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The Fallback Plan
Just graduated from college, Esther Kohler’s post-graduate plans include: returning to her parents’ house, taking old prescription tranquilizers, hanging out with Jack, her unrequited high school crush, and re-reading her favorite children’s books.
But Esther’s parents decide she should do something— anything—while mulling her future. So they volunteer her to work as a nanny for their neighbors, the Browns.
It’s a tricky assignment: six months earlier, the Browns’ youngest child had died. Still, as Esther finds herself falling in love with their surviving daughter May, she’s impressed by how well they seem to be coping. And as Esther and her old high school flame resume a confusing relationship, she finds it easier to escape to the Browns' house.
Soon, though, she finds herself assuming the role of mother to May, confidante to May’s mother Amy, and partner in crime to Amy’s husband Nate.... And when these conflicting alliances inevitably collide, Esther is forced to create her own definition of who she really is.
Both witty and heartbreaking, The Fallback Plan is a beautifully written and moving story of what we must leave behind, and what we manage to hold on to, as we navigate the treacherous terrain between youth and adulthood.
But Esther’s parents decide she should do something— anything—while mulling her future. So they volunteer her to work as a nanny for their neighbors, the Browns.
It’s a tricky assignment: six months earlier, the Browns’ youngest child had died. Still, as Esther finds herself falling in love with their surviving daughter May, she’s impressed by how well they seem to be coping. And as Esther and her old high school flame resume a confusing relationship, she finds it easier to escape to the Browns' house.
Soon, though, she finds herself assuming the role of mother to May, confidante to May’s mother Amy, and partner in crime to Amy’s husband Nate.... And when these conflicting alliances inevitably collide, Esther is forced to create her own definition of who she really is.
Both witty and heartbreaking, The Fallback Plan is a beautifully written and moving story of what we must leave behind, and what we manage to hold on to, as we navigate the treacherous terrain between youth and adulthood.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
15 people are currently reading
1586 people want to read
About the author
Leigh Stein
9 books383 followersLeigh Stein makes fun of what the internet is doing to us. She is the author of six books, including the critically acclaimed satirical novel SELF CARE and the bestselling gothic mystery IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS, IT'S MEANT FOR YOU. She has written culture pieces and personal essays for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker online, Airmail, Allure, ELLE, BuzzFeed, The Cut, Salon, and Slate.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
June 4, 2020
**woo-hoo!! this is finally out!! come to my store and buy it!!**
so last friday i tried to go to some brooklyn bookfair bookend event at greenlight books (holla), but that place was packed to the tits and very warmly and moistly unpleasant, and i was wallflowering it over in the fiction section with my free beer and tonguing persistent fig seeds out of my teeth when i finally noticed i was not having a good time, and went outside to hopefully waylay the one person i knew who was going to be there, albeit flakishly late.
waylay successful!
and all of this to preface the most important fact that instead of spending my evening genitally crushed against overgrown boys in suit jackets over t-shirts and misguided facial hair, i instead spent it chatting amiably at a much more ventilated bar nearby, drinking a dark and stormy float (yeah, you heard me) and meeting the author of this book.
noticing, my red panda pin (hi, jen!!), she mentioned that her book had talking pandas in it. like, as an aside. in a conversation. not flooding my goodreads.com mailbox with review requests for books that even the most casual glance at my tastes will show i am not the audience for.
so i got me an ARC.
all of this namedropping and schmoozily written nonsense to say she was right.
her book does indeed have talking pandas in it.
and it is great.
do you need more? didn't i just say "talking pandas??" these aren't whimsical frolicsome pandas, they appear more as a story-within-a-story, breaking up the flow of an all-too-recognizable realism for some people. not to me, but maybe to you.
it is about a character, directionless after college, moving back home with her parents to figure it all out. to carve a path. to reflect and gain insight. to have a goal. to get laid.
it is funny and lonely and full of life. it takes the irreverent slacker stereotype and finally finally gives her a sense of humor. this character is so easy to fall in love with. because she is original and the humor is so frequently followed by melancholy, the way life tends to be. it's one of the few books to which i can actually apply the exhausted cliche "comes to life."
this could have so easily been an insufferable hipster novel about a rudderless young adult trying to overcome her own self-absorption long enough to realize that there is a whole world around her. but it is so much better than that. because she is never really jaded - she actually gives a shit, which is so nice in a novel chronicling this age. (says grandma karen)
so you can stand in a metaphorically crowded bookstore, sweating and being repelled by all the things you hate about brooklyn, crammed into a stuffy room together, reading the newest undeserved sensation brooklyn shits out. or you can choose to leave, and read something that actually has a soul, and will therefore most likely be a quieter sensation when it comes out in january (LGD), but trust me - this book will show you a better time, and it will definitely let you get a word in edgewise.
love it.
come to my blog!
so last friday i tried to go to some brooklyn bookfair bookend event at greenlight books (holla), but that place was packed to the tits and very warmly and moistly unpleasant, and i was wallflowering it over in the fiction section with my free beer and tonguing persistent fig seeds out of my teeth when i finally noticed i was not having a good time, and went outside to hopefully waylay the one person i knew who was going to be there, albeit flakishly late.
waylay successful!
and all of this to preface the most important fact that instead of spending my evening genitally crushed against overgrown boys in suit jackets over t-shirts and misguided facial hair, i instead spent it chatting amiably at a much more ventilated bar nearby, drinking a dark and stormy float (yeah, you heard me) and meeting the author of this book.
noticing, my red panda pin (hi, jen!!), she mentioned that her book had talking pandas in it. like, as an aside. in a conversation. not flooding my goodreads.com mailbox with review requests for books that even the most casual glance at my tastes will show i am not the audience for.
so i got me an ARC.
all of this namedropping and schmoozily written nonsense to say she was right.
her book does indeed have talking pandas in it.
and it is great.
do you need more? didn't i just say "talking pandas??" these aren't whimsical frolicsome pandas, they appear more as a story-within-a-story, breaking up the flow of an all-too-recognizable realism for some people. not to me, but maybe to you.
it is about a character, directionless after college, moving back home with her parents to figure it all out. to carve a path. to reflect and gain insight. to have a goal. to get laid.
it is funny and lonely and full of life. it takes the irreverent slacker stereotype and finally finally gives her a sense of humor. this character is so easy to fall in love with. because she is original and the humor is so frequently followed by melancholy, the way life tends to be. it's one of the few books to which i can actually apply the exhausted cliche "comes to life."
this could have so easily been an insufferable hipster novel about a rudderless young adult trying to overcome her own self-absorption long enough to realize that there is a whole world around her. but it is so much better than that. because she is never really jaded - she actually gives a shit, which is so nice in a novel chronicling this age. (says grandma karen)
so you can stand in a metaphorically crowded bookstore, sweating and being repelled by all the things you hate about brooklyn, crammed into a stuffy room together, reading the newest undeserved sensation brooklyn shits out. or you can choose to leave, and read something that actually has a soul, and will therefore most likely be a quieter sensation when it comes out in january (LGD), but trust me - this book will show you a better time, and it will definitely let you get a word in edgewise.
love it.
come to my blog!
November 8, 2011
In another twenty years I would still be depressed and apathetic. I would still be waiting for that turning point, the one that comes in books and plays, where the hero has to step up and risk it all. Apparently, in life, there is no such thing.
The Fallback Plan is a great and much needed addition to the so called New Adult literature. If I had to describe it in just one word, it would be normal. Everything about this book is wonderfully acceptable and ordinary and that’s exactly what makes it so special.
Esther Kohler is a twenty-something recent college graduate, unemployed and living with her parents. Unable to decide what to do with herself, she spends her days aimlessly, hanging out with her high school friends and her old crush Jack, drinking a lot and taking an occasional Vicodin or five. Determined to help her through a tough time (or just to get her off her back, really) Esther’s mom finds her a babysitting job. Not having anything better to do with her time, Esther starts taking care of 4-year-old May, and they soon become very close. Sorting through other people’s problems helps Esther realize that she must face her own issues and find a compromise between her dreams and real life, and maybe even build some self-esteem in the process.
Esther’s determination to find a physical cause for her depression was at times saddening, at times hilarious, but mostly it was just familiar. We all have our little neuroses and I think Leigh Stein did an excellent job of giving them a name and a face.
I knew I was depressed, but my hope was that maybe there was a brain tumor at the root of all this, something that would show up on a map of my cerebrum, something excisable. And then I came across the word weltschmerz.
Esther’s relationship with Jack was as charming as it was awkward. He is that guy a girl turns to when she thinks she doesn’t deserve any better. And yet, even with him, Esther felt completely inadequate.
”I’ve never seen anyone fall over like that,” he said. He took the bottle when I was finished. “You’re cuter when you don’t move around so much.”
Don’t let my three stars fool you: The Fallback Plan is a really good book. My failure to connect with Esther on so many levels is exactly that: MY failure. Leigh Stein is in no way responsible. In fact, I admire her character building and I think many of you will easily relate to her story. This is a must-read for everyone who felt a little lost and a lot confused after college.
The Fallback Plan is a great and much needed addition to the so called New Adult literature. If I had to describe it in just one word, it would be normal. Everything about this book is wonderfully acceptable and ordinary and that’s exactly what makes it so special.
