Something Bad is Going to Happen

by Jessie Stephens

Adella is facing the dawn of a new year and the end of her twenties - and she's in a psychiatric unit recovering from a mental breakdown. A decade earlier, her life held such promise; she had every option in her hand. How did it come to this?As we go back and walk with Adella through her twenties, she searches for her grand purpose through love, career and travel. At her side through the tumultuous highs and lows is her best friend, Jake, facing his own challenges and opportunities. They both know the future must have something better to offer - but why does it also always feel, in the bottom of their stomachs, as though something bad is going to happen?Raw and revelatory, Something Bad is Going to Happen is a heart-stopping new work from one of Australia's most exciting writers. Dealing with the weight young women bear through pressure, anxiety, rejection, this is a generation-defining novel - wise, witty, deeply compelling.

Genres: Fiction, Mental Health, Book Club, Contemporary, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Romance

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think consuming Mamamia Media made it harder to enjoy this book. It felt like topics which are regularly spoken about on Stephens’s podcasts were being shoe-horned into a novel. Consequently, none of the explored ideas felt particularly profound nor original. Adella is so close to what Stephens has spoken about - right down to the swimming Stephens took up in pregnancy - and there’s just something about chunks of the writing which felt contrived.

As with her last book, I felt like the idea of the novel had so much potential. But while Stephens is hailed for her intelligence, I find her writing style disappointingly simple. This book was glorified as a new Bell Jar, but I did not feel like it expanded my mind at all. Adella is likewise hailed as being “intelligent”. We are told this repeatedly throughout the book by the author. But Stephens fails to be able to show us that Adella is indeed intelligent. She is doing a PhD, but none of Adela’s actions or thoughts suggests she is above average intelligence.

I don’t mind books with unlikable characters. If anything, I find unlikable characters far more interesting. With Adella though, there’s just not much to like nor dislike about her. Despite me empathising with her struggles, I just couldn’t get myself to care very much about Adella as a character. Stephens just uses her as a vehicle to forcefully spoon feed her own ideas, and Adella ends up feeling less like a person and more like the product of a fictionalised and repackaged Mamamia article. She feels incomplete, not due to her depression, but because its as though Stephens couldn’t quite decide if Adella is her own character or in fact just Stephens herself.

The relationship between Adella and Jake was painful to read. Jake existed so Adella could explore a feminist dialogue which felt awkwardly out of place. If ideas were product placement, Adella and Jake’s relationship would be that… the genuine importance of what was being said was lost and instead felt like the reader was being forced to watch a corny feminist infomercial.

Jake is supposed to be the opposite side to Adella, each showing a different outcome to depression. Jake is used for shock factor by being killed off - an inevitable outcome for the side character in a book about mental health. His story line dramatically has a blank page and it feels like suicide is used for drama. It is predictable and disappointing, and dare I say… tacky? Being a book about depression, I thought his demise would be better explored, but his character has even less purpose after death than before it. It really did just feel like attempted tear-jerking through tragedy rather than necessary to plot or point.

There were sections of this book which were engaging. Adella goes to Thailand with her friend and you see how her chaotic choices contribute to a breakdown in the friendship - this section felt authentic and explored friendship without spoon feeding the reader Stephens’s ideals.
I also appreciated how Stephens explored the different facets of depression, and the varying degrees at which it presents. There was so much potential in this book, and so many opportunities to address and explore certain themes in depth. But instead, Stephens writes long dreary and repetitive passages slamming the same point - Adella is very sad and she thinks very negatively. I understand the book is literally about depression… but rather than write pages of the same negative thoughts, a deeper book would have explored the themes in a more clever way. At times I wondered if this was because Stephens was too close to Adella, and the book was less a novel for others and more just a journal.

[Rachel Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I had to put this book down I was planning the next chance to read it. The big and small moments in life are so well articulated. The level of detail and the spiralling of Adella’s internal monologue felt so real, I kept wondering how much of this story belongs to the author.

[Carly Findlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a deep insight into mental illness across generations - mostly focusing on 20something millennials.

