Everything Was Fine Until Whatever

by Chelsea Martin

Anything is possible in Chelsea Martin's bizarre and endearingly honest collection of stories, lists, flash fictions, and revealing factoids. Everything Was Fine Until Whatever is a poker-faced and unpredictably comic tour de force. Festooned with artwork and hand-written notes, this is a grand debut by a magical new talent.

Genres: Poetry, Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, 21st Century, Humor

111 pages

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Brian]

months before i read this book, i was listening to the radio and i heard an acoustic cover of Sublime's "Santeria." suddenly everything seemed wrong in a fucked up way. like nothing mattered or made sense and i felt like i'd eaten a large pink flannel blanket.

now that i'm actually reading the book, i realize that chelsea martin looks like a girl who eats pop rocks and count chocula all the time and probably talks either too fast or too loud and when you are around her you just want her to take it down a notch. i can imagine her scratching her fingernails at my midnight window and making growling sounds with her crazy eyes.

after i finished (i didn't read it all - just kinda skimmed), i felt thirsty and the sun was shining on me. maybe those two things were related.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think if Chelsea Martin was standing in front of me I would just fall over and die. She is so funny! So inventive and weird and god damn funny. From the start, I was hanging on her every word. I don't know where half of this book came from, she is just a totally different species. A rare, unique and beautiful species.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Officially out now on Future Tense! When Chelsea sent me her work about two years ago, I knew I had to do some kind of book with her. She's wildly talented. EWFUW is a dream book--a great clusterf*ck of art, story, humor, small print subliminal messages, and direct announcements to every reader that picks it up. This may just be the finest and strangest production in the history of Future Tense Books. Wow.

[Roxane · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than anything, this book shows that the author has a lot of promise. Some of the stuff was just... well fine until whatever, but there were so many sharp, witty lines and a couple really cohesive pieces that despite some of the frustrations I had with the book, I am glad I read it.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not my cup of tea.

When I read flash fiction, I can't help but think of Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata (Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, which are so artfully an beautifully written, every story was more amazing than the last. Most of them were just short scenes placed in front of you. The "flash fiction" that seems to be popular these days pales in comparison. That doesn't mean that flash fiction doesn't have its place on the book shelf, but, I guess, I'm just spoiled.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

if i knew my baby would be Chelsea Martin, i would have kept it.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

good stuff!!! rlly enjoyed some parts of this, thank u nadine colina for lending me her book HEHE

[Leota · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked a lot of this little book of random autobiographical-ish/ flash fiction/ poetry/ drawings and stuff. Some of it is laugh-out-loud, some of it is really smart, some a little sad. I think Martin is at her best in her shorter stuff - poetry, lists, etc. My one complaint is that a few of the subjects Martin is preoccupied with are presented in a way that feels...kinda young. But maybe that just means I'm old.

Either way, I would recommend picking this book up.

[Jason Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin's work is amusing, zany, unpredictable, and a host of other adjectives that I'd also apply to Sam Pink's writing. Delivered in standard prose and prose-poetry, Everything Was Fine Until Whatever is always interesting given its range of subject matter and format. In fact, Martin's drawings are great. The stories/poems are often too nonsensical and random for my tastes, though.

[Eric T. Voigt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a six. It was like "uh-huh? Uh-huh? Totally! I know!" and "hahahaha! No way. That's great!" through my head through every story and poem. Entirely good and right. Hilarious at a non-stopped-ness I guess I haven't felt outside of "Seinfeld" maybe? Felt myself turning into a bigger fanboy with each page turned.

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have to create several shelves to accommodate the incredible depth of strange and non linear processes contained within. I'm too lazy to do that, but I'm hopeful you will be tempted to devour and quickly discard this beautiful glimpse of honest, varied, insanity.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

'definitely worth reading' in terms of like 'boredom relief' and the ability of the book to make you feel less alone and more like you 'want to start writing again', i highly recommend this book

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this so much

[Peter Frasca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOL'd on the 6 train. Highly recommended.

[Lorri Steinbacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky little book. Is it a book of short stories? Yeah, a little bit. Is it a book of essays? Sure, kinda. The book short of defies easy description, but it is clever and funny and unique without sliding into incomprehensible.

Recommended for people who like non-traditional writing by an author who has a definite viewpoint with a personality to match.

