Reviews

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

heatherwarfieldross's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

cherylm2022's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

threegoodrats's review against another edition

4.0

Probably more of a 3.5 just because I gave All Adults Here 4 stars and liked it better. This one was still very good but I found myself less interested in the chapters focusing on certain characters (Andrew, Ruby) and in general it wasn't as funny as All Adults Here. I'm finding also that I don't love books about bands, which is weird and I don't understand but there it is. I did like how this tackled the complexity of relationships, both new and long-standing. Also notable is how the adult characters were just as lost and clueless as the teenagers.

stephaniesteen73's review against another edition

4.0

This book struck a chord with me as it explores the strange passage of time and how you can still feel like you are in college, but need to acknowledge the reality when your children are that age. Getting older raises all sorts of existential crises for the adults, and the drama of being a teenager for the kids, and it is interesting to see how similar, yet how very different the generations are.

bhnmt61's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this. It would be the perfect book for a day of travel. It could have been just a soap opera-ish mashup of middle-aged people who have lost their way (and find out what really happened when they were in college), but it ends up going deeper than that, and the writing is stellar. The one major character who is an adult male is a bit of a caricature, but other than that, I can’t think of much to complain about. I’m reading some of the surprisingly scathing one- and two-star reviews and thinking, hmmmm, maybe you have to be older to feel what Straub is doing here, even though she’s almost twenty years younger than me. I don’t know. It worked for me.

mekb's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

camreading's review against another edition

imagine my surprise after i check this out from the library, excited to start a new book, get back home, start chapter 1 and realize i already read this years ago? and that i only have some vague recollection of it? RIP my memory i guess but i’m not invested enough to re-read

laura_corsi's review against another edition

3.0

“Most couples she knew were in the middle slogging it out. Don’t get divorced! That was their shared motto.” (255)

Elizabeth, Andrew, and Zoe are close friends who met in college, started a pretty successful “it” band, and then went on to live typical lives in the Burroughs of New York. They have kids, start restaurants, become real estate agents all that Jazz...until one day the kids are almost grown. Suddenly, they turn around with a bad case of mid life crises.
A pretty standard story told in contemporary lit. There is a lot of nostalgia for who the characters used to be and a bewilderment as to how their lives ended up here. I’m not saying it’s bad just a common sentiment for middle age. However, there is something about Emma Straub’s writing. A sort of sense of clear light shining through colored glass or the taste of strawberries. So while the characters didn’t compel me to read the book the writing made me want to walk around in their world. Kind of like Disneyland.

hmih's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

emweinert's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0