Everything Matters! tidily places Ron Currie, Jr. among the most talented and creative new American novelists. In his first novel since the story collection God Is Dead, Currie reveals a style not unlike Vonnegut — dry, but deadly funny, irreverent, and wholly meaningful. The storytelling is delicately but deliberately choppy, filled with impending dread and lingering hope. In utero, Junior Thibodeaux learns of a catastrophic, world-ending event some 30 years in his future. A voice explains the inevitability of the event, and Junior is born with the crippling knowledge of the impending doom he and everyone he'll grow to love will face. The voice is never explained — it could be a group of all-knowing beings (the voice refers to "we") or it could be the author himself, but it remains ever-present in Junior's life.

This mysterious voice reveals important and otherwise unknowable details about the world to Junior, and becomes an established character, however vague and unknowable. Spoken with authority by Mark Deakins, the voice can be likened to that of a gently persistent psychiatrist. It reveals almost no opinion about Junior's choices. In neutral tones, Deakins lends the voice a feeling of all-knowing and all-seeing non-participation — it does not step in to prevent or spark any decision by Junior. At the same time, the soft, steady narration includes subtleties of inflection that color the listener's perception. When Junior partakes in some dangerous activity, Deakins sounds almost imperceptibly disappointed and even a little concerned. This act of subtlety injects compassion and calm to what could have been a very cold, omnipresent voice.

  Throughout the timeline of the novel, Currie pops in and out of the first person narratives of Junior, his parents, his girlfriend, and his brother, performed by several talented actors. These include Lincoln Hoppe (Junior), Hillary Huber (Junior's girlfriend Amy), Abby Craden (Junior's mother), Arthur Morey (Junior's father), and Doug Wert (Junior's brother Ron). Each narrator brings a unique voice perfectly matched to Currie's nonchalant, matter-of-fact tone. Hoppe deserves additional praise for exercising vocal restraint as the main character. Junior goes through a heck of a lot and is saddled with the emotional baggage of knowing the fate of the world, but Hoppe never lays it on thick in his narration. Instead he gives Junior a mentally exhausted, resigned tone that matches Currie's earlier description of Junior as a "serious child". Hoppe especially shines when the emotional weight of losing his girlfriend and his family start to wear Junior down. —Josh Ravitz