EVERYTHING MATTERS! a novel by Ron Currie, Jr.

What an interesting read. While the plot was good at the beginning and the end, the middle lagged a bit. I liked the numbered segments counting down to Doomsday. When I finished it, I went immediately and scooped up my daughter, Dalyn, and just hugged and kissed on her and told her repeatedly how much I loved her. This novel is a powerful thought provoker, and will definitely give readers some things to ponder.

In this novel, Ron Currie, Jr. explores the theme that we face an infinite number of choices in life and those choices become connected with others. Those choices have consequences - good or bad - that make a real difference. The novel is about discovering the importance of love, making the most of opportunities, and discovering the joys of life. We all know we are going to die. It does not matter if when know exactly when. What matters is that for life to be fulfilling, we must find our own path towards life's meaning.

The story is told through shifting narrators: John "Junior" Thibodeau, his family, his girlfriend Amy, and the Voices Junior has been hearing since in utero and throughout his life. The different narrators give the reader a well-rounded perspective on Junior and the events of the story. The reader sees Junior coming of age, his struggle with alcoholism and heartbreak, and generally trying to make meaning of his life, "Does Anything I Do Matter?"

Currie, Jr. does a good job in developing the characters. The story begins with Junior in utero and the Voices giving him information about his situation in the womb as well as information about his family. At birth, Junior is informed about the end of Earth in about 36 years. This knowledge shapes his life. He slips into an already established family pattern of substance abuse, which is made worse by his question, "Does anything matter?" The Voices continue to give Junior information about people around him and give him guidance throughout his life. The Voices even tell him it is a bad idea to bomb the federal building and tell him the missing ingredient in the cure for his father's cancer. Junior's brother, Rodney, is recovering from teenage cocaine addiction. While his addiction has left him simple-minded, he is a baseball prodigy. Junior's mother, Debbie, is an alcoholic and Junior's father, John Sr., is a workaholic. Amy is Junior's high school sweetheart, who is a victim of abuse at the hands of her own mother.

There were two twists in the story that I'm not happy with. The first is when Junior's dad's cancer is cured but then he dies in a carwreck. The other is when Amy decides she will go with Junior to planet Gliese 689 d, and when she is at the Emigration Registry, she gets blown up by a bomber. Ugh! Just when there was hope, it was quickly snuffed out. But this led to Junior being given a second chance at his life. The end retells the story in a hopeful light.

It was very interesting that Junior could have chosen any "life" to go back and do over, but he chose only to change himself. All events stayed the same, he only changed his actions. It was very touching when his dad had gotten cancer, that Junior let nature take its course. Junior helped to take care of his father and it was difficult for him to see his dad wither away. And in the end, Junior, his daughter Ruby, his wife Amy, his mother and his brother were all together in bed, huddled together, waiting for the end. It's at this moment that Junior concludes even in the loss of everything, everything matters.