Not Perfect by Elizabeth LaBan

Have you ever faked your way through a day, pretending that everything was fine when you were really losing your mind? Now picture doing that for months on end, trying to keep up appearance while your whole life falls down around you. Such is the plot of Not Perfect by Elizabeth LaBan. Tabitha Brewer’s husband, Stuart, walked out on her a few months ago, leaving her alone with their two kids and without any income coming in. Tabitha hasn’t told anyone about her predicament, even her best friend, but as Stuart’s “business trip” gets extended longer and longer, the perfect façade starts to crumble. Tabitha’s children are struggling, she can’t seem to find a job, and she doesn’t even have the money to replace the burnt-out lightbulbs in the kitchen let alone put food on the table. Rather than admit that she is in serious trouble and ask for help, she starts stealing in random ways, and seems stuck in limbo, not knowing completely why he left and if he’ll ever be home.

The story has some hilarious plot pots (eating some marijuana edibles with an eighty-year old woman!), and some sad ones, but the overarching theme is what is really intriguing to me. As a woman and mom who tries really hard to keep her family functioning and her act together, I can relate as to how hard it is to ask for help, and how the pressure to keep everything perfect and high-functioning can often be overwhelming. LaBan nails that feeling on the head, and then reminds us that it is okay to be “not perfect.”