Everything Is Totally Fine

by Zac Smith

Everything is Totally Fine is a collection of surreal and inventive stories ranging from six sentences to eight pages. Even though its main themes seem to be despair, depression, boredom, confusion, and fear, readers may find themselves smiling, laughing, excited, startled, moved, and inspired while reading it.

Animals in this book include ants, mice, birds, dogs, octopuses, sharks, whales. Settings include kitchens, bathrooms, camping grounds, gas stations, graveyards, rocket ships, golf courses. Activities include driving, converting files, setting things on fire, eating pizza, showering, planking, and visiting the White House.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

92 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2022

About the author

Zac Smith is the author of books. His stories and poems have mostly appeared online.

Reviews

[Tao · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm publishing this book. I've read it four times so far. It's the first book from Muumuu House since Megan Boyle's book in 2011. It can be preordered here: http://muumuuhouse.com/zacsmith.html

I wrote this description of it: "A collection of weird, surreal, inventive stories ranging from six sentences to eight pages. Animals in this book include ants, mice, birds, dogs, octopuses, sharks, whales. Settings include kitchens, bathrooms, camping grounds, gas stations, graveyards, rocket ships, golf courses. Activities include driving, converting files, setting things on fire, eating pizza, showering, planking, and visiting the White House."

[Elaine Cary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like a book that I can pass on to my friends. My depressed friends, my weird friends, my angsty friends, my funny friends. This book is for them. Plus, they’ll probably think I’m cool for having discovered this weird/anxious/funny/depressing book. They’ll wonder if there are other books out there like it. They’ll like this book so much they’ll want me to recommend more. This book is going to be great for my reputation—thanks Zac!

[Alan ten-Hoeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve had difficulty reading lately. Or performing any task that requires focus. This was the first book to sync up with me in a while. The stories seemed to know how I was feeling at any given time and comforted me in unsettling ways. A meaningful and cathartic read. I'm in awe of what Zac has done here.

The stories have a shoegaze feel and range anywhere from a paragraph in length to a few pages. But regardless of length, each and every one hits big in its own way. The overall sensation I got from this book was like jumping into a puddle of water that’s far deeper than it looks and suddenly finding the water over my head, my feet searching for a bottom. Every story did this to me. (As I scan this before clicking "post" I realize I basically said this book has BDE and got me very wet and I stand by it).

It’d be impossible to pick a favorite out of this collection but “The Man and His Toddler and the Woman Doing Some Kind of Workout Routine” sticks out to me as I type this. Mostly because it brought me back to all the small moments I’ve shared with my own kids. Moments that might seem unremarkable at first notice, if noticed at all, but hold all kinds of things if you allow yourself to look.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of alt-lit short stories, some good, some not so good - my favourite was probably A Beautiful Hill where a corpse, his wife and an undertaker have a lengthy conversation about the dead man's grave site, the depth, the soil and how expensive or cheap all of this will be.

Most stories are extremely absurd and builds to a point where you'd like to know more, but due to the ridiculousness the plot will likely disintegrate - so it's good that Smith has the self awareness to know when to stop.

These stories are written to either reflect or make you think about why everything is so f*cked and succeeds in that.

[Liz Merillat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow, the stories in this book were both hilariously absurd and reassuringly relatable.

[Nicholas Merillat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything is fine but also bad, and always normal. The stories are about depression, death, ennui, modern living, etc. Reading them I felt elation, zeal and vigor.

I feel that I, like one story's narrator, have also been to a frozen yogurt shop with a toilet affixed to the wall. We have all been to this frozen yogurt shop. There is comfort in the realization.

[Brooks Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Free form jazz in your ass."

[David Catney · Rating 5 out of 5]

happy i read this.

[Sarah High]

i’m good; it’s fine (this is good)

[hudsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed out loud (audibly) no less than 7-12 times while reading this book

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything is Totally Fine. Normal Life!

