#ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick as Featured on TodayA New York Times Book Review’s Group Text SelectionAn extraordinary new novel of art, love, and ambition from Lily King, the New York Times bestselling author of EuphoriaFollowing the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.… novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.
Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink.
Writers & Lovers follows Casey—a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist—in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.more
A rare book that hit on all cylinders: smart, witty, poignant. My favorite so far of the summer!
This is the first book I read by King. I heard great things about it and trust when Jenna Bush Hager picks books for her “read with Jenna” selection. This was March’s pick. This book is so real. I could identify with Casey’s struggle to figure out her life while struggling in work, love and home. It’s a great story and I recommend it!
I absolutely loved Writers & Lovers. Honestly, I couldn’t put it down and cried when it ended. I still miss those characters!
Beautiful writing and well-drawn characters. This is one of my favorite books of 2020.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think my favorite scene was her co-workers giving advice on how to pick between two men. Hilarious and so real. Also, without giving things away, Lily King nails the ending.
It’s 1997. Casey is 31 and $73K in debt. She waitresses at night to have her mornings free to write her novel. She’s been working on it for six years.
I loved this beautifully observed, beautifully written story of a young woman trying to move forward from loss, betrayal, and bad decisions. The characters are sharply drawn, and Casey’s dialogue is often warmed with flickers of dry humor. Her internal thoughts about her mother’s death are touching and relatable:
“I can tell he lost someone close somehow. You can feel that in people, an openness, or maybe it’s an opening that you’re talking into. With other people, people who haven’t been through something like this, you feel the solid wall. Your words go scattershot off of it.”
The book is not for every reader. It’s slow-moving, with an emphasis on character over plot. But if you enjoy books about writers and writing and pre-2000 Harvard Square, you will probably enjoy this book.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I had a hard time getting started with Writers and Lovers by Lily King. I didn’t want to read about someone’s sad life, someone’s angst. But I kept reading and I’m so glad I did. I got caught up with the characters and their problems in a way that took me out of my life and into their world. My favorite characters were the adorable little boys
Maybe it’s because I’m a Bostonian and could relate so strongly to the setting, and being a writer myself, to that certain brand of neurosis, but King imparts so much in Writers and Lovers about being a creative soul and the insecurities and idealism that come with it. Casey is a wonderful protagonist, universally relatable, mourning the loss of her mother and trying so valiantly to make a go of a life as an artist. I was cheering for her from beginning to end and so proud that she made the love choice she did in the end. I think I would have made the other and had a very interesting conversation with myself about that!
Well written and and fun read, what could be better?
Lily King’s Writers & Lovers is an extraordinary novel. As a writer I appreciate King’s efforts at capturing the life of a writer. This is King’s fifth novel and good enough that I’ll backtrack and read her prior works.
Her protagonist, Casey Peabody, is fascinating. She’s processing the sudden death of her mother with whom she’s relatively recently reconciled as well as living with the knowledge that her father was a complete ass. She’s been in a series of disastrous failed relationships and has fears of never being loved. To support herself, however poorly, while working on her novel (going on six years now) she works as a waitress in an upscale restaurant. She’s overwhelmed by student loan debt, medical problems, and relationship problems. She endures sexism both in the restaurant and in the writing world. Her hopes, fears, missteps, and triumphs are emotionally compelling.
King’s beautifully documents every aspect of Casey’s character. Casey’s insights into the world of writing are fascinating and often humorous—and I feel at least somewhat autobiographical. I enjoyed reading her thoughts about books, literary criticism, and teaching high school literature. The prose linguistically sophisticated, but clean and uncluttered.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to like the book. Based on the synopsis, I was expecting it to be either overly romantic or seething with cynicism. I feel like there is a delicate balance of both. King has created a cast of realistic and likeable characters. Casey’s grief is one of the most relatable portrayals of mourning I’ve read in a very long time. I underlined so many passages where grief is expressed, and I knew exactly what she was feeling. I loved this book, and highly recommend it!
