Everything Matters: A Novel

All the gloom and doom in this book made for a most depressing read. However, I did like some of the things Currie mentioned like some of the TV shows and songs throughout the years. The whole premise of the story was a bit hokey, to me anyway. What would be the purpose of knowing the world was going to end at a certain time when barely born into this world? I guess it made for a decent story, though. The whole thing with the drugs and alcohol through the entire book was a bit overboard.
I did like Junior's dad. At first, I thought he was one of those dads who is there, just to work, pay bills, and put food on the table. I also decided he was always angry at the wife, kids, job, everybody and everything. I was waiting for him to beat up the mom and the two boys. After the first narrative of his (pg. 38), I changed my opinion. He was simply a survivor of a war, a promising career in baseball that he gave up, a wife, two kids, a mortgage, and a finicky vehicle. He really did care for his family. I was pulling for him to beat the cancer.
This book is different from the others we read, because the parents are very much present. Even later, when the mom gets so deep into the alcohol that she is basically ineffective, the two boys did not dismiss her. I realized that both boys idolized their dad, not only was he larger than life physically ( at 6'5"), but he helped them to grow and mature in his own quiet way.
The mom was a product of the times: many wives depended on the husbands during the 1970s. She didn't work, they had the one vehicle, and the dad had to be called at work to come home and help her deal with any crises that came up. It would be a little later that women would decide they could manage on their own just as well if not better, thank you very much.
One of the things in the book I did like was about how everybody is here and everybody and everything they do is important in this wide and mostly wacky world. The actions of people affect society, other people, the environment (which was brought out through Ruby toward the end), and future generations in many ways big and small.
I didn't like the book as a pleasure read but I do believe there are some lessons that could be pulled from it pages. I think it would be more for adults than YA, mainly because of the storyline as well as the trip down memory lane through the past 40 years. Young people think so little of death and the end of days, that I don't know if they would get much out of this book. Some would stop and think while others passed right over it.