INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “[E]ssential reading for our dismal times.” –The Wall Street Journal One of Bustle’s “Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020” PopSugar’s “26 Incredible New Books Coming Your Way This August” Good Housekeeping’s “25 New Fall Books You Have to Read This Season” Lit Hub’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2020” Fleabag meets Conversations with Friends in this brutally honest, … Books of 2020”
Fleabag meets Conversations with Friends in this brutally honest, observant, original novel about a woman going through a breakup…but really having more of a breakdown.
Jenny McLaine’s life is falling apart. Her friendships are flagging. Her body has failed her. She’s just lost her column at The Foof because she isn’t the fierce voice new feminism needs. Her ex has gotten together with another woman. And worst of all: Jenny’s mother is about to move in. Having left home at eighteen to remake herself as a self-sufficient millennial, Jenny is now in her thirties and nothing is as she thought it would be. Least of all adulthood.
Told in live-wire prose, texts, emails, script dialogue, and social media messages, Grown Ups is a neurotic dramedy of 21st-century manners for the digital age. It reckons with what it means to exist in a woman’s body: to sing and dance and work and mother and sparkle and equalize and not complain and be beautiful and love your imperfections and stay strong and show your vulnerability and bake and box…
But, despite our impossible expectations of women, Emma Jane Unsworth never lets Jenny off the hook. Jenny’s life is falling apart at her own hands and whether or not she has help from her mother or her friends, Jenny is the only one who will be able to pick up the pieces and learn how to, more or less, grow up. Or will she?
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I’m honestly not sure what exactly to think about Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth. I thought it started out funny enough, but as the book went on I lost a little bit of interest in it. I did think it had some witty moments, and there are definitely times I found myself relating to how Jenny felt, but mostly I just felt disconnected from the book and the story.
One thing I did love, is the narrator of the audiobook which I was kindly supplied with by Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm. Chloe Massey was the narrator and I absolutely adored her as Jenny. The only thing that was slightly annoying about the audio is all of the ‘kisses’ in the book. Jenny and other characters use them A LOT and hearing them read out loud is not very fun. I think if you read this one it would be potentially less annoying, but that is clearly not the narrator’s fault or the producers. Just an observation, but one that I hope can help other readers. Besides that, the audio is magnificent, and I will definitely be watching out for more books narrated by Massey.
I loved that Unsworth touched on social media in this book because it does consume some people’s lives. I could relate with Jenny to a certain extent there, and think it was a very timely thing to have in Grown Ups. Jenny’s mom was a mini nightmare, and I wasn’t a huge fan of her or many other characters in the book. I would still recommend this to the right person though, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who would find this a lot funnier than I did. So if you are interested at all in the synopsis I recommend giving it a shot!
Thank you to Libro.fm and the publisher for my advance listening copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Too funny, too clever, satisfyingly satirical, and with just the right amount of Zodiac chat, Grown Ups is incredible.
So funny, arch, and tender, this novel shows what really goes on beneath the shiny surface of our online lives. A must-read for anyone who has ever wondered what it means to be a daughter, a friend, or a mother, when sometimes you don’t even know how to be yourself.
Dazzling observations and snarky one-liners, with a heroine who is vulnerable, funny, intelligent, and feels so real. I wish I’d written it!
This book made me guffaw and took my breath away in equal, knocks-you-sideways measure. Confronting, heartbreaking, and hilarious — it is both a timely parable for modern anxiety as well as a timeless examination of men, women, sex, desire, friendship, family and the female psyche. I completely and utterly adored it.
Emma’s insight into the complexities of thirtysomething womanhood in a time of social media floored me. I’ve never felt so seen by a book. Generous, tender, and moving — a must-read.
The obsession with social media can create mayor problems. I had a hard time getting through this book. Actual stopped reading it for a month after 20 % into the story. I did better the second time around. I think I know what the author was trying to get across but trying to prove the point in it excess was losing some of the debt of the story. The relationship with her boyfriend seems to portray two self-centered people. Interaction with her mother was strained. Her lack of self-esteem became a problem for anybody else to deal with her. I would have given it a four star because some of it was pretty good and I liked how it ended but some things should have been toned a bit. This read more like a satire which I don’t think the author meant it to be.
This might have worked better with a younger Jenny, 35 seems to be too old to act this immature. Maybe it is just me that am too old and out of touch with today’s 35 year old women.
Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth is an unusually modern book, mostly a stream of consciousness book, proving to me yet again how little I enjoy that type of fiction. Our heroine is young and very in to social media. In fact it consumes her, a fact of which I am aware in real life. It’s probably a function of my age that I find that attitude to be shallow and unappealing. Which is what I found this book. It was not my cup of tea. I would not recommend it as others will feel as I do, and the one that don’t need no encouragement.
I received a free ARC of Grown Ups from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #grownups