Esther Kohler is a twenty-something recent college graduate, unemployed and living with her parents. Unable to decide what to do with herself, she spends her days aimlessly, hanging out with her high school friends and her old crush Jack, drinking a lot and taking an occasional Vicodin or five. Determined to help her through a tough time (or just to get her off her back, really) Esther’s mom finds her a babysitting job. Not having anything better to do with her time, Esther starts taking care of 4-year-old May, and they soon become very close. Sorting through other people’s problems helps Esther realize that she must face her own issues and find a compromise between her dreams and real life, and maybe even build some self-esteem in the process.
Esther’s determination to find a physical cause for her depression was at times saddening, at times hilarious, but mostly it was just familiar. We all have our little neuroses and I think Leigh Stein did an excellent job of giving them a name and a face.
I knew I was depressed, but my hope was that maybe there was a brain tumor at the root of all this, something that would show up on a map of my cerebrum, something excisable. And then I came across the word weltschmerz.
Esther’s relationship with Jack was as charming as it was awkward. He is that guy a girl turns to when she thinks she doesn’t deserve any better. And yet, even with him, Esther felt completely inadequate.
”I’ve never seen anyone fall over like that,” he said. He took the bottle when I was finished. “You’re cuter when you don’t move around so much.”
Don’t let my three stars fool you: The Fallback Plan is a really good book. My failure to connect with Esther on so many levels is exactly that: MY failure. Leigh Stein is in no way responsible. In fact, I admire her character building and I think many of you will easily relate to her story. This is a must-read for everyone who felt a little lost and a lot confused after college.
March 16, 2012
”Why do you always miss everything, I thought. Why can’t you ever be happy in the moment, instead of looking backward or forward?”On the face of it, this seemed like a “Rey Book”, because I like to think that twenty-something-angst is my unofficial area of expertise. I thought that I would my spend my time reading The Fallback Plan nodding along in enthusiastic agreement, flagging passages and essentially revelling in the sheer relevance to my life.
But just shy of the halfway point, I found myself growing weary of Esther and her weltschmerz. It struck me that I’m not all that interested in reading about someone’s existential crisis just for the sake of it. Whereas I could bang on about my own for hours (no one would listen of course, and for good reason) I simply didn’t care about Esther’s. I wanted a more compelling reason to be a participant in her pity-party, as harsh as that sounds. And rather than relating to her malaise, more often than not during the first half of the novel, the self-indulgence of Esther’s actions and musings just grated on me. Not be all Judgy McJudgePants, because I think I understand the whole ‘making poor choices element’ of being a young adult, but I found myself less and less able to sympathise with her, and her apparently wilful blindness to the obvious.
Somewhere after this point, however, my feelings began to change. As Esther becomes more entangled with the Brown family, and her relationships with each member become more complex, it becomes a more compelling story. It’s heavily introspective, and Esther’s development throughout the book is subtle, but Stein’s writing is sharply observant and pitch-perfect. While at times I found Esther’s constant stream of neurosis bordering on tedious, it’s also often hilarious and undeniably well-written.
”I saw I was deceiving myself. I was the one who wanted to regress to some Eden, a second childhood using May as my ticket. I wanted to travel back in time [...] and relive the precious ordinariness of all those days I never knew I would miss.”
”You’d think once I was old enough to realize how much damage I’d likely done to his self-esteem when I was eight years old by laughing at him with other girls, I’d apologize, but instead I just friended him on Facebook.”The book really does articulate the particular brand of apathy that accompanies the transition from childhood to adulthood, and the realisation that life is not always what it was cracked up to be. Additionally it captures the painful deconstruction of relationships in the wake of grief, and the fact that nobody is really who they appear to be on the surface.
I’m loathe to use the word “quirky”, but as a character driven story, the voice is exceptionally off-beat while remaining realistic. However, I think I expected to have a more profound reaction to reading this book. I enjoyed it and found that a lot of the latter content resonated with me, but ultimately it lacked the personal “a-ha moment” I was anticipating.
January 3, 2012
For some people, the time after college is a second adolescence. Responsibilities of exams and classes are over, but responsibilities of the real world haven’t kicked in yet as recent graduates look for a job in their chosen field or continue to struggle to define what they want to do when they grown up.
The latter is the situation facing Esther in Leigh Stein’s The Fallback Plan. Having moved back in with her parents, Esther feels very much in between stages of her life. She drifts for a bit before landing a babysitting/nanny job with family friends. The family’s youngest daughter died six months before the novel opens, and Esther’s job involves entertaining the remaining daughter, May, while her mother works on a mysterious art project in the attic.
Along the way, Esther indulges her previous college and adolescent side by hanging out in playgrounds smoking marijuana with childhood friends.
The book moves quickly, and Stein draws clear characters at crossroads in their lives.
The problem, unfortunately, is that it’s hard for readers to care about characters who aren’t sure whether or not they like themselves. Esther’s inability to move forward as an adult could be an interesting character trait if Esther seemed more invested in moving forward or had strong feelings about it either way. Instead she drifts, a little too willing to accept whatever is thrown at her without being upset or joyful over her circumstances. Esther doesn’t seem to have an opinion of herself and it’s difficult for a reader to care much about her either.
It’s telling that the stories Esther tells May to pass the time are more interesting than Esther’s own story. The original fairy tales center on a young panda girl whose travails mirror Esther’s. When Esther falls for Jack, one of her childhood friends, he shows up in the panda’s story.
How the panda experiences the crush is not as predictable as what happens to Esther and Jack. Also predictable is the relationship between Esther and May’s father.
Yet, despite the predictability, nothing happens. Esther has a safe pseudo-affair with May’s father, but it doesn’t progress to the point of danger. She sleeps with Jack, but the lack of emotional consequences or effect on the plot makes it another “meh” event in Esther’s life. Amy shows clear signs of being dangerously unhinged and Stein lays the groundwork for a big event that would threaten May or Amy that never materializes.
The novel ends as it began. Esther recognizes that her childhood is over, but doesn’t have a firm plan for the future or a firm grasp on who she wants to be. She’s grown closer to her parents and recognized she wants more than meaningless sex and affairs, but the overall impression is that the events of the novel weren’t that important to Esther, which makes them not that important to a reader.
The latter is the situation facing Esther in Leigh Stein’s The Fallback Plan. Having moved back in with her parents, Esther feels very much in between stages of her life. She drifts for a bit before landing a babysitting/nanny job with family friends. The family’s youngest daughter died six months before the novel opens, and Esther’s job involves entertaining the remaining daughter, May, while her mother works on a mysterious art project in the attic.
Along the way, Esther indulges her previous college and adolescent side by hanging out in playgrounds smoking marijuana with childhood friends.
The book moves quickly, and Stein draws clear characters at crossroads in their lives.
The problem, unfortunately, is that it’s hard for readers to care about characters who aren’t sure whether or not they like themselves. Esther’s inability to move forward as an adult could be an interesting character trait if Esther seemed more invested in moving forward or had strong feelings about it either way. Instead she drifts, a little too willing to accept whatever is thrown at her without being upset or joyful over her circumstances. Esther doesn’t seem to have an opinion of herself and it’s difficult for a reader to care much about her either.
It’s telling that the stories Esther tells May to pass the time are more interesting than Esther’s own story. The original fairy tales center on a young panda girl whose travails mirror Esther’s. When Esther falls for Jack, one of her childhood friends, he shows up in the panda’s story.
How the panda experiences the crush is not as predictable as what happens to Esther and Jack. Also predictable is the relationship between Esther and May’s father.
Yet, despite the predictability, nothing happens. Esther has a safe pseudo-affair with May’s father, but it doesn’t progress to the point of danger. She sleeps with Jack, but the lack of emotional consequences or effect on the plot makes it another “meh” event in Esther’s life. Amy shows clear signs of being dangerously unhinged and Stein lays the groundwork for a big event that would threaten May or Amy that never materializes.
The novel ends as it began. Esther recognizes that her childhood is over, but doesn’t have a firm plan for the future or a firm grasp on who she wants to be. She’s grown closer to her parents and recognized she wants more than meaningless sex and affairs, but the overall impression is that the events of the novel weren’t that important to Esther, which makes them not that important to a reader.
August 16, 2012
Wow, this is what indie debut novels should inspire to be. In “The Fallback Plan” Esther fresh out college finds herself moving back home to live with parents. She’s kind of a wallflower, imaginative, rather apathetic towards her goals and plans, oh and very likeable. Esther’s voice is so genuine, so raw and real, original and confused that I wonder how much of Leigh Stein’s self is written in to the character of Esther, how much of her experience, her fears, her imaginative nature is Leigh Stein’s ?, certainly her love of Pandas and theater. Maybe Leigh Stein created her from thin air. Either way this book I found myself falling in love with for a number of reasons.
Writing likeable fully realized characters, characters that are deeply flawed, who's actions are less the desirable, while fully engaging the reader is hard and attemped often. Leigh Stein swings for the fences and the ball lands in the parking lot, and too think this is her first novel, but damn if I wasn’t totally impressed in how Esther talked, what she was going through, I laughed along with her morbid sense of humor, felt her embarrassments as if they were my own. Think of an older less snobby Holden Caulfield for Generation Y, with Its K’s , LOL’s and OMG’s, that has never used a payphone to pick a place for a date. Yes you would be hard press to find a more likable character written in the last few years, one I’m kind of in love with, one I want only to say everything will be ok.
