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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
A group of life-long friends reach middle age and the secrets from their shared past change their lives forever. Defintely a "family/friend drama" book. Throw in some teen angst for this story. Yet, it all works and you care about what happens to the characters.
Yes, the adults are insufferable, but I thought this book was so well written. Straub's writing and humor is really subtle. I thought this was more lively than The Vacationers. Also, I liked that the chapters were short and kept things moving.
Well, I persisted and read the book really fast but I was looking forward to the end. The end was actually the worst part: terribly clichéd and schmaltzy. Until then I was mildly entertained through the misadventures of the characters: while nothing really terrible happens, each of them goes through some existential crisis or other. There were some well-written parts but overall I think this book's biggest fault is that it's 'over-written'. It tries to explain everything, several times, and then again, repetitive and sometimes incongruent, to the point where it actually gets more confusing. The timeline is muddled but I didn't care enough to pick up on mistakes that other readers have pointed out. Many times less is more and this book could have been better with less internal monologue/narration, more action/showing the reader, rather than telling. Readers are not stupid and they don't need everything chewed up for them beforehand.
From skimming through the blurb, I didn't realise this would include a teenage love story in its midst. I am a little bit tired of reading about teenagers, in particular American teenagers who have been sufficiently celebrated in pop culture for the last 50 years, especially because they are always portrayed the same way, as if teenage life was one long string of casual sex and drug experimentation. It makes me want to say: teenagers are people too, you know? :)
More nuanced and mature than [b:The Vacationers|18641982|The Vacationers|Emma Straub|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386629708s/18641982.jpg|26440459]. I'm excited for Emma Straub (and us!) that her work is getting even better.
I liked it. Like The Vacationers, it was a fluffy, non-life-changing read. Unlike The Vacationers, I actually cared about most of the characters, despite their amazing amounts of privilege, money, etc.
In college, Andrew, Elizabeth, Zoe, and Lydia had a band. The band had one hit song, which was written by Elizabeth. The band broke up, Lydia went on a solo career and Elizabeth licensed the hit song to her. And then everyone grows up. Lydia ODs, Elizabeth marries Andrew, and Zoe marries Jane.
And now it's about 25 years later. Zoe and Jane have a bunch of money, a failing marriage, a restaurant, a dog named Bingo and a surly daughter named Ruby. Elizabeth and Andrew have a bunch of money, a boring marriage, a cat named Iggy Pop, and a strange son named Harry who inexplicably goes from innocent, obedient, gamer-blob* to a complete rule-breaking baller in the matter of a summer.
This book is the story of three couples and how their relationships change over the course of a summer in their tony Brooklyn neighborhood. Things happen, consequences don't, navels are gazed at. And Andrew is the WORST.
In the end, everything is wrapped up in a pretty bow. This book is best read in the summertime.
*I am also a rule-abiding gamer-blob.
In college, Andrew, Elizabeth, Zoe, and Lydia had a band. The band had one hit song, which was written by Elizabeth. The band broke up, Lydia went on a solo career and Elizabeth licensed the hit song to her. And then everyone grows up. Lydia ODs, Elizabeth marries Andrew, and Zoe marries Jane.
And now it's about 25 years later. Zoe and Jane have a bunch of money, a failing marriage, a restaurant, a dog named Bingo and a surly daughter named Ruby. Elizabeth and Andrew have a bunch of money, a boring marriage, a cat named Iggy Pop, and a strange son named Harry who inexplicably goes from innocent, obedient, gamer-blob* to a complete rule-breaking baller in the matter of a summer.
This book is the story of three couples and how their relationships change over the course of a summer in their tony Brooklyn neighborhood. Things happen, consequences don't, navels are gazed at. And Andrew is the WORST.
In the end, everything is wrapped up in a pretty bow. This book is best read in the summertime.
*I am also a rule-abiding gamer-blob.
The story was interesting enough but the characters were pretty unlikeable in one way or another. I finished it but it was definitely hard for me to connect to any of the story.
Set in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, the stories of the Kahn-Bennett family and the Marx family read like a modern fable. Zoe and Jane are married with a Goth daughter Ruby, a unique character who starts a romance with neighbor Harry, son of Elizabeth and Andrew, who were in a college band with Zoe. The two families live the hip lifestyle in Brooklyn, while suffering through the same challenges in life that are universal, issues of relationships, career choices, mortality and betrayal. A good read.
It was fine – cool to read about the "popular" part of my old neighborhood and know exactly where they were talking about but overall eh?
This was a really quick and light read for me that I enjoyed but there also wasn't anything in it that really stood out to me as a mark of a memorable, life changing book and that's why I only gave it 3 stars. The writing style itself was good and the characters all felt very real and I'd probably read a sequel if there ever was one. All in all, I enjoyed it and would read more from Straub in the future.
I thought this book was just going to be a slow burn with a great climax since the character development was fairly good at first. I was completely disappointed to find that after 300+ pages, there was in fact, no payoff. This was a snooze. Read All Adults Here instead!