A review by menomica
All Adults Here by Emma Straub

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
“And it’s not up to me, Elliot. Your life? Your choices? They don’t belong to me. Neither does this town—not any more than it belongs to any of you.”

Sometimes a lie was more like a wish, or a prayer.

I really appreciated this book because of how it talks about family dysfunction even in seemingly healthy families. The Stricks aren’t perfect, but they do very much love each other. I love how Astrid went on a journey of self-reflection and decided to be better as a person.
All of the Strick kids were unlikable in their own ways, so… good for them, I guess. The thing is though, they weren’t unlikable in a way that made it hard to read the book, but more so in the way of these characters are incredibly deeply flawed and we’re going to take the time to dissect how we got to this point. Porter’s a pick-me looser, Elliot’s a looser with an inferiority complex, and Nicky’s a semi-neglectful pothead dad. And it’s really interesting to see why they’re like that.

Now, the things I didn’t like were: Emma Straub is old and is trying to understand how middle schoolers of the 21st century act and it is very… cringey. Like hen pls don’t do that.
Also some of the takes about feminism and womanhood came off slightly terfy. To Straub’s credit, I don’t think it was intencional, per say, but some of the lines made me go… oof.
We never found out how Russel died, I don’t think. Which I honestly don’t mind too much, the but was still enjoyable on and of itself, but like… I was waiting to know the whole book.
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