Beyond that this book is short and blissful, while never comprasing depth, a page turner the why suspense novels are written. It’s full of musings of theater, books and movies and Grand Theft Auto, Vice City (a game I played by the way). Esther as a crash on a boy from high school, but he has a girlfriend already, who watches him play videos games like there’s nothing wrong with it, which kind makes sense in a time when fewer men open doors for or wait for women to exit elevators. I’m kind of off point but I feel that Leigh Stein was making some points about a lack of culture and manners with today’s recent college grads or something.
“The Fallback Plan” is bitter sweet, depressing at times but not “The Bell Jar” depressing, cute in a good why even a dude like me would like, revealing, strangely therapeutic at least to me, genuine and above all else a damn fine read!
Writing likeable fully realized characters, characters that are deeply flawed, who's actions are less the desirable, while fully engaging the reader is hard and attemped often. Leigh Stein swings for the fences and the ball lands in the parking lot, and too think this is her first novel, but damn if I wasn’t totally impressed in how Esther talked, what she was going through, I laughed along with her morbid sense of humor, felt her embarrassments as if they were my own. Think of an older less snobby Holden Caulfield for Generation Y, with Its K’s , LOL’s and OMG’s, that has never used a payphone to pick a place for a date. Yes you would be hard press to find a more likable character written in the last few years, one I’m kind of in love with, one I want only to say everything will be ok.
Beyond that this book is short and blissful, while never comprasing depth, a page turner the why suspense novels are written. It’s full of musings of theater, books and movies and Grand Theft Auto, Vice City (a game I played by the way). Esther as a crash on a boy from high school, but he has a girlfriend already, who watches him play videos games like there’s nothing wrong with it, which kind makes sense in a time when fewer men open doors for or wait for women to exit elevators. I’m kind of off point but I feel that Leigh Stein was making some points about a lack of culture and manners with today’s recent college grads or something.
“The Fallback Plan” is bitter sweet, depressing at times but not “The Bell Jar” depressing, cute in a good why even a dude like me would like, revealing, strangely therapeutic at least to me, genuine and above all else a damn fine read!
December 15, 2011
Odd, her talking panda lives in a world that has a striking resemblance to Narnia. Esther claims to be writing a screenplay. Esther spends hours on end contemplating which disease she’d like contract to allow her to live on disability with her parents. Esther describes the state she's in as that of Weltschmerz (mental depression or apathy caused by a comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state; a mood of sentimental sadness.) Esther uses sentences like “if this were a movie” or if my life were a book.”
And given all that, Esther pissed me off but made me laugh. She pissed me off because~ I WAS her (and every so often do revert back to being like her when the mood hits.) At least she made me laugh. Her directionless self has a tendency to daydream, and it was all of the unlikely scenarios she came up with that had me laughing. What’s better is the funny did not end in her head… because everyone else around her was just as off balance as she was. Jack and Pickle on one hand then Amy, Nate and May on the other. In fact, everyone was so not normal, it was the kid who came across as the most well adjusted:
On Esther and Jack. Depressing. The girl has a tendency to not only imagine but also reminisce. She’d compare her present state to her ideal state enough to have her feeling down. But she also compared her present state to what was, making her just a little more depressed. Seeing her with him was depressing. Her romanticizing what they could, how they could be when in truth he is not that perfect, rather he’s so far from perfect.
On Esther and Amy and Nate and May. Sad. Their situation is sad and that is just about the only thing I can say. Esther enters the picture knowing fully well that tragedy had happened. She still does shitty things but surprisingly all the members of that family come to depend on her, need her. How odd/sad/unlikely is that?
What I liked most about this is how she’s funny and sad but not at the same time. More likely, she’s funny then sad and then funny then sad again. Add the fact that she just doesn't know what she wants. No, not really, she knows what she wants given her head to varied imaginary situations. It’s just all those things were all unlikely to take place.
What I disliked was that she felt too deeply and thought deeply… about herself, what she had, did not have, and wanted. Everything was all about her. There’s lack of perspective on her part that’s equal parts accurate, funny and annoying. Don’t get me wrong I had fun with her, I laughed when I was supposed to, but after some thought a little more consideration, I wanted her to get over it a little. But the thing is she does (get over it) ... eventually ... a little... because with Amy/May around her there's no choice but to do so.
THANKS NETGALLEY!
3.5/5
And given all that, Esther pissed me off but made me laugh. She pissed me off because~ I WAS her (and every so often do revert back to being like her when the mood hits.) At least she made me laugh. Her directionless self has a tendency to daydream, and it was all of the unlikely scenarios she came up with that had me laughing. What’s better is the funny did not end in her head… because everyone else around her was just as off balance as she was. Jack and Pickle on one hand then Amy, Nate and May on the other. In fact, everyone was so not normal, it was the kid who came across as the most well adjusted:
On Esther and Jack. Depressing. The girl has a tendency to not only imagine but also reminisce. She’d compare her present state to her ideal state enough to have her feeling down. But she also compared her present state to what was, making her just a little more depressed. Seeing her with him was depressing. Her romanticizing what they could, how they could be when in truth he is not that perfect, rather he’s so far from perfect.
On Esther and Amy and Nate and May. Sad. Their situation is sad and that is just about the only thing I can say. Esther enters the picture knowing fully well that tragedy had happened. She still does shitty things but surprisingly all the members of that family come to depend on her, need her. How odd/sad/unlikely is that?
What I liked most about this is how she’s funny and sad but not at the same time. More likely, she’s funny then sad and then funny then sad again. Add the fact that she just doesn't know what she wants. No, not really, she knows what she wants given her head to varied imaginary situations. It’s just all those things were all unlikely to take place.
What I disliked was that she felt too deeply and thought deeply… about herself, what she had, did not have, and wanted. Everything was all about her. There’s lack of perspective on her part that’s equal parts accurate, funny and annoying. Don’t get me wrong I had fun with her, I laughed when I was supposed to, but after some thought a little more consideration, I wanted her to get over it a little. But the thing is she does (get over it) ... eventually ... a little... because with Amy/May around her there's no choice but to do so.
THANKS NETGALLEY!
3.5/5
November 26, 2011
3.5 Stars
I thought the author did an excellent job portraying someone who feels directionless and a little without hope.
Esther has just moved home after graduating from college. She finds herself in a funk, in a state of inertia. She has no goals and no idea what to do with her degree, much less her life. She hangs out with two loser friends, Jack and Pickle, who seem to don't seem to do anything other than play video games, drink, and smoke weed. At first I had no idea what Esther would see in Jack. She describes him as having anger management issues, being in and out of reform high-school before college. But then you see that Esther doesn't really care about anything, least of all herself, at this point in her life. She's depressed and apathetic. Esther's parents, though, require her to pay rent and encourage her to get a job. Working at the movie theatre is one suggestion, not one she really pursues. Then an offer comes from a neighboring family, Nate and Amy Brown, they need a babysitter for their four-year old daughter, May. It seems Amy wants to go back to her painting. The Browns also had another daughter, a baby, who they found dead in her crib, not that long ago.
I felt so bad for May and Amy. And I guess poor Nate, too. Even though I know I should be sympathetic to his character, he did lose daughter too, I couldn't help but want to shake him. What idiot thinks it's okay to be kissing on a girl, and then lamenting the loss of another in the next breath? Somehow, Esther becomes the confidant and confessor to these people, with them hoping she'll forgive their sins or at least give them a blessing. I wanted to cheer when we finally see Esther sort of wake up, and realize that she "has things to do", things that could positively affect the world around her. I loved what she told Esther in the bar.
This book was tragically sad in one moment, and ironically funny the next. I loved the visual I get thinking of Esther riding down the street, on her hot pink and lavender bicycle, wearing her ladybug-patterned helmet. Also funny, Esther, as an excuse that she's doing something, writes a play with portal hopping panda. This sounds crazy but leads to an endearing moment in the end. All and all, I thought this was a great debut from Leigh Stein, and I look forward to what she writes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for providing me a copy to read.
I thought the author did an excellent job portraying someone who feels directionless and a little without hope.
Esther has just moved home after graduating from college. She finds herself in a funk, in a state of inertia. She has no goals and no idea what to do with her degree, much less her life. She hangs out with two loser friends, Jack and Pickle, who seem to don't seem to do anything other than play video games, drink, and smoke weed. At first I had no idea what Esther would see in Jack. She describes him as having anger management issues, being in and out of reform high-school before college. But then you see that Esther doesn't really care about anything, least of all herself, at this point in her life. She's depressed and apathetic. Esther's parents, though, require her to pay rent and encourage her to get a job. Working at the movie theatre is one suggestion, not one she really pursues. Then an offer comes from a neighboring family, Nate and Amy Brown, they need a babysitter for their four-year old daughter, May. It seems Amy wants to go back to her painting. The Browns also had another daughter, a baby, who they found dead in her crib, not that long ago.
I felt so bad for May and Amy. And I guess poor Nate, too. Even though I know I should be sympathetic to his character, he did lose daughter too, I couldn't help but want to shake him. What idiot thinks it's okay to be kissing on a girl, and then lamenting the loss of another in the next breath? Somehow, Esther becomes the confidant and confessor to these people, with them hoping she'll forgive their sins or at least give them a blessing. I wanted to cheer when we finally see Esther sort of wake up, and realize that she "has things to do", things that could positively affect the world around her. I loved what she told Esther in the bar.
