A review by shelleyrae
Kids These Days by Drew Perry

2.0

When Walter is unexpectedly downsized and his wife announces she is pregnant, he and Alice are left with no option other than to relocate to Florida and live rent free in Alice's dead aunt's condo. Generously, Walter's successful brother in law, Mid, offers him a job assisting with the maintenance of his various business interests, but it soon becomes obvious that something isn't quite right about Mid's dealings and added to his general anxieties about impending fatherhood and his family's future, when things begin to spiral out of control Walter has no idea what to do about it.

This book didn't really work for me, I found Walter largely irritating, as his constant angst became wearying. While I understood he was struggling to deal with the upheaval in his life - the loss of his job, the forced move and the impending birth of his first child, for a thirty something year old who had a successful career, he was painfully clueless and I couldn't really identify with him much at all. I did have some empathy for Alice, especially when she had difficulties with the pregnancy, and Mid and Caroyln's rebellious teenage daughter, but most of my sympathy lay with Mid's wife Carolyn, who obviously put up with a lot with regards to her husband's scheming.

The action in the novel stems from Mid's dubious business interests, in which he involves Walter. There is some mystery as Walter tries to make sense of Mid's investments, and his clandestine meetings with a pair of law enforcement agents. The story descends into a bit of a farce as Mid's schemes begins to fall apart, though it is amusing to think of he and Walter fleeing the police in a canary yellow Camaro and Mid flying off in a parachute buggy as Walter stands open mouthed below.

I think I just wasn't the right audience for this story which perhaps better suits hipster readers who have managed to grow older, without actually growing up.