I really enjoyed this one! The writing was really up my street, and I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of messy twenty-somethings: this is a vibe that often feels overdone, but I think Sarah Thankam Mathews brought something fresh and nuanced to this dynamic. It's set in Milwaukee, for one thing, which is a city I'd never read about (I love reading about cool-sounding cities I'm not familiar with!). The characters, the strong but occasionally fraught friendships, the way politics is organically woven into the story and dialogue, and the sense of being out of your depth in your early 20s all felt very authentic to me. Particularly the parts of the precariousness of existing in America, especially as a first-generation immigrant.

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I am so happy that I have finally picked this book up! 'All This Could Be Different' is a modern, emotional yet comical, engaging bildungsroman read. I received an ARC copy from the publisher before release, but as always, life got busy. Regardless, it is easy to understand why this was a 2022 National Book Award Finalist.

As a debut read, the author has set a high writing standard, making me eager to read more in the future. Despite being relatively short compared to others on the market, this covers many topics, including; sexuality, immigration, and privilege. This would make an ideal Book Club read, as there are a lot of conversation starters within these pages! The conclusion was a little predictable, but despite this, it was still enjoyable.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to know these characters, and despite our narrator leading a complex life, the way she lives in the moment says a lot. This could benefit from being marketed as a YA read, as t the younger generation - particularly those within the LGBTQIA+ community - will be able to relate to this on a more personal level than me. However, I recommend picking up and reading this book to all.

I was delighted to get a copy of this novel, which depicts a snapshot of the life of a queer millennial immigrant. I got vibes of Sally Rooney and Lily King from the synopsis and was expecting to meet characters who I could thoroughly relate to and cheer on.

Sneha has just graduated in the middle of a recession but she has landed an entry-level corporate job that allows her to live in Milwaukee and send money to her parents in India. She enjoys a life of socialising with her friends and begins dating women, developing an infatuation with a beautiful dancer called Marina. However, hard times are on their way and Sneha is facing a job loss and eviction. She is also struggling to get close to anyone and realises that she may have to confront the horrors of her past, if she is to be happy in the future.

Sneha’s job is very reminiscent of the kind of thing that many twenty-somethings fall into after they graduate. It’s almost certainly not what they want to do but it’s something that will pay a living wage. The situation with her boss and the job deteriorates throughout the narrative and I thought this was a really relatable yet not often spoken about phenomenon. In many novels about millennial characters with dull jobs, those jobs appear to be quite stable with progression and that has always baffled me because it is so at odds with what I’ve experienced in the real world. So, I take my hat off to the author for depicting that realistically!

Sneha comes from very humble beginnings and her family’s story will be similar to that of many immigrants to the western world. This is one reason I couldn’t work out why Sneha seemed to come across as very narrow-minded and stubborn at times. Perhaps it is a sign of our cultural differences, but I did find it hard to warm to her.

My first realisation that I didn’t like Sneha came from her refusal to see Tig, a plus size Black woman, as a romantic option. As the story goes on, they build a really lovely friendship and I was so happy that happened. However, her initial disgust of Tig’s body really raised my hackles and it wasn’t the only time that happened.

It happened again when Sneha dismisses non-binary and genderqueer people as ‘elitist, American nonsense’. The fact that her friend Amit, who is also Indian, is the one explaining gender differences to her suggests that Sneha’s transphobia perhaps isn’t a product of her culture. By the end, Sneha is around gender diverse people and she isn’t cruel to them, suggesting that perhaps she has learned but she never addresses her previous attitudes towards genderqueerness. I could have forgiven her for making these small-minded comments had she been a teenager but I believe she is supposed to be 23. It got Sneha and I off on a really bad foot and while I slowly thawed during the following pages, I still didn’t really love her by the end.

Marina is a great character who appears to be much more emotionally mature than Sneha. Due to this, I didn’t think that they were a great romantic match but I knew that Sneha could learn a lot from Marina’s openness. Like Sneha, I too fell a bit in love with her and could have watched her twirl across the pages for far longer.