This book was tragically sad in one moment, and ironically funny the next. I loved the visual I get thinking of Esther riding down the street, on her hot pink and lavender bicycle, wearing her ladybug-patterned helmet. Also funny, Esther, as an excuse that she's doing something, writes a play with portal hopping panda. This sounds crazy but leads to an endearing moment in the end. All and all, I thought this was a great debut from Leigh Stein, and I look forward to what she writes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for providing me a copy to read.
January 16, 2012
Sweet and Sour
“The Fallback Plan” is about 22 year old Esther who’s just graduated from Northwestern with a degree in Drama. She’s having some ‘issues’ so winds up moving back in with mom and dad. Stein has a wonderfully acerbic wit which masks this young woman’s sweetness. Esther has a wry ability to laugh at herself even when she’s in pain. Her sense of the ridiculous helps her see past herself. The punch lines are never where and what you’d expect and the humor is never mean spirited. She let’s others in even as she sees their imperfectness. Esther’s tragedy is that she knows how much she needs others without ever realizing how much they need her. I was very touched by this modern coming of age story.
I’m in awe of Leigh Stein. For a first book ‘Fallback’ is so polished! I see from her bio she works at “The New Yorker” and has had poetry books published before but she’s still only 26 years old.
This review was based on an egalley supplied by the publisher.
“The Fallback Plan” is about 22 year old Esther who’s just graduated from Northwestern with a degree in Drama. She’s having some ‘issues’ so winds up moving back in with mom and dad. Stein has a wonderfully acerbic wit which masks this young woman’s sweetness. Esther has a wry ability to laugh at herself even when she’s in pain. Her sense of the ridiculous helps her see past herself. The punch lines are never where and what you’d expect and the humor is never mean spirited. She let’s others in even as she sees their imperfectness. Esther’s tragedy is that she knows how much she needs others without ever realizing how much they need her. I was very touched by this modern coming of age story.
I’m in awe of Leigh Stein. For a first book ‘Fallback’ is so polished! I see from her bio she works at “The New Yorker” and has had poetry books published before but she’s still only 26 years old.
This review was based on an egalley supplied by the publisher.
January 6, 2012
Stayed up until 3 AM last night reading this book cover to cover. It reminded me of everything I loved about Are You There God It's Me Margaret and Then Again Maybe I Won't when I was growing up (especially the makeout scenes) if Margaret had a tumblr and Tony was into OWS protests and they both went to good colleges and your period was vicodin.
September 15, 2012
i really didn't like this book. the first chapter made me want to give up on this book - it got better, but only barely. the characterization was really bare, and i had no sympathy for esther, who dreams of contracting a chronic illness and living off disability checks so that she doesn't have to get a job after she graduates from college. give me a break, you have a theater degree, do we really need a book discussing how it sucks that you had to move back in with your parents? and the book mentions all of the shrinks esther has seen and the meds she takes and the brief hospitalization, but the only explanation is that she was method-acting the role of blanche in a streetcar named desire? also, i didn't understand why everyone keeps making jewish jokes (are jews really so rare in illinois??). i didn't understand why amy and nate are both so drawn to esther and want to be BFFs/hook up with her after she babysits for them for a couple of weeks. and of course, the big revelation at the end that you need to grow up. ugh. i am happy this book was so short, but it tried to tackle too many "issues" in such a short book, that it came up way too short.
November 18, 2012
I take xanax. It doesn't do anything. well that's not true, sometimes it makes me manic, sometimes it makes me want to puke, but not once has it ever actually made me feel anything in the area of good. I took it during a panic attack once it made me feel more anxious. I don't take it all the time, I have a different pill for that, that one makes me apathetic, it was nice in low doses, but when I bumped up the dose it just made me feel crap too. I take xanax when the anxiety gets really bad, sometimes I take one, sometimes 2, once 4. and it has never helped. I keep taking it, hoping I'm missing something hoping one day I'll pop one and suddenly this shit will all make sense, I think it's unlikely. I don't think drugs work like that. I don't think 20 pills down it will suddenly start doing what the doctor claimed it would do from the beginning, but I guess in the back of my mind I have to hope something.
A few years ago there was a huge snowstorm. I went all the way downtown in it to go to my roommates birthday in a bar. it was a disaster everyone showed up soaked. I didn't bring much money because I didn't plan to actually drink alcohol. It was a weird crowd, my roommate who was maybe 6 years older than me, her boyfriend at the time, I forget which one, a guy with like 8 or so years on me that was one of those creepy, ass hole types. An old guy who really wanted to sleep with my roommate who was married with children. My roommates best friend and her boyfriend that had some kind of don't ask don't tell policy about cheating but they still talked about the people they fucked with the other one in the room. I wasn't friends with anyone but my roommate really but I knew them all at least in passing. I liked the ass hole, I always find the genius asshole types the most interesting. He was really the only one I talked to. I don't know how he pulled an invite no one else really liked him. we drank vodka tonics and shots all night. we got very drunk. when we left instead of going off with my roommate I walked off with the guy. We went for pizza, we looked at a snow man. I hit him in the face with a snowball. I thought he was sweet in that way you can be an asshole and sweet at the same time, and I thought he was cute. when I went to pull the snow out of his scarf we kissed. We almost slept together that night but I thought better of it at the last minute and went home. I had about 30 missed calls and texts on my phone from everyone else at the party telling me not to sleep with him. I refused to tell them for a week whether or not I had. They all told me he was using me. I told them all that was perfectly fine I was using him. Me and that guy stayed friends for a while, I didn't see any reason not to.
what do these stories have to do with this book? everything and nothing.
they have to do with it the way I still love the ex-boyfriend I dumped for what was clearly emotional abuse, and the fact he and I are still very good friends have to do with it.
they have to do with it the way I refuse to answer calls from my mother has to do with it.
they have to do with it the way I sit in the dark and stare at the river has to do with it.
This is a story about a midlife crisis, about a quarter life crisis, about a full life crisis. It's a story about how all we really want to do is self destruct, but somewhere halfway through we kind of forget how and just stand there and watch the world spin.
A few years ago there was a huge snowstorm. I went all the way downtown in it to go to my roommates birthday in a bar. it was a disaster everyone showed up soaked. I didn't bring much money because I didn't plan to actually drink alcohol. It was a weird crowd, my roommate who was maybe 6 years older than me, her boyfriend at the time, I forget which one, a guy with like 8 or so years on me that was one of those creepy, ass hole types. An old guy who really wanted to sleep with my roommate who was married with children. My roommates best friend and her boyfriend that had some kind of don't ask don't tell policy about cheating but they still talked about the people they fucked with the other one in the room. I wasn't friends with anyone but my roommate really but I knew them all at least in passing. I liked the ass hole, I always find the genius asshole types the most interesting. He was really the only one I talked to. I don't know how he pulled an invite no one else really liked him. we drank vodka tonics and shots all night. we got very drunk. when we left instead of going off with my roommate I walked off with the guy. We went for pizza, we looked at a snow man. I hit him in the face with a snowball. I thought he was sweet in that way you can be an asshole and sweet at the same time, and I thought he was cute. when I went to pull the snow out of his scarf we kissed. We almost slept together that night but I thought better of it at the last minute and went home. I had about 30 missed calls and texts on my phone from everyone else at the party telling me not to sleep with him. I refused to tell them for a week whether or not I had. They all told me he was using me. I told them all that was perfectly fine I was using him. Me and that guy stayed friends for a while, I didn't see any reason not to.
what do these stories have to do with this book? everything and nothing.
they have to do with it the way I still love the ex-boyfriend I dumped for what was clearly emotional abuse, and the fact he and I are still very good friends have to do with it.
they have to do with it the way I refuse to answer calls from my mother has to do with it.
they have to do with it the way I sit in the dark and stare at the river has to do with it.
This is a story about a midlife crisis, about a quarter life crisis, about a full life crisis. It's a story about how all we really want to do is self destruct, but somewhere halfway through we kind of forget how and just stand there and watch the world spin.
January 17, 2012
Leigh Stein’s first novel, The Fallback Plan, was a quick read that will resonate with people who were jolted by adjusting to life after college. Stein’s protagonist, Esther Koehler, returns home to her parents’ house in an Illinois suburb after graduating from Northwestern with a degree in theater. Esther has little to no interest in finding a job and prefers to revisit her favorite childhood books and hang around with her old friends, two slackers who are also failing to launch.
Esther’s paranoia and depression are both touching and amusing, in a fashion that’s reminiscent of Woody Allen and Larry David’s neurotic protagonists. She describes the German concept of welchmerz, mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state; a mood of sentimental sadness, which is a familiar position for anyone who has just moved from one chapter of her life to another.
Esther’s parents are endlessly supportive of her and don’t seem too disturbed or angry that she isn’t making moves to find a career. In order to get her out of the house, her mother finds her a job babysitting for a family who recently lost their daughter. Through her relationship with May, the three year old she cares for, Esther is able to find a kernel of happiness and sense of self during this troubling time.
While the author creates a likable and memorable character in Esther, she fails to develop most of the supporting cast of characters that Esther interacts with. The tension she confronts is in her own head, and the conflicts she experiences seem to have no consequences. The reader is never convinced that the actual stakes that Esther faces are very high. The most well developed character is Amy, the mother who is grieving for the loss of her baby. She befriends and confides in Esther, but instead of feeling sympathy towards Amy, Esther grows to resent Amy’s dependence on her and the fact that she is not able to be the ideal mother to her beloved May. At the end, she tells Amy to fuck off, without any regret. This, to me, is not the sign of a dynamic character.
Throughout the novel, Esther jumps from reflecting on one literary character to the next without clearly establishing why they are important to her, then or now, or furthering the plot. As someone who grew up reading many of the same books that Esther cherishes, I appreciated her countless references to the literary heroines of our youth, but wish she had better tied them to her current situation. She also tells periodic stories about pandas, which is supposed to be some kind of allegory, but I found boring and distracting.
With her humor and stark honesty, Stein has a lot of potential to grow into an important literary force.
Esther’s paranoia and depression are both touching and amusing, in a fashion that’s reminiscent of Woody Allen and Larry David’s neurotic protagonists. She describes the German concept of welchmerz, mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state; a mood of sentimental sadness, which is a familiar position for anyone who has just moved from one chapter of her life to another.
Esther’s parents are endlessly supportive of her and don’t seem too disturbed or angry that she isn’t making moves to find a career. In order to get her out of the house, her mother finds her a job babysitting for a family who recently lost their daughter. Through her relationship with May, the three year old she cares for, Esther is able to find a kernel of happiness and sense of self during this troubling time.
While the author creates a likable and memorable character in Esther, she fails to develop most of the supporting cast of characters that Esther interacts with. The tension she confronts is in her own head, and the conflicts she experiences seem to have no consequences. The reader is never convinced that the actual stakes that Esther faces are very high. The most well developed character is Amy, the mother who is grieving for the loss of her baby. She befriends and confides in Esther, but instead of feeling sympathy towards Amy, Esther grows to resent Amy’s dependence on her and the fact that she is not able to be the ideal mother to her beloved May. At the end, she tells Amy to fuck off, without any regret. This, to me, is not the sign of a dynamic character.
Throughout the novel, Esther jumps from reflecting on one literary character to the next without clearly establishing why they are important to her, then or now, or furthering the plot. As someone who grew up reading many of the same books that Esther cherishes, I appreciated her countless references to the literary heroines of our youth, but wish she had better tied them to her current situation. She also tells periodic stories about pandas, which is supposed to be some kind of allegory, but I found boring and distracting.
With her humor and stark honesty, Stein has a lot of potential to grow into an important literary force.
February 3, 2013
The worst thing about moving home when I was 24 years old was the well-enforced curfew of 2 a.m. It was a respect thing. My parents couldn’t sleep if they knew I was on the roads, whether I was 16 or the arrested adolescent who had returned home with a pet cat and returned to the handful of part time jobs held as a high school student. So it wasn’t like I’d be grounded, per se, if I snuck in at 4 a.m. But my parents have always been able to craft a powerful look of disappointment that stung worse than any corporal punishment.
The return home is a bit more seamless for Esther Kohler, a recent graduate from Northwestern’s theater department and the smart ass star of Leigh Stein’s refusing-to-come-of-age novel “The Fallback Plan.” Esther closes out the college years debilitated by a manic episode that ends with her hospitalized and later back in her childhood home -- though not her childhood bedroom, which has been converted in her absence. Back at home she hangs with her ‘rents or her best friend Pickle and his friend Jack, whose awfulness she seems willing to ignore because of his dreaminess.
Esther is content to hang loose and write a play with similarities to “The Chronicles of Narnia,” but her mother finds her a job working for the beautifully tragic neighborhood couple. They’ve recently lost an infant daughter and need someone to watch their toddler while he is at the office and she is in the attic working on her art. Esther develops a relationship with each of the family members, each fall into a different area on the socially acceptable scale.
It’s not as much of a plot as a chronological look at a couple months that includes a few dead episodes. Esther’s mental illness is revealed late and as sort of an afterthought -- as though every theater major gets so caught up in playing Blanche Dubois that they morph into something so fragile she should be kept in a display case. Also, as Esther kind of free flows through life she ends up making some wretched decisions -- or rather, not making the decision that would keep her away from the wretched situation. “The Fallback Plan” is okay. It has some good humor and a few relatable moments for anyone who deferred on adulthood, but there isn’t a lot holding it together.
The return home is a bit more seamless for Esther Kohler, a recent graduate from Northwestern’s theater department and the smart ass star of Leigh Stein’s refusing-to-come-of-age novel “The Fallback Plan.” Esther closes out the college years debilitated by a manic episode that ends with her hospitalized and later back in her childhood home -- though not her childhood bedroom, which has been converted in her absence. Back at home she hangs with her ‘rents or her best friend Pickle and his friend Jack, whose awfulness she seems willing to ignore because of his dreaminess.
Esther is content to hang loose and write a play with similarities to “The Chronicles of Narnia,” but her mother finds her a job working for the beautifully tragic neighborhood couple. They’ve recently lost an infant daughter and need someone to watch their toddler while he is at the office and she is in the attic working on her art. Esther develops a relationship with each of the family members, each fall into a different area on the socially acceptable scale.
It’s not as much of a plot as a chronological look at a couple months that includes a few dead episodes. Esther’s mental illness is revealed late and as sort of an afterthought -- as though every theater major gets so caught up in playing Blanche Dubois that they morph into something so fragile she should be kept in a display case. Also, as Esther kind of free flows through life she ends up making some wretched decisions -- or rather, not making the decision that would keep her away from the wretched situation. “The Fallback Plan” is okay. It has some good humor and a few relatable moments for anyone who deferred on adulthood, but there isn’t a lot holding it together.
May 20, 2016
I have a feeling that this is one of those books that you either connect with and love, or you just don't. Happily, I belong to the first group of people.
The Fallback Plan is one of those rare books that manages to successfully pull off an astounding number of feats. It's:
1. quirky, but not twee (I just found out about this word and I love it a lot so there)
2. refreshing, but doesn't try too hard
3. pretty much about first world problems, but they still matter and aren't annoying
However, this book may not be for you if you hate:
1. Interjections about Narnia, but with pandas.
2. Non-conclusive, ambiguous endings. My biggest complaint, actually, is that I wish the ending had been slightly more extended. But I understand why it isn't.
3. Non-conclusiveness and ambiguity in general. The book is basically about a character who spends most of her time wallowing and wondering why there isn't a big, fat epiphany or turning point in her life. And since I basically spend all of my time wallowing and wondering where my epiphany is, it all worked out. But some of us are cool and have clear-cut life objectives.
The Fallback Plan is one of those rare books that manages to successfully pull off an astounding number of feats. It's:
1. quirky, but not twee (I just found out about this word and I love it a lot so there)
2. refreshing, but doesn't try too hard
3. pretty much about first world problems, but they still matter and aren't annoying
However, this book may not be for you if you hate:
1. Interjections about Narnia, but with pandas.
2. Non-conclusive, ambiguous endings. My biggest complaint, actually, is that I wish the ending had been slightly more extended. But I understand why it isn't.
3. Non-conclusiveness and ambiguity in general. The book is basically about a character who spends most of her time wallowing and wondering why there isn't a big, fat epiphany or turning point in her life. And since I basically spend all of my time wallowing and wondering where my epiphany is, it all worked out. But some of us are cool and have clear-cut life objectives.
March 20, 2012
Very quick, easy read. The author has nailed the voice of the jobless, quirky post-college grad and while a lot of parts were quite funny and had the ring of truth to them, it was hard to not become increasingly annoyed with Esther (the narrator)'s misguided self-righteousness. Spoilers, but why did the novel have to end with such a horrific kiss-off to Amy, who in her mourning just sought for friendship and understanding (seriously she must have invited people over for dinner 5 times during the course of the book), and whose husband Esther had an affair with? Maybe the novel was trying to say something about the time after school when we assess our own morality in the scope of real world consequences, but it just came off as Esther being a useless spoiled brat with very little empathy for anyone other than the 4 year old she babysat for. Maybe it's useless to tell 22 year olds to grow up, but GROW UP. You're whiny and self centered and awful.
But strangely, having said all that, it was quite an enjoyable read? So go figure.
But strangely, having said all that, it was quite an enjoyable read? So go figure.
March 26, 2012
Ok, the fact that I didn't like this book is probably my fault rather than the author's. And I'll admit that I didn't didn't get anywhere near the end. Briefly, it deals with a young graduate's post-university life/career lacuna and her return to her home town and the bosom of her family. I was drawn to it because of my predilection for wry, contemporary American-Jewish fiction, but this one passed me by. I found the prose bitty and inchoate, lacking in continuity or flow. It lacked wit and sharpness and the dialogue was leaden. But I'm a middle-aged man and I tend to think this is aimed at a young female readership. It might well resonate with the right reader but, for me, it was leaden and uninteresting. It's conceivable that I'll pick it up again one day (I have a habit of abandoning books and trying again after a cooling-off period) and I'll happily revise my rating and review if appropriate.
