Name: Meghan Navoy's review of Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Item: Modern Lovers
Rating: 3
Author: Meghan Navoy

Emma Straub

Back in their 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. Now nearing fifty they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn. But nothing has aged them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring. As secrets and revelations are finally let loose-- about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them-- the stability of their lives can never be reclaimed.

Modern Lovers

Allison Urban

Meghan Navoy

I enjoyed reading this book. It was a good novel after reading a bunch of nonfiction business books. I felt the ending was somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying. But overall an enjoyable book to read about two families that live next door to each other in Ditmas Park Brooklyn and how their relationships intertwine.

Jeannette Ordas

A fun book to read, perfect to take along on a holiday. Or in my case, reading it at night before bed.

Bergen Anders Nelson Eickhoff

It's a delightful book, really. It doesn't portend any grand ambitions to change the human spirit or redefine the zeitgeist of our age. Instead, it paints a lovely and intricate portrait of how millennials and their parents are uncannily good at messing up their lives (or maybe the world is good at messing them up). That shouldn't imply that the book is devoid of meaning or insight, just surprise. It was easy to see where this novel would go, but the ride was still a lot of fun and contained some great points of discussion about the various ways in which we identify ourselves and define ourselves to others, and the strength that comes when we seize control of our identity. But for all of the fun and identity insight that this novel provides, it has the fatal flaw of feeling distinctly white. There's plenty of diversity in the cast, but there is an unshakeable feeling of safety and sameness that casts a shadow of knowing that the author of what your reading is definitely white. That's not a dealbreaker, since the novel never tries to pretend that its perspective reaches beyond its limits, but it also means that this novel was limited from the beginning. Regardless, I would suggest this novel if you're looking for a modern update to the work of Franzen or Carol-Oates, and I look forward to what Straub writes next, knowing that her ambition will grow with each novel.

Amy Maddess

I picked this up from my local public library, despite having disliked The Vacationers by Emma. Even though I was hesitant, I'm glad I picked this up. Emma Straub's writing has approved dramatically since her first novel, and I can see that she will only continue to improve. This novel is modern and had realistic glimpses of love and how it fades- balances idealism and realism perfectly. The plot did have structure, more so than a lot of books at least, but it did feel a little all over the place at some points. I liked that one of the main couples were lesbians and that this didn't have much to do with the plot, but at the same time I didn't like how Straub dabbled with the other characters sexuality and then kept them as straight. Everyone gets confused and everyone experiments with their sexuality, but the catalyst that causes that should not be that one is surrounded by homosexual relationships. Being gay is not contagious. I had a similar issue with this concept when reading "Stir-Fry" by Emma Donoghue in which a young lady becomes very confused about whether or not she's a lesbian simply because she's living with lesbians. I liked the way Emma represented the teenagers in this book, they had the same concerns and flighty attitudes and feelings of insecurity as most real teenagers do. However, she made the same mistake that John Green often makes in overestimating teenage intelligence. Teenagers are wistful and resilient and brave and compassionate, maybe more so than at any other time in life, but they do not possess the wisdom of adults. They do not possess the wisdom of having lived through many years and many struggles, and I find that authours tend to throw their own deep adult perceptions into the minds of young characters who couldn't possibly be expected to comprehend such concepts. Ruby and Harry, aside from this, seemed very realistic and representative of a lot of young people from small towns. I would recommend this book to a small handful of people, and I will remember parts of it for a long time, but overall it was just a three star read for me.

** 'It's the beautifully drawn, vibrant characters that make this smart, compelling novel so irresistible.' Liane Moriarty ** From the New York Times Bestselling author of The Vacationers, Emma Straub brings us a sharply observed tale of modern love . . . Twenty years later and they were supposed to be grown-ups... Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Summer in the city . . . College friends Elizabeth, Zoe and Andrew had a band, grew up, settled in New York and now they are still living round the corner from one another (and in each other's pockets). One hot summer as their kids come of age, making those first hesitant steps into adulthood, it's the parents who find that the lives they've so carefully stitched together begin to slowly unravel . . . 'Has all the pleasures of Anne Tyler's compelling family portraits . . . with a Lorrie Moore-like sense of the absurdities of contemporary life' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times 'Really entertaining. The characters are complex and likeable. It's one of those stories that makes you realise that life really does run away from you' Guardian 'Straub's characters thrum off the page. The sort of witty and relatable summer title you'll devour with a contented smack of the lips' Independent 'Funny yet tart, warm yet incisive. I adored it' Red

Lauren Attaway

Modern Lovers is that perfect summer read that manages to feel both familiar and ultimately exciting. Really enjoyed it.

Summer Stanley

b.andherbooks

A fascinating character study of three college friends, now middle-aged, who were once were in a grunge band that created exactly one hit song that their former (and long deceased) band-mate purchased from them and made famous. Now raising children, navigating mid-life crises, and figuring out whether they should sign the release form to allow the song to be used in an upcoming biopic about their dead band-mate, this was a captivating read of some not so likeable people. I still enjoyed The Vacationers more, but Emma Straub is now on my auto-read list.

Allison Urban &
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

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