But that’s all just a matter of personal preference and maybe other readers are enjoying that kind of thing more.Įmma Straub is a pretty good writer – her prose is fun and engaging. I’m not so sure that I’m really a fan of that trend: if a protagonist is going to be a jerk, I just want to be able to understand why and I don’t think that’s always happening. It seems to be jumping on the recent trend of blurring the line between “complex” characters and outright unlikable ones. The plot description sounded intriguing: Three middle-aged college friends/former bandmates uncover secrets as their near-adult children strike up a relationship. I was super excited to read this because I enjoyed The Vacationers and it’s gotten its fair share of buzz. It just didn't leave an impression with me that I have a lot to say.
And that’s exactly how I feel about Modern Lovers. I’m not so excited about them that I have to tell everyone to read them right now, but they didn’t piss me off enough that I have anything to rant about. That’s because they tend to be very average books that leave me with very little emotion one way or another. But I think I struggle the most with reviews of three-star books. I really like writing book reviews, and I’d like to think I’m not so bad at it.
Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions-be they food, or friendship, or music-never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adults' lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose-about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them-can never be reclaimed. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.īack in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. From the New York Times‒bestselling author of The Vacationers, a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college-their own kids now going to college-and what it means to finally grow up well after adulthood has set in.įriends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth.
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