A review by now_booking
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Wow. What an emotional rollercoaster. I ill-advisedly started this after midnight as a bedtime read. And have been unable to go to sleep until I finish. It is soooo compelling, so laugh-out-loud funny, so weirdly brilliant in parts that even though I’m not the hugest fan of the haphazard timeline in telling the story, I’ve been unable to put this down.

The premise is that Poppy and Alex are long-time friends from university who made a pact to go on vacation every year but who fell out over a much vaunted incident two years ago. Now, Poppy, missing her best friend with whom there’s always been a “frisson,” reaches out for one last chance to save their friendship, which unfortunately turns out to be a disaster vacation.

I liked this slow burn. Poppy and Alex as characters were witty and likeable and the author developed them with an authenticity and humanity that really made them multidimensional and imperfect but eminently likeable. Yes, Poppy has a hint of manic pixie dream girl about her but not to an extreme degree and she is eminently self-aware and would be the first to call herself out over it. Alex on the other hand is the straight shooter to Poppy’s free spirit but even he, is silly and funny and wise. The best thing about this book is the character development and the build up of the chemistry and tension and the romantic love between Alex and Poppy. It is absolutely adorable and sexy and really beautiful to watch develop across various periods in their history together. The epilogue is the most glorious thing. The descriptions of love and relationships and Alex and Poppy’s feelings for each other, gorgeous. I mean you read the last 10% of this book clutching at your heart because it’s so beautiful.

That said, for me, the haphazard piecing together of their story meant that certain elements linked to their getting together felt a bit abrupt in the present time. It kind of felt like the story didn’t really get started till about 70% in and that prior to that, all we had were scenes of context… nicely written context, but context nonetheless. There were also a lot of very contrived-feeling miscommunications to scupper the relationship in the final act that just felt out-of-place and a little silly in the context of how well these characters knew and understood each other. I think the author brought it back full circle and it was good to see seeking mental healthcare play a role in this story. I also found that the best part of this book, the “will-they/won’t-they” tension, is also the worst part of this book- in that as a reader, I admit to getting a little impatient with the constant hinting and alluding to events two years prior without much actual movement in the plot. And then when the events two years prior are finally revealed near the end, they were easily guessed and not as dramatic as matters arising. I guess I loved the story and the characters, but the format of the storytelling wasn’t my favourite and I feel like it made some of the really meaningful portions of this book feel a little throwaway and random and somewhat abrupt.

Overall, I enjoyed this. It felt like an eminently millennial book in a way. The struggle of being mid-career and having achieved some career goals but kind of going through the crisis of finding your purpose and meaning and  pursuing contentment and challenge yet feeling stuck. As someone in that demographic, I definitely related to that struggle and I think this author did too as she wrote about it and wrote these characters with a great deal of empathy. This is my second book by this author after Beach Read, and I’m blown away by how good it is. I can’t recommend it enough!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings