All Adults Here
RIVERHEAD BOOKS, MAY 2020
NOW IN PAPERBACK
A warm, funny, and keenly perceptive novel about the life cycle of one family--as the kids become parents, grandchildren become teenagers, and a matriarch confronts the legacy of her mistakes. From the New York Times bestselling author of Modern Lovers and The Vacationers.
When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she'd been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence?
Astrid's youngest son is drifting and unfocused, making parenting mistakes of his own. Her daughter is pregnant yet struggling to give up her own adolescence. And her eldest seems to measure his adult life according to standards no one else shares. But who gets to decide, so many years later, which long-ago lapses were the ones that mattered? Who decides which apologies really count? It might be that only Astrid's thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most.
In All Adults Here, Emma Straub's unique alchemy of wisdom, humor, and insight come together in a deeply satisfying story about adult siblings, aging parents, high school boyfriends, middle school mean girls, the lifelong effects of birth order, and all the other things that follow us into adulthood, whether we like them to or not.
Praise for All Adults Here:
“Straub juggles the weighty topics with a feather-light touch, funny without being flip, with keen insights into how we evolve through every stage of life… It’s a credit to Straub’s gifts of wit and observation that she’s made such a loving book so alive. Reading All Adults Here, you feel like maybe your life isn’t so small, that its minor joys and pitfalls are worthy of literature. If only Straub could be the one to document it.” – USA TODAY
“Emma Straub's warm-hearted fourth novel confirms her reign as a patron saint of delayed adolescence. In the somewhat ironically titled All Adults Here, aging without maturing is a common affliction, even among parents: Her amiably dysfunctional characters make it clear that it's possible to grow old without growing up. But fortunately, it's also never too late to play catch-up…you'll enjoy the company of this sympathetic clan as Straub works her narrative to a well-earned cheery resolution.” – NPR
“It’s a funny, bright, sibling story that and further solidifies Straub’s role as a must-read author.” – Shondaland
“This heartwarming story is a great reminder that we’re all doing our best, and it’s just the kind of book you need right now.” – Hello Giggles
“Straub’s latest novel is a layered love story that examines, and ultimately celebrates, the modern, multigenerational family dynamic. Each member of the Strick family—anchored by its (seemingly) unshakeable matriarch, Astrid—is forced to weigh past choices against present predicaments while simultaneously subverting the expectations of the people who supposedly know them the best.” – Parade
“A heartwarming, funny novel about the life cycle of a family told from each member's perspective. As soon as you dive in, it will bring forth your own memories of growing up.” – Marie Claire
“Emma Straub returns with another humorous, perceptive novel about family and all its complications.” – Bust
“Straub’s best book yet… The complications that ensue make excellent book-group fodder.” – The Washington Post
“We know their angst, we understand their secrets. From grandmother to grandchild, their experiences and reactions are visceral. Other novelists who write rich family tales — Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout — came to mind during this read. Thus the issues raised in All Adults Here — discerning depictions of mortality, fidelity, gender, friendship, siblings, motherhood, romance, regret — resonate for the reader and evoke strong emotions and reactions.” - BookTrib