[Tom Olivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

the title of this book serves as a perfectly-pitched mantra to repeat to oneself as the feeling of participatory lunacy swells around, over and in you. these stories run at a quick clip and escalate in surprising ways. the language is straight-forward and in service of a cohesive narratorial voice that feels consciously self-stripped of affect to expose the wobbles and whimpers of societal brain shock. there's a sense of ridiculousness and jouissance that pervades this collection as it mines daily minutiae to absurd ends. a collection that serves a hot consolation lasagna to the internet-addled, itchy existentialists among us. pick it up, put it down, read it anywhere. everything is totally fine.

[Chris Elder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Idiosyncratic

Or maybe quirky. The singular voice of these punchy tales, full of earnest, sad irony, had me literally laughing out loud many times over. One of the most enticing books I have ever read.

[Yifei Men · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book from an episode of Bookworm. It's an exhilarating, spell binding volume. Must of the time, in wondering, what the hell am I reading? But then, it was darn hard not to continue till the end, there's a magnetic impulsive draw to the writing.

[anne caywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe the very good dog was the friends we made along the way (coming back for a proper review)

[Teddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Smiths’s voice in the writing was super clear, so loud in my head (if that makes sense)

Reminds me of a twisted version of “Letters to Kevin” or “Movies” by Stephen Dixon

[Chrissy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well. I wanted to like this weird little anxiety ridden hidden gem. I really did. Turns out I’m either A) too old for this sort of genre or B) not cool enough. It’s weird. It’s quirky. It doesn’t make any sense. I’m sure it’s for others, but it’s just not for me.

[Yuka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun to read. Enjoyed occasionally looking back at Megan Boyle's blurb at the front (which recounts which stories made her laugh/how she experienced certain stories) and often agreeing with her.

[Sheldon Birnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this.

[Mary Nee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book! Very fun to read!

[Eric Mayhew · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a glimmer of something interesting here - certain fragments are thought provoking absurd and humorous - but the parts did not cohere on the level of a complete well developed piece.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zac had me at “pizza”. Please never give up writing about pizza. I worked at two pizza places in the early 90’s and now make pizza for my family once per week. It’s always nice to see it in word form.

As I read about the breached whale and then onto what the birds do behind Zac’s shed, my son, who was eating pancakes next to me put his left hand up and said “dad, look! it’s a bird. tweet tweet” I asked what it’s name was and he said birds don’t have names. Then he said “there’s a shark about to breach. It’s a megalodon.” Not a review as much of a coincidence.

If the football coach story is ever adapted to motion picture, I’d would look great if shot on VHS.
I also want the millennial president to send me to space!

UPDATE: 06/24/2022 4:31 (whatever time zone Arizona uses, as I'm on vacation)
I forgot to mention the part about Pedro the Lion. As I read, I was like, "that dude is still alive!" which made me now realize that not only is this book 'autofiction', but I'd also consider it 'emofiction'. I immediately listened to more Pedro the Lion, a band I haven't seen live since around 1999, or thought about in months. I even saw that their label was having a sale on a nice hoodie they sold and wish I bought it since the next time I checked it was sold out.

[OSLO Zeimantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

do it. just do it.
this book is worth more than rambling about.
id rather be reading it...

[crowjonah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh so often that I’d have naturally dog-eared almost every page even if I weren’t planning to interview him about it for BOMB Magazine. The book’s off-color jokes made me uncomfortable, too, though bearably and productively so. Its barrage of page-long stories has the cumulative effect of laying bare the project’s existential preoccupations: consequences and eventualities, clarification vs obfuscation, the lowgrade doom of domesticity. It is compulsively readable even when it occasionally uses lofty language and indulges the quasi-neurotic interior thoughts of its characters.

