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A review by fbroom
Laura & Emma by Kate Greathead
5.0
I enjoyed this one a lot. Laura is from a rich New York City family. Her family lives in the Upper East Side. Her dad helps her purchase an apartment. She has a job where her family is part of the board or something like that. They can’t fire her. She sets her own hours and has an 8 week paid vacation every summer. She is privileged. It’s tough to understand Laura. Does she want to change really? Why doesn’t she change anything? Why is she imposing all these boundaries? Why can’t she try harder? It feels like every day just goes by and she is still exactly the same. Day after day and year after year.
She has a one night stand that was actually sad because it was a con artist who she thought was her brother’s friend. She becomes pregnant and decides to keep the child. She raises her daughter Emma to be different, more spirited. She even tries to enroll her in this “alternative school” rather than the traditional one but she gets rejected. Laura “tries” to be different. She tries dating but fails there as well. It actually goes really bad and there was a brief mention of a teacher who sexually harassed her when she was younger.
She tries to care about things like global warming. But again, something about all of this doesn’t seem right. She comes from so much privilege. She has a wedding planner job where the library/venue actually loses money every summer because Laura is just off during that time. It’s like the classic rich person who has ideas about helping or helps but as long as it doesn’t affect them personally. If they’re gaining advantage then it’s totally fine. I’ll care and fight for global warming but I’ll also happily take a private jet to places etc.
The books is split in into chapters for each year and examines Laura’s life, her relationship with Emma, and her relationships with other characters in the book like Laura’s mom Bibs!, Laura’s best friend Margaret, her dad, her brother Nicholas and more. It starts in 1981 when Emma is born and ends in the mid nineties. The book touches briefly on things like the AIDS epidemic, postpartum depression and other timely topics. It’s all subtle though and sometimes heartbreaking even though Laura always seemed just indifferent to everything.
She has a one night stand that was actually sad because it was a con artist who she thought was her brother’s friend. She becomes pregnant and decides to keep the child. She raises her daughter Emma to be different, more spirited. She even tries to enroll her in this “alternative school” rather than the traditional one but she gets rejected. Laura “tries” to be different. She tries dating but fails there as well. It actually goes really bad and there was a brief mention of a teacher who sexually harassed her when she was younger.
She tries to care about things like global warming. But again, something about all of this doesn’t seem right. She comes from so much privilege. She has a wedding planner job where the library/venue actually loses money every summer because Laura is just off during that time. It’s like the classic rich person who has ideas about helping or helps but as long as it doesn’t affect them personally. If they’re gaining advantage then it’s totally fine. I’ll care and fight for global warming but I’ll also happily take a private jet to places etc.
The books is split in into chapters for each year and examines Laura’s life, her relationship with Emma, and her relationships with other characters in the book like Laura’s mom Bibs!, Laura’s best friend Margaret, her dad, her brother Nicholas and more. It starts in 1981 when Emma is born and ends in the mid nineties. The book touches briefly on things like the AIDS epidemic, postpartum depression and other timely topics. It’s all subtle though and sometimes heartbreaking even though Laura always seemed just indifferent to everything.