Saturday, July 16, 2016

REVIEW: THE VACATIONERS BY EMMA STRAUB

Published by Riverhead Books, 2014. Hardcover, 292 pgs
Goodreads Description   
    
       This was fun. The family drama wasn't anything new, but rang true. A cheating spouse, a couple anxiously awaiting a child, kids navigating the post high school and college worlds, a woman who takes comfort in food....all there and explored tenderly. I liked that some of the situations highlight how we tend to hide the truth to cover our shame- even more as we dip into adulthood, and the catastrophic damage that ultimately causes.
      Straub writes the location of New York City and it's people like a true native. This book has good, realistic small talk. This makes the novel feel authentic- because that's the conversation that happens when we don't know what to say, or wish we were saying something of more importance. Family vacations are an altogether different type of getaway from other vacations, and Straub deftly wove these fraught dynamics together in one vacation house. I'm not sure it will be particularly memorable for me, but it's a fine summer read.



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