At Writing, Running, and Chasing the Dragon, Mark Matthews, author of Milk-Blood, included Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine among his favorite reads of 2014.

I loved this book. The kind of book you read where the author wrote it just for you. The group dynamics were so spot on, and the author referencing “Yalom”, who is the guru for therapy group dynamics and progression, showed that he did his homework. What worked so well for me is that, from my experience working in mental health, the unique affliction felt by the participants of the group are so true to how people feel in therapy: the sense of oddness, that nobody can relate to them because of their oddness, the initial mistrust, ways that trust is gained through self-disclosure and confrontation and identifying ourselves in others. Also, how the group dynamics start to bleed into interactions outside of the group, and behavior gets ‘practiced’ and then reported back to others. Some PHD student somewhere should use this book for a thesis.

Check out the rest of Matthews’ selections at Writing, Running, and Chasing the Dragon.

For information on We Are All Completely Fine, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.