September 28, 2011
This debut novel about a fresh college graduate returning to her parent's home seems quite timely what with seeing articles every day about this subject. Boomerang generation or bust?
Leigh Stein was a New Yorker staffer and writes in a smart witty fashion which transitions smoothly to a sad story. She has to create her own definition of who she is as an adult while she is surrounded by old friends, old prescription transquilizers while living in her kid bedroom with her parents down the hall. It's funny and heartbreaking at times and on sale in January 2012.
Leigh Stein was a New Yorker staffer and writes in a smart witty fashion which transitions smoothly to a sad story. She has to create her own definition of who she is as an adult while she is surrounded by old friends, old prescription transquilizers while living in her kid bedroom with her parents down the hall. It's funny and heartbreaking at times and on sale in January 2012.
July 27, 2012
Dull, obvious and over-simplified, with a too-easy resolution. Barf.
July 12, 2013
Sad, funny, true to an everygirl's post-college experience. I loved it!
June 30, 2022
I bought this book shortly after it was released because I was 27 and not too far removed from the experiences of the narrator. As Millennials come of age, there's been an influx in the amount of "disenchanted twentysomething" media out there and I sometimes found myself wanting to gobble it up before I grew (frighteningly) too old to connect to it.
I fiiiiinally got around to reading the book three years later and it’s possible that I’m now too old to connect to it the way I would have if I’d read it then, but I still think Stein’s done a great job capturing what it like to be a fresh college graduate who has to move back home when she fails to land a viable job.
We’re no longer really in the Great Recession, but the last ten years or so have been a time in which it's increasingly difficult for twentysomethings to feel like they've made it to adulthood. More than half were moving back home after college--often for five years or more. The unemployment rate is still somewhat disheartening, causing many to wonder how they'll ever pay for the college education they've always been told they'll need to get a job when the best they can do is an assistant manager at American Eagle.
It wasn’t always like this. I was drawn to this book in part because I’d recently re-watched an early episode of Full House, in which the family was celebrating Danny's 30th birthday. By the time he was 30, Danny Tanner had three children and a running start on a successful career and that was considered very much normal. By contrast, the characters on shows like Friends and How I Met Your Mother didn’t marry and start reproducing until well into their thirties. Sure, some of that is a byproduct of the shows’ thematic elements but it's also a reflection of a cultural shift introduced by Gen X but perhaps perfected by Gen Y: the quarter-life crisis.
I can wholeheartedly relate to these sentiments. I was only 10 when Friends debuted, so I couldn't always genuinely relate to it, but I went on a binge when I turned 27, amazed at how spot-on it was when it came to the frustrations of young adulthood. I didn't get my first "career" job until I was 28. After graduating college, I had several starts and stops, in both my personal and professional life and it wasn’t until relatively recently that I began to feel like I'm settling.
I think you’re really only going to enjoy this book if you can relate to a very specific set of experiences. A lot of unemployed and debt-burdened Millennials have been criticized by older generations for choosing college majors that were impractical and taking out loans to pay for the education instead of opting for a career that you could snag with a two-year associate’s degree. I remember finding myself in that kind of situation and thinking, “My entire life, I’ve been told by the adults around me that I could do anything that I wanted, that success is finding a career that I find fulfilling, and that anything less than a Master’s degree would be a disappointment. Now that we’re in a recession, it’s my fault I believed them?” I know it’s a position of relative privilege, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a difficult position to be in. What I remember most about being 23? Feeling like I’m supposed to be an adult and wanting to be an adult, but ready to shit myself because all of a sudden it felt like no one had actually prepared me for what it was actually like to be an adult. Struggling with seeing peers getting there sooner than me and feeling like a failure in comparison. In retrospect, I can see that some of my perspectives were a bit skewed and I definitely understand why others who are removed from the experience may see that perspective as “narcissistic.” But at the time, it felt absolutely awful and I needed to be reminded that I was not alone.
So, all that being said, Leigh Stein has done a pretty bang-up job capturing that sort of privileged depression. Our protagonist, Esther, has had some legitimately serious mental health issues in the past (more on that in a sec), but she is not the typical insufferable hipster that you see in these types of “new adult” books. She gives a shit, she knows she’s not the center of the universe, and to some extent she wants to figure it out. She’s way more sympathetic than you might expect her to be.
Unfortunately, Esther lives in a book that fails to provide enough depth to her story. Stein introduces plot elements but doesn’t really bring anything to any sort of conclusion. There’s no arc or growth to speak of, just events happening. Esther’s mental breakdown is revealed late in the story, almost as an afterthought. I liked this book and I think a lot of people who have lived through this sort of deferred adulthood will find something positive they can relate to. I just really think it could have gone a bit farther.
I fiiiiinally got around to reading the book three years later and it’s possible that I’m now too old to connect to it the way I would have if I’d read it then, but I still think Stein’s done a great job capturing what it like to be a fresh college graduate who has to move back home when she fails to land a viable job.
We’re no longer really in the Great Recession, but the last ten years or so have been a time in which it's increasingly difficult for twentysomethings to feel like they've made it to adulthood. More than half were moving back home after college--often for five years or more. The unemployment rate is still somewhat disheartening, causing many to wonder how they'll ever pay for the college education they've always been told they'll need to get a job when the best they can do is an assistant manager at American Eagle.
It wasn’t always like this. I was drawn to this book in part because I’d recently re-watched an early episode of Full House, in which the family was celebrating Danny's 30th birthday. By the time he was 30, Danny Tanner had three children and a running start on a successful career and that was considered very much normal. By contrast, the characters on shows like Friends and How I Met Your Mother didn’t marry and start reproducing until well into their thirties. Sure, some of that is a byproduct of the shows’ thematic elements but it's also a reflection of a cultural shift introduced by Gen X but perhaps perfected by Gen Y: the quarter-life crisis.
I can wholeheartedly relate to these sentiments. I was only 10 when Friends debuted, so I couldn't always genuinely relate to it, but I went on a binge when I turned 27, amazed at how spot-on it was when it came to the frustrations of young adulthood. I didn't get my first "career" job until I was 28. After graduating college, I had several starts and stops, in both my personal and professional life and it wasn’t until relatively recently that I began to feel like I'm settling.
I think you’re really only going to enjoy this book if you can relate to a very specific set of experiences. A lot of unemployed and debt-burdened Millennials have been criticized by older generations for choosing college majors that were impractical and taking out loans to pay for the education instead of opting for a career that you could snag with a two-year associate’s degree. I remember finding myself in that kind of situation and thinking, “My entire life, I’ve been told by the adults around me that I could do anything that I wanted, that success is finding a career that I find fulfilling, and that anything less than a Master’s degree would be a disappointment. Now that we’re in a recession, it’s my fault I believed them?” I know it’s a position of relative privilege, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a difficult position to be in. What I remember most about being 23? Feeling like I’m supposed to be an adult and wanting to be an adult, but ready to shit myself because all of a sudden it felt like no one had actually prepared me for what it was actually like to be an adult. Struggling with seeing peers getting there sooner than me and feeling like a failure in comparison. In retrospect, I can see that some of my perspectives were a bit skewed and I definitely understand why others who are removed from the experience may see that perspective as “narcissistic.” But at the time, it felt absolutely awful and I needed to be reminded that I was not alone.
So, all that being said, Leigh Stein has done a pretty bang-up job capturing that sort of privileged depression. Our protagonist, Esther, has had some legitimately serious mental health issues in the past (more on that in a sec), but she is not the typical insufferable hipster that you see in these types of “new adult” books. She gives a shit, she knows she’s not the center of the universe, and to some extent she wants to figure it out. She’s way more sympathetic than you might expect her to be.
Unfortunately, Esther lives in a book that fails to provide enough depth to her story. Stein introduces plot elements but doesn’t really bring anything to any sort of conclusion. There’s no arc or growth to speak of, just events happening. Esther’s mental breakdown is revealed late in the story, almost as an afterthought. I liked this book and I think a lot of people who have lived through this sort of deferred adulthood will find something positive they can relate to. I just really think it could have gone a bit farther.
September 19, 2021
The perfect easy read, emotional but light. An honest description of stepping into adulthood and all of the confusing uncertainties. Always fun to read a book based in Chicago, felt like a warm hug.
January 26, 2012
I bought The Fallback Plan because I saw that Leigh Stein would be visiting a local bookstore soon and I hadn't been to an author reading in several years. In spite of not having heard of Stein before, I thought that I might be able to relate to her novel about a young woman who graduates from Northwestern with a theatre degree and no job (seeing as I'm about to pull a similar trick with law school).
At first I wasn't sure what I thought, but the further I got into the book, the more I really, really liked it. The first paragraph made me uncomfortable with its pairing of the horrific ("In June, the monsoons hit Bangladesh") and the mundane ("In other news, I moved in with my parents"). But as the story unfolded, I realized that the main characters were all struggling with a similar discomfort--from the hypochondriac protagonist Esther, who contemplates possible diseases and terrifying events that could puncture her routine by either obliterating her, or, alternatively, infusing her lackluster life with meaning, to the family down the street who has experienced a heartrending loss and hires Esther as a nanny because they can't quite get back to normal. With this mix of the ordinary and the incomprehensible, it was neat to see how quickly the tone could switch back and forth between hilarious deadpan humor and reflective sorrow, from zany to sad or even creepy on a single page. It made for interesting reading and it fit how Esther isn't quite sure where she is: in childhood or adulthood, in a tragedy or a fairytale.