Adella is navigating dating and a little about a career. She’s got a couple of close friends (Sophia and Jake), a dysfunctional family and dates lots of terrible men. She hasn’t got her shit together. Honestly, from this book, it sounds exhausting to be a 20 something dating; and I feel this genre is now out of my demographic due to my age and limited dating experience.

There were some great observations about men in the book - mostly about how they treat women terribly, even the good men. There were also some good observations about class and wealth.

There were a few sentences in the book that addressed ableist language and gestures - props for it done respectfully and without using the actual disability slur; stilll demonstrating the issue with the slur. (I shared this praise on my IG and Jessie was thankful for my feedback.) This was really well done and I hope other authors take note.

But there was still lots of casual ableism in the book - with a quote about a blind man, lots of ableist words that pertain to intellect and mental health. There are some great resources around ableist language out there, I recommend writers searching for and engaging with these. IPED has released a free download that may be useful. https://www.iped-editors.org/resource...

I didn't really like any of the characters apart from Adela's best friend Jake. I did have empathy for Adella when her friends felt that she wore them down by her depression; and was sad for her at her birthday dinner. I did relate to not being happy at times you should be your happiest.

It infuriated me that Adella’s main goal was to be loved by men who treated her terribly. And that's really all she focused on. Not her career or mental health. Just terrible men who treated her terribly. I was furious with all of her bad decisions.

Jessie has a good knack for writing dialogue and teasing out feminist issues through conversations and monologues, and that I did enjoy.

3.5/5

[Brooke - Brooke's Reading Life · Rating 2 out of 5]

**2.5 stars**

I couldn't really get into this one. It is by no means badly written or anything like that, it just wasn't for me at the moment. To put it really bluntly, I found it quite depressing for the majority of the book which is actually quite ironic given the very realistic depiction of main characters dealing with mental health issues. The narrative is fairly slow, despite having time jumps, with a lot of internal negative musings by the lead character Adella. I didn't really connect to Adella and found her decision making and personality fairly frustrating. I do think the author has done a wonderful job of depicting a person's gradual mental health breakdown and it is good to shine a light on these matters.
The reviews on Goodreads are quite mixed in this one so I would say give it a go if you are intrigued by the synopsis.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this, expecting a devestatingly real and resonant depiction of depression/mental illness. That's what all the promo had promised and if the author's first book was anything to go by, I had no reason to doubt it would deliver.

I don't want to slam the book because I'm a huge fan of the author, her podcasts, her writing. Suffice to say the first half of the book reads like a young adult novel about 20-somethings and the impact of bad relationships/sex, while the second half (which only seems semi-connected) takes a hard turn into the inner workings of said 20-something dealing with a breakdown.

There are a lot of adjectives. A lot of metaphors about waves. It kind of feels like reading a writing assignment by someone who's trying to hard to be profound.

But I think the main issue is that the main character, or any of the characters for that matter, don't feel fully formed. Or just like there's something missing. For example there's endless description of the main character's inner life- thoughts, feelings, insecurities, fears, etc- but I'm not sure I'm ever told what she even looks like. Short with curly hair seems to be the sum total of it. I've got absolutely zero idea of what any of the side characters look like- if it was mentioned it was in passing and forgetable.

I know that seems like a superficial complaint but without basic things like this it's impossible to form a full or relatable idea of who a character is. And as a result it's hard to care or tolerate the endless self-analysis and navel gazing.

I feel awful for leaving this review, I really do. But the discrepancy between what's been promised and what the book actually is is perhaps it's biggest downfall- expectation accounts for a lot.

For anyone who wants to hear one of the most honest and accurate conversations about mental illness I highly recommend the podcast the author did with Mia Friedman on No Filter. THAT was the problem- I was expecting a fictionalised version of that and it's just...not. Not is it the self-described modern Bell Jar.

XO

[Mads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of just a bunch of middle class Australian clichés strung together. The chapters are full of long, repetitive metaphors and it feels like reading a creative essay by someone trying to get a HD.

Sure, all writers inevitably project their personal experience into their stories, but having listened to the authors podcasts, I think this is so uncreative and a bit lazy.

