected a different type of book. I constantly thought someone will cheat on someone or someone else dies - so basically something else, more dramatic happens.I'm not sure why I thought something shocking would happen but hey, I read it anyway and it wasn't boring although I have to say if I had known this book is what it is I don't think I would have read it now. It's more a book that makes you think if you do similar things, if you should try changing things, etc. Despite all this it's actually a great book and the husband is almost a dream man with his very understanding personality. Could it be real? I'm sure there are lucky ladies out there.So not bad but won't be my favourite.

A thoroughly enjoyable book, focussing between several relationships. Penny is struggling as a sole breadwinner In a job she tolerates for the money, gone are her dreams. Sanjay her husband is living the dream, writing about music and playing in the band but is he truly happy. Her friend Jenny has the perfect marriage and a hugely successful blog but is she really happy?It is a well written book that weaves the lives of the characters and looks beneath the surface of the gloss, looking at the struggles of individuals to live a lie in an attempt to live up to expectations.

An authentic story about real life struggles in midlife such as love, loss, supporting a family and trying to keep a waning marriage alive. I identified with the character of Penelope and respected the difficult decisions she made throughout. I enjoyed seeing the characters progress and make changes, especially her husband, Sanjay. The story felt very real to me and I would recommend it to anyone interested in stories about family life.