What I liked best about the book, ultimately, (besides the wonderful, whimsically sad interactions between Esther and her four year-old nannying charge) was how Esther, in her daydreams, sorted through the fictional images of heroic girls from the stories of her childhood to figure out how to become her own childhood hero and move on. Books from one's childhood can have such a strong influence on how you see yourself and the world as you grow up, and I felt like Stein expressed something really, really cathartic with that storyline that all former childhood bookworms would appreciate. The final sentence in the penultimate chapter that resolves this plot line is one of my favorite sentences that I have ever, ever, ever read.
So I really liked the book and look forward to reading more from Leigh Stein. My only regret is that I read the end a bit fast so I could finish before the reading tomorrow; I'd like to read the last half again, slower--or maybe the whole thing. Also, I flinched each time one of the characters used the "r word", although I think it was being used to show what the characters were like, not to endorse the word itself. Overall, the book was wonderful.
Folks who liked The Fallback Plan might also like The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott, which is one of my favorite novels ever and, like The Fallback Plan, is a simultaneously complex, funny, and somber tale of a young person with no plan.
At first I wasn't sure what I thought, but the further I got into the book, the more I really, really liked it. The first paragraph made me uncomfortable with its pairing of the horrific ("In June, the monsoons hit Bangladesh") and the mundane ("In other news, I moved in with my parents"). But as the story unfolded, I realized that the main characters were all struggling with a similar discomfort--from the hypochondriac protagonist Esther, who contemplates possible diseases and terrifying events that could puncture her routine by either obliterating her, or, alternatively, infusing her lackluster life with meaning, to the family down the street who has experienced a heartrending loss and hires Esther as a nanny because they can't quite get back to normal. With this mix of the ordinary and the incomprehensible, it was neat to see how quickly the tone could switch back and forth between hilarious deadpan humor and reflective sorrow, from zany to sad or even creepy on a single page. It made for interesting reading and it fit how Esther isn't quite sure where she is: in childhood or adulthood, in a tragedy or a fairytale.
What I liked best about the book, ultimately, (besides the wonderful, whimsically sad interactions between Esther and her four year-old nannying charge) was how Esther, in her daydreams, sorted through the fictional images of heroic girls from the stories of her childhood to figure out how to become her own childhood hero and move on. Books from one's childhood can have such a strong influence on how you see yourself and the world as you grow up, and I felt like Stein expressed something really, really cathartic with that storyline that all former childhood bookworms would appreciate. The final sentence in the penultimate chapter that resolves this plot line is one of my favorite sentences that I have ever, ever, ever read.
So I really liked the book and look forward to reading more from Leigh Stein. My only regret is that I read the end a bit fast so I could finish before the reading tomorrow; I'd like to read the last half again, slower--or maybe the whole thing. Also, I flinched each time one of the characters used the "r word", although I think it was being used to show what the characters were like, not to endorse the word itself. Overall, the book was wonderful.
Folks who liked The Fallback Plan might also like The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott, which is one of my favorite novels ever and, like The Fallback Plan, is a simultaneously complex, funny, and somber tale of a young person with no plan.
January 29, 2014
Millennial fiction - fiction by millennials, for millennials, about millennials. That title describes Leigh Stein's THE FALLBACK PLAN perfectly, and it's a much more apt title than what many people would use - New Adult. It's about a recently graduated theatre student in the Chicago suburbs who moves home due to circumstances beyond her control, namely a nervous breakdown while in college that has left her on shaky legs. On paper, I have so much in common with this girl, which is what led me to read this book, but that's about the point where the similarities end and the disconnect begins.
THE FALLBACK PLAN faltered around the point where I realized it would have little point, and it crashed when I realized it didn't really have an end, either. It's the look into the life of a 22 year old privileged Jewish girl who has a few issues, making it perfect for fans of GIRLS, but was it a perfect book? Far from it.
WELCOME HOME
The book follows Esther, a recent Northwestern theatre grad who dreamed of acting and instead got a trip back home to the suburbs. The book follows her summer as she rekindles friendships with slackers, starts babysitting for a family that recently lost their second child, and enters into an affair with the father of her charge while his wife deals with her misery locked away in the attic creating art.
To an extent, I identified with Esther's troubles, especially the "moving home with your parents after college" part. I enjoyed it for how much I could understand her, if not always relate, but at times it just went astray and into the territory of making me cringe. Esther's male friends, guys with whom she smokes pot and watches TV, are sexist assholes that just made me angry and once more distant from the narrator for her attachment. Namely, they make jokes about domestic violence and how it's acceptable. Likewise, her relationships just made me cringe, but they're somewhat understandable.
NOT YOUR MOTHER'S NEW ADULT
THE FALLBACK PLAN was new adult before new adult was a thing. It's about a young millennial woman trying to find her place in the world, except it's more like 'Girls' than the majority of NA stories. In fact, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly for fans of 'Girls'. It's the 'Girls' of books, except in the Chicago area instead of Brooklyn.
At the end, though, this book has little reason or point. It's a look into a life and little more, and the ending left me less than satisfied. In fact, I felt a little gypped. It just kind of ends. Like this review.
VERDICT: Interesting, relatable, and very understandable for many young women just leaving college, but in the end, nothing really happens, leaving the book feeling pointless. Read at your own risk.
THE FALLBACK PLAN faltered around the point where I realized it would have little point, and it crashed when I realized it didn't really have an end, either. It's the look into the life of a 22 year old privileged Jewish girl who has a few issues, making it perfect for fans of GIRLS, but was it a perfect book? Far from it.
WELCOME HOME
The book follows Esther, a recent Northwestern theatre grad who dreamed of acting and instead got a trip back home to the suburbs. The book follows her summer as she rekindles friendships with slackers, starts babysitting for a family that recently lost their second child, and enters into an affair with the father of her charge while his wife deals with her misery locked away in the attic creating art.
To an extent, I identified with Esther's troubles, especially the "moving home with your parents after college" part. I enjoyed it for how much I could understand her, if not always relate, but at times it just went astray and into the territory of making me cringe. Esther's male friends, guys with whom she smokes pot and watches TV, are sexist assholes that just made me angry and once more distant from the narrator for her attachment. Namely, they make jokes about domestic violence and how it's acceptable. Likewise, her relationships just made me cringe, but they're somewhat understandable.
NOT YOUR MOTHER'S NEW ADULT
THE FALLBACK PLAN was new adult before new adult was a thing. It's about a young millennial woman trying to find her place in the world, except it's more like 'Girls' than the majority of NA stories. In fact, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly for fans of 'Girls'. It's the 'Girls' of books, except in the Chicago area instead of Brooklyn.
At the end, though, this book has little reason or point. It's a look into a life and little more, and the ending left me less than satisfied. In fact, I felt a little gypped. It just kind of ends. Like this review.
VERDICT: Interesting, relatable, and very understandable for many young women just leaving college, but in the end, nothing really happens, leaving the book feeling pointless. Read at your own risk.
September 11, 2023
I read to page 90 and would have stopped earlier but it was the only book I had with me. Today came with two long subway rides (I am glad they are updating the tracks during Covid, but I am getting a little tired of express trains being made local) and also a long wait since my friend was late to meet me at the museum and the coffee places are still all closed. So read it I did.
The premise: the main character graduates from Northwestern where she had been given a full ride, a stellar education free of charge. Instead of getting a job and maybe living with a bunch of people in a dive while she works at Starbucks and figures out her life, she decides to move back in with her parents. They seem like lovely people, and all she does is bitch about them and the fact they have redecorated "her" room. I have a college senior, and he would never be so nasty nor would he hang out with such stunted and unpleasant people. He also has an artsy major and he is graduating amid Covid and so he has been job hunting for months already though he does not graduate until May. Whatever he does he will do it in a city, and its likely to be something with an arts component (so unlikely to yield the big bucks) and so he fully expects to have lots of roommates for a while. We get along great, and he is always welcome under my roof, but he also feels like it is time to be an adult. I was the same when I graduated - I travelled for two years stopping to work when the cash ran out and then moving on. My parents did not pay for my life, I did not make them take care of me as if I was 12, and I lived in some really horrid places. I don't even understand this person or her choices.
In addition to my problems with the central narrative, this book is terrible. The writer seems unable to craft a decent sentence to save her life, let alone a good paragraph. The story is snarky in the manner of an overprivileged 8th grader. Every scene is bloated, though to be fair the bloat understandable since the foundation of this is so rickety and undernourished without the bloat you would have nothing. The main character is of no particular interest unless you are attracted to lazy, whiny, ungrateful people who care only about their own comfort and pleasure and have the intellectual curiosity of a ferret. I was hoping Esther would overdose on her recreational Vicodin, but no such luck. How did this get published? It is the worst thing I have read this year by a longshot, and I read a lot.