Like many immigrants, Sneha struggles with her identity, which is what the title of the book alludes to. After her trip back to India, she starts to see her life almost as a split screen of what is and what could have been if she’d made different decisions. It’s her sliding doors moment and the turning point of the book. She starts to make steps to improve her life after this and become the woman she wants to be. To do that, she has to face the abuse she suffered as a child and not allow it to close her off from love and happiness.

There is a really lovely part where Sneha realises that the trees she is looking at are from the seeds she scattered as a child. Those trees exist because she was there before. That thought really drives the second half of the book and forces her to realise that the past shapes the future. I thought this was a really beautiful sentiment and actually quite inspirational for all of us to do better.

All This Could Be Different is an interesting glimpse into the struggles of a millennial immigrant. Although I didn’t wholly like her as a character, she has plenty of lovely friends who I adored. There are some very problematic elements of the book including transphobia, desire for whiteness and objectification of Black bodies. It makes it a tricky book to really love because I felt myself bristling several times but I appreciate what the author was trying to do.

Everyone remembers being young and full of aspirations. Some things never change, even though technology does. There’s the desire to move out of the parental home, becoming even more independent, finding a job, cultivating new or more friendships and romantic relationships. At the heart of this book is finding your way in and growing into young adulthood now Sneha has hit twenty. It’s very much written in the first person for the narrative, so the narrator is telling you, much like a narrator on tv does when looking down the camera lens.

Sneha moves to Milwaukee and restarts life and has to make new friends, but also has work to contend with, especially the property manager.

There’s a bit of a political element at times, featuring Barack Obama, which adds a different element and angle to showing life.

It was an interesting take on a young adult’s life, trying to find her way in the world and in one way or another. Where this book excels is relatability to everyone at that age and passed that age, as there are elements of life that never changes, whenever readers hit their 20’s. For that, it is an entertaining, well observed/experienced read.

This book is wonderful. It is honest, funny, an honest reflection of life - especially from a first generation immigrants point of view; the writing style captures that harsh reality of life, intermingled with friendship, finding yourself and so much more. This book took me a while to read not because I wasn’t enjoying it but because it was so real and hit me quite close to home a few times. It really made me think and feel which for me, is the sign of a truly good book.

All This Could Be Different was in some instances, an unusual book where it is set in the present time and very much a millennial/generation Z book - but doesn’t make me cringe! It actually feels natural, believable and authentic in the way it’s written.

The representation felt natural and well written. The pacing worked well for the book and writing style. I was immersed in the story and rooting for Sneha and just wanting the best for her. This book was not just a book I read but it felt like a whole experience.

My only critique is I was not a huge fan of the sexual content but that’s more a personal preference than a critique on the book itself, but to people who are considering picking it up who may not be a fan of that either, just something to be aware of!

All This Could Be Different follows Sneha's journey as a first-gen immigrant and recent graduate in Milwaukee. It explores the predudice she faces and highlights the disparity of how we move through the world.

I love that it is full of positive queer representation that isn't white centric, and I am loving seeing more and more diverse stories being told. I was thoroughly charmed by Tig, what a great character.

For me All This Could Be Different's main strength is that author doesn't shy away from making the reader feel uncomfortable, which is extremely powerful and at times very moving. This is offset by some really funny moments that are nestled into the harder topics being covered throughout.

I got a lot from this book, I think it might resonate further / be especially relatable to American audiences as being from the UK I think that some of the more specific cultural nuances may have been a bit lost on me, but this didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book at all. This was an insightful and important read. Thank you to Netgalley, W&N and Orion Publishing Group for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I knew very little about this book and requested it from Netgalley solely based on the cover. Happily for me, it was a lovely read.

This is sad girl lit but not as you know it. It’s an honest, big-hearted gay novel with a first generation Asian-American protagonist who is just trying her best in a world that doesn’t seem to want to go her way.

Sneha’s Indian father has been deported and her parents now live back home in India. She’s holding down what seemed like a promising job as a change consultant that appears to be veering off course, her apartment is being managed by psycho-bitch-from-hell Amy, Sneha is hiding from a past that she wishes to keep buried and living as a gay woman repressing all sorts of feelings around her Indian heritage. What Sneha does have in her favour is a great group of friends as she navigates a tricky period in her life. Can she get things back on track?