These narrators’ perceptions are a transparent running process: they need not be asked what they think, feel, or imagine. Narrative is narrated. Characters muse for their own (and our) amusement: the punchline of “Everything Is Totally Fucked 3” is the narrator feeling “briefly and indignantly, that I had somehow become larger than a whale penis.” Another narrator causes a car wreck by throwing a tomato at its windshield. When the police arrive, the narrator fantasizes about the traffic jam extending thousands of miles, stealing the cop’s gun, shooting him, and packing the wound with more tomatoes. In “Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts Frosted S’mores Pastries 2ct,” Smith writes, “I felt like feeling like shit in a different way. I wanted to explore new ways of feeling like shit, or new types of shit to feel like.” Smith shows off without looking like a showoff. It has to be okay to laugh at his pain because he made you do it.

☝️ slightly modified from the intro to my conversation with Zac for BOMB: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/zac...

[Tyler Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Zac Smith story reads like a man thinking, in theory, doing things is good. Later, putting on clothes, letting the dog out, changing diapers, taking five, six, or seven, minutes getting gloves/boots to fit a toddler's hands/feet (goddamnit, they aren't behaving, like, the gloves/boots, not the toddler, like, aren't fitting on the hands and feet and stuff like gloves/boots are designed, or, that, the kid's extremities, aren't actually shaped like hands/feet) he changes key. Backslides, as they say. Believes, doing anything is totally awful.

Imagine Zac writing a story.

He's into it.

And, everything.

But, then, loses something. Zeal. That stuff you don't even work for. Just, beam-me-up, Scotty! Endorphin-to-the-brain, like, BOWWW!

Gets kinda boring. It's just something to do, after all.

But, like, sorta fun.

Just, like, putting words together, I mean.

And, stuff.

Fun imagining Zac writing, huh?

Holding his chicken.

Like in his Twitter picture.

Passing a glass of water under it's reptilian head to peck, nervously.

Hahaha.

Sorta funny.

Anyway. Yea, this is a good book. Penguin's gonna pick it up in 30 years. Reprint it. And, act like they're cool, and shit.

Well.

See ya.

[Toilet Sweat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zac Smith is alright, but in the context of Zach Braff, he’s all wrong. Everything is totally fine until you realize Zac Smith was conspicuously absent from a certain medical comedy-drama television series noted for its fast-paced slapstick and surreal vignettes presented mostly as the daydreams of the central character, played by Zach Braff. By the time you’ve concluded that Zac Smith does not now, nor has he ever portrayed a young physician who describes himself as a “sensi”, enjoying acoustic alternative music and being a lover of hugs, both author and book seem plumb scrubby. Unlike Zach Braff.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me laugh a lot and say ‘what the fuck’ a lot and laugh again and then wonder if I’m messed up for laughing. I’m the middle of reading I stopped to clean my apartment and Radiohead’s everything in it’s right place got stuck in my head. I opened the book again and started reading and it was the story about Thom Yorke on the weird TV show where famous people have to do crimes. What are the odds, right?

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I smiled at the humor and creativity and wit found in some of these stories. Some of the stories made me frown, were grotesque, depressing. And yet, I think that Zac wrote something real about life today in the US.

Thanks Zac! I look forward to your next book.

Favorites <3

- Holding Your Breath So You Don't Have to Breathe So Much Sometimes

- Savoring the Single Mulberry that Cracked the Earth in Half

- Coach

[alexggrandma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genuinely funny and i cant wait to read pages to my friends but i also dislike the name zac so one less star for that, reminds me of sac. No the one less star is because like 50% of this was awesome and the other 50 was good. I dont think this ratio is helpful. The book reminded me of the sillier parts of megan boyle’s stuff, ill buy the next thing he writes because this was awesome, i thought about giving it 5 stars for optics but truth won.

[Downward · Rating 3 out of 5]

a collection of alternately form pushing and totally mundane stories, your mileage may vary on what it what. they do feel, in many ways, less like short stories and more like the work of the text based painters like christopher wool or richie culver where presentation of text signifies more than the words actually mean. or whatever. I don't know I'm an idiot.