[Jessica Fealy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I’ve read in a long time. Awful & hard to read in parts. Although my journey has been different (I’m older) - there was still so much the same. Has given me so much to think about regarding what I need to talk to my daughter about as she is moving through her teen years. And why oh why are we so hard on ourselves in this world? ❤️.

[Paris Hardwick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like how this book was written and really struggled reading it. The first half was so slow and some of the time jumps were confusing. The overall idea of showcasing themes of mental health, suicide and suicidal ideation are important but I think this had a lot more potential than what it provided.

[Jasmin Goldberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟

The novel follows Adella through her twenties, following her loves and friendships and ultimately her and her family's struggle with mental illness. It could almost be criticised as being too relatable and real, which made this difficult to read at times but Stephens very precisely captures the struggles of navigating one's twenties with observations being immediately recognisable and also often heart breaking or infuriating. Easily devoured but equally difficult to digest for being just a little too real.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

it’s all fun and games ‘til you’re sobbing on the plane

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slow, sad build with several somethings bad and not a lot of solace.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly beautifully written book and so heartbreaking. It is desperately sad but the way mental health is described in this is so important.

[Reannon Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. The writing style is amazing. The way you are pulled into Adella’s life & mind is compelling. Highly recommend.

[Anna Tinney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is remarkable. Within about fifty pages I suspected it was going to become my favourite book of the year, and it didn’t let me down from there. Even when I had to put the book down to do something else, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

This is a raw but insightful depiction of the ways in which mental illness can play out through different generations, and how it can affect family relationships and friendships. Jessie writes beautifully but also brutally about Adella’s experience of depression. She considers the experience of those who love and care for others with mental illness and how their sense of stability can be impacted.

I really resonated with Adella’s frustration and despair about her experience of dating and relationships, and I think a lot of heterosexual women in their 20s and 30s could see themselves in this subject matter. The discussion of class is also integral to the novel, as it informs how Adella perceives her apparently unfulfilled potential and how she accesses mental health care.

Overall, this book is a compelling depiction of mental illness and the pressures that many young women face. I really recommend it!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel follows Adella, a Sydneysider in her 20s, as she finds herself in a mental health ward following a breakdown. We then revisit her life over the 8 years leading up to this event. The book's main vibe is to vividly immerse the reader in the perspective of someone who has depression, and Jessie creates a strong atmosphere in doing so.

I enjoyed this book for multiple reasons:
1. Books in modern, easy-to-read prose that deal with significant social issues are a fave genre of mine.
2. Jessie is my parasocial friend and she is the best
3. The main characters in this story come from the western suburbs of Sydney, and I related to a lot of the commentary on class and wealth that I SO rarely hear about in Australian fiction.
4. It perfectly represents that feeling of being romantically interested in someone who clearly is not as interested in you. My heart broke for Adella in those scenes, and then also for my younger self who had been in similar situations at a similar age.

[Heather Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did binge read this book so I’ll start with this and say I loved it for 3/4s

The story was so engaging and really realistic and a lot of the stories from her earlier years resonated with me and reminded me so much of my nights out and friendship hiccups


It lost me at 3/4s of the way through because I think it probably overboard talked about the depression which I know was important but at the same time I could literally feel my mood going down hill fast. I even had nightmares the night after reading most of it about living in a messy house and being late and I woke up quite frazzled.

I cried when we lost Jake, I thought that part was really cool being written from the perspective of Raheem

I took off a star for the fact that it ended up in a romance with a good guy because it was predictable I felt like adella deserved more than to base her happy ending on being with a man in general. A good guy yes but couldn’t she have found her way out of it on her own as a strong woman?

The writing was five star and the creativity but the story lost two stars for the above

[Ad_Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Jessie Stephens novel, and it definitely will not be my last. I was completely engaged in this novel from start to finish! The depths of mental health issues it touched on was engrossing, how it feels like you are permanently being dragged down and held back. I was so happy that the book delved into her path forward, receiving treatment and getting her life back on track, without focusing on the stereotypes or stigmatization that sometimes goes with mental health issues. At the end of the novel I was so happy that she had gone with Elias, and not back to Nathan, who was absolutely horrible, and probably hadn’t changed much, despite turning 30. This book probably went from 4 stars to 5 stars in my opinion based on the inclusion of Kastellorizo, where Elias’ mum was from. It is also the island of my ancestors, hardly known, but one of the most special places I’ve ever been to!