Literary but not overly so, hip but not painfully so, warm and zeitgeisty, this is Sorrow and Bliss for a younger generation. I definitely felt a bit old reading it but a likeable cast of characters won this Gen Xer over. 3.5/5 ⭐️

Books like this make me realise again why I love reading, totally enjoyable with no hassles attached, loved it. A warm, funny, uplifting writer to celebrate.

All This Could be Different
By Sarah Thankam Mathews

This novel perfectly captures that segment of life from when you first leave home to stride out on your own to when you attach yourself to another and leave childish things behind.

Sneha was born in India and along with her parents emigrated to the US, but because her father was imprisoned and deported taking her mother with him, she has been left to continue what her parents began, aiming for the bright future that they envisaged for her. She misses them so much but, dutiful daughter that she is, she is crippled with the weight of the responsibility to thrive.

"I staggered under, iridescent and gigantic and veined with a terrible grief, grief for the ways their lives had been compost for my own"

She is so aware of the cycles of pressure, rebellion, freedom, before finally choosing the traditional path, that she cannot picture herself ever coming out to her parents about her own sexuality.

There is so much to relate to as Sneha finally gets her first job, moves to a town where she knows nobody and settles into her first apartment. She is on the brink of the rest of her life, but she cannot escape her disadvantages; female, immigrant, precarious job security, untenable housing situation, queer and her toxic personality trait of always assuming responsibility for faults of others.

Over time she curates a curious mix of friends and lovers. The relationships between them remind me of "Friends". They are very well developed characters, and I came to love each of them, especially Tig and Amit.

A recurring theme is the tension between being with the people who enrich you at the expense of your career goals and achieving your pathway to economic success, but without those you love, and need.

The author chooses to exclude quotation marks, which I know can be a problem for some people, it doesn't bother me. The conversations flow so naturally that I was never left wondering "who said that?" Sometimes thoughts blend into spoken words, it doesn't matter, it's not confusing.

This is a long enough book, and I found myself truly submerged in the story. I don't think it ever dragged, and I found it quite propulsive. I especially appreciate what a big role Milwaukee plays. Lots of places, bars, restaurants, clubs get name checked and I was thrilled to see they are all real actual places.

What I wasn't prepared for was how crushed I was when I got to the end. I felt so lonely for everyone that it I couldn't even construct a review until now, several days later.

Thanks to #netgalley and #orionpublishing for kindly allowing me review this fabulous book which I will be pressing into every hand I know.

Thank you Net Galley, W&N and Orion Publishing Group for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. The writing was just brilliant and I felt so emotionally attached to this book. The characters had so much depth and complexity that you really got to know them and easily saw character development.

Additionally, the diversity within this book and the stories it told was just beautiful. A South Asian Lesbian protagonist and a gender fluid Black character, with both amazingly written stories which clearly had so much love and care put into the characters to reflect their communities.

The writing flowed so smoothly, making it very easy to read and keep up with what was going on. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because I tend to read books with a bit more action and events happening, but this is such a great book.

I would recommend this book to anyone - I really enjoyed reading this.

There's a definite familiarity to a lot of All This Could Be Different. The messy, drifting, twenty-something female protagonist is an archetype of contemporary literature. As a first-generation immigrant and a queer woman, Sneha offers a different perspective and a welcome complexity that reveals both the similarities between women of this age and the problems of insecurity and instability in relationships, work and home as well as the particular nuances experience by lesbians and women of colour, Despite this fresh perspective, I found myself struggling to finish, Sneha's derisive if vulnerable tone seemed to suck any tension or change of pace out of the story and I quickly lost interest in her fixation on Marina, a young woman whose life keeps intersecting her own. Sneha expects a lot from her fiends but has a habit of repaying them with judgement, from weight to pronouns (a transphobic rant is a particularly unpleasant moment, though she does exhibit some change in sentiments later). She vaguely unpleasant in a number of ways but not in a particularly interesting way and I grew tired of her by the rather pat ending.