[Simon Gunning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could easily refer this to as vignettes for people with short attention spans or short attention lovers.
Darkly funny tales of relationships with boys and her mother.
Favourite was Acronyms to Expedite Conversation which I look for to introducing into my messaging vocab promptly.

[caramels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some cool lines. The rest is such boooring nonsense it makes you wonder how and why something like this could ever be published.

[Lauren Dostal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pretty much think Chelsea Martin is wonderful and everyone should read her in order to have a fulfilled life. Or at least an interesting one. Or at least an interesting hour within a boring life.

[Jay Slayton-Joslin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enough to enjoy here and you can see the flashes of greatness that come through in her later work.

[Katherine Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

im in love w her

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. And what I love (almost as much) is when things just come together serendipitiously and a book literally leaps off the shelf in a bookstore I hadn't meant to go into, and lands in my hands for reasons I'm not even aware of yet. Turns out Chelsea writes the oh so clever comic 'Heavy Handed' over at the Rumpus - LOVE. When I flipped open the book, I opened it to the Narnia page and knew I had to have it right away. Narnia IS for babies. Thank you, Chelsea. My favorite piece though which had me laughing was "Baby's First Words". It's brilliant and a great start to this collection. I think I should really be friends with Chelsea and I'm not saying that because I'm hormonal or want to have babies or want to eat cereal with her. I just think it'd be awesome. Maybe I just need to read her other books.

[Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read much flash fiction but if it was always this good, I would! Martin just has a way with words. Which is, of course, what one hopes for in an author.

Writing with such sarcasm and humor takes serious skill. Many people think they're funny; few people actually are. It's an unusual little mental roller coaster through this book, start to finish, but her style is just something else. Everything I write here feels trite. How's this: have already marked her others "to read" because I'm obsessed like that.

[Mary Note · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since a book made me laugh out loud. I actually read this book after finishing one of George Carlin's books, and I must say Martin got more laughs per minute out of me than the late comedy great. It was the laughs, but also the quirkiness that inspired me, and isn't inspiration an awesome thing to get out of a book?

Martin is hands down my favorite new author. I'm looking forward to reading this book again and again.

[Spencer Lewin · Rating 4 out of 5]

very funny, would be 5 stars but i think she used "crap" or "shit" one too many times for that to still be funny

seems like one of them could have been edited out

maybe not, should i change my rating to 5 stars

think i'm going to change my rating to 5 strs b/c i laughed like 3 times in a similar manner to a mid to overweight 12 yr old reading "the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" for the first time

[Thea Lemaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything Was Fine Until Whatever is the most honest book I've read in a while. A combination of prose, poetry, and artwork - it's a beautiful, hilarious, zany, and raw compilation. Martin's work makes me want to write and dissolve into the earth. I wish I actually gave it time of day when I picked it up at Powell's last year, but I'm almost glad I didn't because it may not have struck the same chord it did with me today.

[Nicole Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Chelsea Martin. Her writing style is unique and refreshing and thought provoking... I could go on forever.
Everything Was Fine Until Whatever is not my favorite book of hers. I loved the layout and the extra additional snippets of hers placed throughout the book. But, this book had a different feeling and I didn't find myself as enthralled with this book as I was her other, Even Though I Don't Miss You.

[Susie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

when you go to crispin's house it's really overwhelming because he has a really sweet collection of books by excellent writers and it's hard to even know where to start. he loaned me this one as a starting point and i read most of it while looking for a place to live in london. it's hard for me in hindsight to remember exact parts of this book but i remember it was good at articulating profound moments of detachment :)

[Lexi Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started off really enjoying it--imagine all of the weird, quirky, gross, random thoughts that you've had, that you're pretty sure people would ostracize you for, and this is them in a book. It was funny, and weird, and I really like that. However, after awhile it started seeming like the weirdness was forced at times, and the appreciation wore off. After about 45 pages or so I mostly finished it for the sake of finishing it, but I really loved those first 45 pages.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Self-indulgent and often sophomoric, Martin may make you want to dismiss this short, quickly (I don't like that word anymore than you do)collection of musings. However, she accomplishes, through vulnerability and egoism, what she intended: intimacy with the reader. I picked this out at random at Powell's, and have not regretted it.

[Downward · Rating 3 out of 5]

flash fiction that veers aesthetically between witty new yorker type pieces and confessional blogging, it's quick and emotionally connective without ever getting too heavy and is occasionally super funny. it's mostly slice of life stuff that doesnt really stick to the bone, so even when you're really enjoying it, it's hard to recall any of the details later.