Lily King is one of our great literary treasures and Writers & Lovers is suffused with her brilliance. It is captivating, potent, incisive, and wise, a moving story of grief, and recovering from grief, and of a young woman finding her courage for life.
A young woman in her 30’s goes through her day-t0-day life with all of it’s ups and downs, pleasures and griefs as she tries to write her first novel. She doubts herself and considers dropping it, but though she’s not making much progress, she finds she feels better when she is (or is thinking about) writing, than when she is not. Should she stay true to what she feels she is being called to do? should she get a real job? Who has not struggled with the meaning of their life and its’ path?
The writing style, which consists of an endless stream with no chapters to hold or confine it etc. is not among my favorite styles, but it works well here to show that her life is flowing, as she is, and she doesn’t yet know what to make of it, or where she’ll end up.
Having read literally thousands of books in my life, I know this one is good. My heart right now is in a different place than this book is, but I don’t want to dismiss this work just because it came to me at a time it doesn’t resonate with me as much as it might had we crossed paths at a different time.
My thanks to NetGalley and to Grove Atlantic for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
If you loved The Friend but wish it had had more sex and waitressing, get ready for Lily King’s Writers and Lovers. Delicious.
The cover design is bad, childish, off-putting. It will ruin book sales for this book.
Readers who are themselves writers may find it especially interesting to look up King’s NY Times Modern Love essay. It answered for me the question about how much of the novel is autofiction and cast the story in that light. The best readership for this novel may be those most fascinated by the real or imagined lives of artists, a journey that King has portrayed effectively and compassionately with well-crafted prose, evocative descriptions, and spot-on dialog.
Here’s a link to my full review in the New York Journal of Books.
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/writers-lovers
I received a free electronic copy of this modern novel from Netgalley, Lily King, and Harper Collins Publishers – Grove Atlantic. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of Writers & Lovers. I love Lily King’s work. Euphoria was probably my favorite read of 2017. Writers & Lovers is another must-read, a first-person, stream-of-consciousness look into the world through the eyes of Casey Kasem.
Casey is a woman in flux. In her dream life, she is an author, a daughter, a lover, a mother, a wife. Her reality is quite different – Her novel, begun with high hopes several years ago, is still not finished, she is working as a waitress in an upscale restaurant and living in a potting shed/apartment attached to a garage, her mother – her best friend – recently died unexpectedly on a trip to South America, she is drawn to two men but both could be grossly unacceptable as husband/father material, and then we have the gynecologist visit, her first in several years. The results are horrifying. Bad PAP, bad mammograph, an obvious lump in her underarm lymph system and the looming oncologist appointment. This could be the kiss of death – or perhaps just the incentive Casey needed to stop treading water and get on with her life.
Lily King’s Writers & Lovers is one of those rare novels that is as compelling narratively as it is emotionally. King captures a snapshot of a young writer’s life… a life that is complicated, dynamic, and fluid.
Casey Peabody is an enthralling protagonist. As someone who is trying to find her place in a world without her mother, who is processing trauma and anxiety, and who feels crippled by the prospect of love, Casey is achingly human. Her mistakes, her fears, and her triumphs are all deeply woven into this narrative. And we also see the impact that her gender and socioeconomic status play in her life in a way that doesn’t feel overly didactic or heavy-handed. It’s just reality.
To me, one of the most compelling facets of Writers & Lovers are its relationships, be they fraternal, familial, or romantic. The way that Casey interacts with the supporting characters in this novel are fascinating examinations into Casey herself; however, there’s also a universality to said examinations that feel personal to the reader. The arc of the narrative feels complete and satisfying. It’s one of the best pieces of literary fiction I’ve read in quite some time. My copy is filled with highlighted passages, and I cannot wait to read it again. In my opinion, it’s an artistic triumph that should be immediately added to your TBR pile.
**Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC, which I received in exchange for my honest review.**