I absolutely loved this novel. This was definitely helped by the fact that it was exactly what I was looking for at the time I picked it up - and, in all honesty, the kind of book I am often searching for: a compelling plot, a protagonist I can root for, a cast of well-developed characters and a solid narrative arc rooted in a specific (and fully realised) time and place. I guess a lot of people might be looking for similar things in a book, but this one is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. I loved this so much but in a way I am finding hard to articulate. The characters and events of the novel lived on in my head even when I wasn't reading, and almost a month later I still think about it from time to time. Do yourself a favour and give this a try! I'll certainly be reading everything else Sarah Thankam Mathews writes.

All This Could Be Different is a novel about love, precarity, and expectations, as a first-generation immigrant tries to be successful whilst also having an on-off relationship and friend dramas. Sneha moves to Milwaukee for a new job, having to navigate new and old friends, a tempestuous property manager, and finding the local gay bars, all whilst being a whiz at Excel. Sneha fleetingly meets Marina on a dating app, and they end up circling one another, often not communicating, as everyone's flaws come to the surface and things don't go as Sneha hoped.

The book is written in a distinctive first person voice, which took a moment to get into, but I found it effective in building up Sneha's voice. It's not a book that is particularly about plot, being the sort of modern novel that focuses on a character drifting through their life and failing to face up to things until they reach catastrophe, but there's a good cast of characters who all have some kind of plotline. I liked the satirical elements about project management and the workplace, and the fact that the protagonist seems to use these skills for other people in their personal lives, but not to sort out her own.

However, I found the vague subplot in which Sneha mocks the idea of someone using 'they' pronouns and the concept of non-binary genders, and then later does start using 'they' for people, a bit confusing, as it didn't really bring much to the novel other than making Sneha unlikeable and putting non-binary people reading the book (like me) on edge wondering what direction it was going to go in. I read an ARC so maybe this element will be rounded out before release, but I didn't feel like it satisfyingly went anywhere, with Sneha still being snide about 'bridespeople' at the end of the book, and I felt the book needed to engage a bit more with Sneha's feelings or changing understanding to stop it just feeling like something edgy to include.

There's plenty of interesting commentary on love and race and parental expectations, as well as the modern world of work, but I couldn't quite connect with All This Could Be Different. I liked how the characters were flawed, but the ending felt both too neat and not quite like it satisfyingly concluded the book.

Books with messy protagonists in their 20s are undoubtably having their moment right now and this fits in perfectly. Sneha is a queer immigrant Indian-American who moves to Milwaukee for a job and has to create a whole new life for herself. She is making good money, going on dates and forging some lasting friendships.

Things are good! She is able to send money home to her parents, her college friend Thom comes to work with her and she enters into a relationship with a woman called Marina who she has had a crush on. Then things start to take a turn.

I really felt like I was living with Sneha while reading this book. She is flawed and often doesn’t know the right thing to say or do. It was a very moving depiction of being a first gen/immigrant in America and what that can emotionally and structurally be like.

I very much enjoyed this. The friendships were a true standout and the supporting cast of characters, especially Tig, was great. I can see this being extremely popular in the months to come!

Thanks to NetGalley and W&N for the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Weidenfeld & Nicolson for this eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's relatable, funny and queer, so it's definitely a must-read. I finally found a book that covers the crisis that women in their 20s face, and for many aspects I could see myself in the protagonist. I'm ready to re-read this book again. I don't care that I just finished it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC. All thoughts are my own.

4.5 stars

I read this book a few days ago but its taken some time for me to gather my thoughts on it.

This books is very different from what I normally read bit from the blurb I was very intrigued and knew I needed to read it. Once I started I couldn't put it down. It's characters are so real, so human, so flawed and above all so relatable. It doesn't shy away from showing who these characters really are, in all aspects.
I'm definitely not the right person to discuss this in detail but it portrays, what seems to me, based on my limited knowledge, a very authentic narrative of what it can be like for a queer, first generation/immigrant Asian American. It is really a beautiful put together piece of art.

Given the central character is Indian American and a lesbian, this book contains depictions of racism (heavy on the micro aggressions) and some homophobia. One thing that I do also want to point out is that there is one section where the main character says something transphobic. I feel like it was resolved in a natural, if dissatisfying way, later in the book but since this was an ARC and I couldn't find any trigger warnings I just wanted to mention that it is there.