The premise: the main character graduates from Northwestern where she had been given a full ride, a stellar education free of charge. Instead of getting a job and maybe living with a bunch of people in a dive while she works at Starbucks and figures out her life, she decides to move back in with her parents. They seem like lovely people, and all she does is bitch about them and the fact they have redecorated "her" room. I have a college senior, and he would never be so nasty nor would he hang out with such stunted and unpleasant people. He also has an artsy major and he is graduating amid Covid and so he has been job hunting for months already though he does not graduate until May. Whatever he does he will do it in a city, and its likely to be something with an arts component (so unlikely to yield the big bucks) and so he fully expects to have lots of roommates for a while. We get along great, and he is always welcome under my roof, but he also feels like it is time to be an adult. I was the same when I graduated - I travelled for two years stopping to work when the cash ran out and then moving on. My parents did not pay for my life, I did not make them take care of me as if I was 12, and I lived in some really horrid places. I don't even understand this person or her choices.
In addition to my problems with the central narrative, this book is terrible. The writer seems unable to craft a decent sentence to save her life, let alone a good paragraph. The story is snarky in the manner of an overprivileged 8th grader. Every scene is bloated, though to be fair the bloat understandable since the foundation of this is so rickety and undernourished without the bloat you would have nothing. The main character is of no particular interest unless you are attracted to lazy, whiny, ungrateful people who care only about their own comfort and pleasure and have the intellectual curiosity of a ferret. I was hoping Esther would overdose on her recreational Vicodin, but no such luck. How did this get published? It is the worst thing I have read this year by a longshot, and I read a lot.
February 12, 2012
The Fallback Plan is the story of Esther Kohler, a depressed twentysomething wandering aimlessly through her post-grad life. Many of us have been in Esther's shoes: we close the door on a significant part of our lives and face an endless hallway of doors, or perhaps, an endless hallway of blank space that appears to lead nowhere. Esther moves back in with her parents, the titular "fallback plan," and seems to be waiting for a catalyst to get her life moving again.
It's when Esther takes a job babysitting for the Browns, a couple whose infant daughter recently died, that the story begins moving. Esther spends her days playing in the Browns' backyard with four-year-old May while May's mother Amy works on a mysterious art project in the attic. Esther loves spending time with May, but her life remains rather static as she navigates several ill-fated romantic entanglements and attempts to write a screenplay.
There's no doubt that Leigh Stein is a talented writer; however, I didn't feel like I could take anything away from her characters. I like to read novels that take a character's unique struggle and make it universal, something that anyone can relate to. Unfortunately, The Fallback Plan did the opposite for me: Esther's post-graduate conflicts were so mundane that they seemed particular only to her situation. Even as someone who experienced depressive episodes in college and felt that awful sensation of standing still while the rest of the world continues moving, I couldn't seem to relate to Esther. And most of the secondary characters were like stick figures rather than actual portraits of human beings.
The part of the book that resonated most with me was Esther's memory of a cruel and traumatizing prank at a sleepover she attended when she was thirteen. Unfortunately, the tale lasted just a few pages and didn't really play into the novel's story as a whole. I imagine that Leigh Stein's writing will only improve if she continues, I just hope that I'll find something more in her future novels.
It's when Esther takes a job babysitting for the Browns, a couple whose infant daughter recently died, that the story begins moving. Esther spends her days playing in the Browns' backyard with four-year-old May while May's mother Amy works on a mysterious art project in the attic. Esther loves spending time with May, but her life remains rather static as she navigates several ill-fated romantic entanglements and attempts to write a screenplay.
There's no doubt that Leigh Stein is a talented writer; however, I didn't feel like I could take anything away from her characters. I like to read novels that take a character's unique struggle and make it universal, something that anyone can relate to. Unfortunately, The Fallback Plan did the opposite for me: Esther's post-graduate conflicts were so mundane that they seemed particular only to her situation. Even as someone who experienced depressive episodes in college and felt that awful sensation of standing still while the rest of the world continues moving, I couldn't seem to relate to Esther. And most of the secondary characters were like stick figures rather than actual portraits of human beings.
The part of the book that resonated most with me was Esther's memory of a cruel and traumatizing prank at a sleepover she attended when she was thirteen. Unfortunately, the tale lasted just a few pages and didn't really play into the novel's story as a whole. I imagine that Leigh Stein's writing will only improve if she continues, I just hope that I'll find something more in her future novels.
September 14, 2011
***Obtained from NetGalley.com ***
Attacking mid-twenty-something angst with sarcasm and brutal honesty, The Fallback Plan is a manic-depressive’s dream read. With its ebb and flow of anxiety one page and humorous introspective the next, the novel keeps you on your toes and unknowingly developing comparisons to your own life.
Esther is a recent college grad who like most others with a diploma has no job and no money. Forced with no other option, she moves back into her parent’s house and anesthetizes her self-loathing with prescription pain-killers. A self-proclaimed hypochondriac, Esther spends her days contemplating how to convince her family doctor she has a condition that qualifies her for disability benefits. She also plans to write a screenplay that sounds an awful lot like a C.S. Lewis book, starring panda’s.
Her parent’s however have a better idea and land her a job as a nanny for the family down the street watching their four year old daughter, May. May’s baby sister died suddenly six months prior while with another babysitter, so Esther knows she’s walking into a delicate situation. But when she finds out that little May is the most stable-seeming of the family, Esther becomes maternally close to her and finds that the child is quickly becoming her confidant. Balance all that with Esther’s lust for her friend Jack, and the summer turns out to be not as boring as she once dreaded.
Author Leigh Stein pens a novel that contains something every twenty-something can relate to. The anxious period between graduation and the rest of your life is tackled head-on with honest feelings that drip with sarcasm. A quick read that brings humor laced with sad reality and keeps your own goals in check.
Attacking mid-twenty-something angst with sarcasm and brutal honesty, The Fallback Plan is a manic-depressive’s dream read. With its ebb and flow of anxiety one page and humorous introspective the next, the novel keeps you on your toes and unknowingly developing comparisons to your own life.
Esther is a recent college grad who like most others with a diploma has no job and no money. Forced with no other option, she moves back into her parent’s house and anesthetizes her self-loathing with prescription pain-killers. A self-proclaimed hypochondriac, Esther spends her days contemplating how to convince her family doctor she has a condition that qualifies her for disability benefits. She also plans to write a screenplay that sounds an awful lot like a C.S. Lewis book, starring panda’s.
Her parent’s however have a better idea and land her a job as a nanny for the family down the street watching their four year old daughter, May. May’s baby sister died suddenly six months prior while with another babysitter, so Esther knows she’s walking into a delicate situation. But when she finds out that little May is the most stable-seeming of the family, Esther becomes maternally close to her and finds that the child is quickly becoming her confidant. Balance all that with Esther’s lust for her friend Jack, and the summer turns out to be not as boring as she once dreaded.
Author Leigh Stein pens a novel that contains something every twenty-something can relate to. The anxious period between graduation and the rest of your life is tackled head-on with honest feelings that drip with sarcasm. A quick read that brings humor laced with sad reality and keeps your own goals in check.
December 27, 2011
This book reminds me of many a "Indie movie". From me, that's a compliment, I love this sort of thing. Still, it's not for everyone. It's the kind of story that is really just one chapter in a character's life. There's no good place for such a story to begin or end because it's like we're just peeking into someone's life briefly, even if they be a fictional someone.
In this case that someone is Esther, a recent college grad who quickly learned that the theater program doesn't lend itself to many real life opportunities and her fall back plan is so simple -- move in with the folks and contract a disease bad enough to land her on disability but not fatal. The folks, well they're fine with the move in part, but she has to pay rent so they set her up with a babysitting job, whether Esther likes or not.
Along the way we see Esther fall apart and grow, both. Those looking for a nice and tidy beginning, middle, and end should probably skip this one. As I said, this isn't that. But those looking for a more realistic story about a young woman struggling to find her way in life will be very happy.
In this case that someone is Esther, a recent college grad who quickly learned that the theater program doesn't lend itself to many real life opportunities and her fall back plan is so simple -- move in with the folks and contract a disease bad enough to land her on disability but not fatal. The folks, well they're fine with the move in part, but she has to pay rent so they set her up with a babysitting job, whether Esther likes or not.
Along the way we see Esther fall apart and grow, both. Those looking for a nice and tidy beginning, middle, and end should probably skip this one. As I said, this isn't that. But those looking for a more realistic story about a young woman struggling to find her way in life will be very happy.
July 21, 2016
I loved this little gem of a book. It’s enough so that you find yourself relating and also realizing that you need to grow up and get off your butt and do something with your life – that is, if you haven’t already. It doesn’t drag either, which is great because I’ve read many books in the past that tried their hand at similar material and went on and on. Basically, they failed. Stein doesn’t. Read this and your life will thank you immensely.
September 19, 2013
I heard about Stein through a link someone posted to Facebook about modern poets to watch. My library didn't have any of her poetry, but did have this slight, engaging novel. While I adored the homage to many favorite children's books, I failed to identify with the 20-something, living at home angst. Stein is clearly in love with words and images, and it seems to me that her poetry somehow peeks through her prose. The plot is sort of plotless and meandering, like the 20-something protagonist. I suspect that I'm going to like her poetry better than I liked this book.
January 16, 2013
This book sounded fun from the back, but upon reading it, it didn't really make a lot of sense, and wasn't particularly interesting. The premise is that a woman is out of college and has to move home with her parents. She takes a job babysitting for a couple with problems. They have their own issues. The book was nonsensical at times and often had random non sequitors. It was also incredibly short, but it was mildly entertaining.
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