Amy is working as a housekeeper at a yacht club for the summer as she awaits her third and final attempt to pass her exam to become an EMT. She has failed the exam twice, not because she doesn’t know the answers, but because she gets severe test anxiety. To help overcome her anxiety, she decides to administer a placebo treatment to herself. As you might imagine, the treatment may be far worse than the cure.
The main character in Nobody, Somebody, Anybody is a hot mess! There’s really no other way to describe her. I am convinced she has some deep mental health issues that need treatment. She totally lives in a dream world to the point of being delusional. She is very narcissistic. To say Amy has an obsessive compulsive personality would not be a stretch. She is also a very anxious individual who spends way too much time alone. When things don’t go her way, she becomes vindictive. She is obsessed with Florence Nightingale and strives to incorporate her wisdom into every aspect of her life, including cleaning rooms. Not someone you would want to be around for any length of time for sure.
While there were parts of this story that were very funny, I had a hard time wading through the delusions and self loathing of the main character. I wanted to feel some compassion for her because she did suffer the loss of her mother and grief was a contributing factor to some of her issues, but I think her issues go much deeper than grief. I just couldn’t relate to her at all.
There is some profanity in the story (though it is not heavily used) and some of it is vulgar. There is also one sex scene that is a bit graphic. Therefore, I would not recommend this book for the young reader.
If you enjoy stories with characters who are trying to live with mental health issues, and some of the funny struggles they encounter, you may well enjoy this book.
A moving and darkly comic debut novel about an anxious young woman who administers a self-made “placebo” treatment in a last-ditch attempt to rebuild her life
Amy Harney has a job as a chambermaid for the summer, but on August 25, she will take the exam to become an EMT (third time’s the charm!) and finally move on with her life. In the meantime, she doesn’t mind scrubbing toilets immaculately clean or tucking the sheet corners just so. In fact, she tells herself that her work is a noble act of service to the rich guests at the yacht club.
Amy’s profound isolation colors everything: her job, her aspirations, even her interactions with the woman at the deli counter. And as the date for the EMT exam comes closer, Amy’s anxiety ratchets up in a way that is both familiar and troubling. In desperation, she concocts a “placebo” program—a self-prescribed regimen for her confidence, devised to trick herself into succeeding.
When her landlord, Gary, starts to invite her over for dinner—to practice his cooking skills as he awaits approval of his Ukrainian fiancé’s visa—Amy makes her first friend since her mother’s passing. Alongside this unexpected connection comes a surge of hopeful obsession that Amy knows she must reckon with before the summer’s end.
Tender and laugh-out-loud funny, Nobody, Somebody, Anybody explores the shadowy corners of a young woman’s inner world of grief, delusion, and self-loathing, revealing the creeping loneliness of modern life and our endless search for connection. Kelly McClorey captures the hilarity and heartbreak of American ambition.
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