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not a spoiler to say that actually, a lot of bad things happen in this novel. So kindly Stephens has given us a trigger warning of a title, and if bad things stories aren’t for you, then this definitely won’t be. Happily, I am a committed reader of bad things stories and I found this one of the most genuine and sensitively told stories of mental health struggles that I have read in some time. Very close to being pitch perfect in its depiction of an unstoppable spiral, and the complexities of the ways that mental health struggles touch relationships. The ending was a bit too ‘magical thinking’ for me, but this is an excellent novel that’s well worth your time.

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an outlouder and a fan of the author, I had high hopes for this book and was so excited to read this insightful and raw depiction of mental health. Unfortunately it fell short of my expectations and I found myself often putting it down. I related to many parts of the book however I felt some parts dragged on whereas I feel the characters needed more. While this wasn’t a favourite for me I’m glad it’s out there to shine a light on mental health and give an honest look into life with anxiety and depression.

[Kate Morganti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendship, heartache, love, consent, trauma, family dynamics, comparison, grief, hate, sex, uncertainty, mental health, etc. etc! So many relevant heart wrenching (and at times heart warming) themes. I just adore Jessie’s writing and this book did not disappoint one little bit. Please read, but trigger warning - content surrounding suicide.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be triggering for a lot of people and perhaps it’s not ideal to read while you’re in your 20s or going through depression but I’m on the other side of it and this book resonated so much with my experience of my 20s in many ways. It was hard to read but also validating.
Trigger warning though: depression and suicide.

[Jo Hourn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jessie Stephens has done it again!! Her first fiction and so amazing. I had the privilege to read it before publication and will be selling this where I work once in store.
Thank you Jessie I felt seen through your story telling.
Loved it 🥰

[Teagan Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a 32 year old woman who's struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my life, along with a few of my family members, this book resonated with me on a whole other level. It was just spectacular.

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
The reading experience of this story was enjoyable. Although it was truly difficult to read in parts, it was a devastatingly real depiction of mentally-ill heath, with exploration of dysfunctional relationships and complicated internal monologues.

[Flicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intergenerational mental illness? Unsatisfactory sex with men? The empty feeling you get when you participate in hookup culture? Paralysing perfectionism? Oh Jessie Stephens you have your finger on the pulse of all the burnt out girlies in their early twenties frrrrr

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

First half was good, the last half was amazing

[Liv · Rating 1 out of 5]

Listened as an audiobook. Should have DNF’d this. I wanted to love it, but it was too negative, long and boring. Not my vibe

[Sadielady · Rating 4 out of 5]

V good beach read. Cried twice, def recommend!

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written.
Explores mental health across generations, circumstances and experiences.
Asks lots of interesting questions around life and mental health.
An easy but very good read!

[Craig and Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Pan Macmillan for sending us a copy to read and review.
Each decade of our life will bring its own highs and lows.
It does become momentous when you leave a decade for an inevitably older one.
A raw, confronting and eerily authentic account of a life’s journey that illuminates light and casts dark shadows.
Adella brings in the new year at a Psychiatric Hospital.
She is about to farewell her twenties and has to recuperate from a mental breakdown. The mental demise becoming obvious as her story weaves back in time.
Situations, rejections and pressures start to take their toll.
Each generation has its own story with parameters that define and shape them.
It is easy to be judgemental when you had a totally different experience but refreshing when an author allows you to take a sneak a peak into another generation’s challenges.
This was a deeply compelling and at times confronting read.
Delving into serious social issues and the range of emotions experienced by our younger cast.
Being an avid reader it was hard not to compare what a similar age group lived through and endured in the war.
Reading opens your eyes and nourishes your mind and with this type of talent we are in safe hands.