We, Adults

by Peter Stenson

Elliot Svendson has returned to her childhood Minnesota home to lick her wounds after catching her professor husband between the legs of one of his grad students. Leaving behind a promising academic career, she finds herself raising her five-year-old son solo and working at a Talbot’ s in the mall to make ends meet. It’ s there that she meets Madison Johnson, a young man with a penchant for skateboards, weed, and older women. What Elliot doesn’ t know is that Madison is only seventeen years old. When Madison and Elliot’ s affair is exposed, the news sends shockwaves that will rock their lives and the lives of those around them.

298 pages, Paperback

Published March 26, 2024

About the author

I’m the author of FIEND (Random House), THIRTY-SEVEN (Dzanc), THE SEXUAL LIVES OF SUBURBANITES (Jackleg Press), and WE, ADULTS (forthcoming from Regal House Publishers). I have over thirty essays and stories published in magazines such as The Sun, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Greensboro Review, and The Southeast Review. I teach creative writing and composition at Colorado State University.

Reviews

[Read with Demi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is split into four sections, each with a different point of view, written in a distinct and unique way from the others.
Each narrator is unreliable in their own way, leaving the reader slightly unsure of the exact details of what transpired; an inspired literary device for this particular story.
The themes of this novel are betrayal, forgiveness, second chances, the meaning of romantic and familial love, redemption, domestic partnership, and parenthood.
The first part of this book is written from the female main character's point of view. This section was a tad slow, and the character was a bit grating and unlikable, despite some aspects suggesting she should be a sympathetic character.
This was also the only section that was not "written by" the character whose point of view is being shared in the narrative.
Once this section was over, the story picked up pace and became much more interesting.
As the tale unfolds again from the perspective of a second and third character's point of view, one told in memoir style, the next in screenplay, more depth is added to both the story and the characters.
The ending goes back to a slower pace, in essay format, from the perspective of a fourth character. It wrapped up the theme about the imperfect nature of families and parents. However, it was a bit slow after such a fast-paced and exciting "third act".
I enjoyed the writing style immensely, and the story was interesting, and the twists were well-placed and well-executed.
Thank you to the author for sending me the advance review copy - I look forward to continuing to read your work for years to come.

[Sara Sykora · Rating 5 out of 5]

We, Adults by Peter Stenson is a book that will take you on a rollercoaster of a journey.

As a reader, I had many feelings that I felt for his characters as I was reading this story. Hope, anger, sadness and incredulity. I loved that a book could make you feel so much in such a short amount of time.

I also loved that the book was split up into three different ways of writing that continued telling the story in its own way. You rarely see that in books and it definitely worked for this one.

I am still thinking of this book afterwards and what went on in the story with all the twists and turns it had.

I would highly recommend this book!

[Sadie Dorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Randomly grabbed this off the “new” shelf at the library - god bless the librarian who placed this there. (Excluding Harry Potter series) this (I think??) is my top book of 2024. May December x A Teacher x Interior Chinatown x Tarantino. The plot description is accurate but the writing is beyond a simple “older woman and kid hook up” storyline.

PSA: this book is weird and uncomfortable

[Megan Schikora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stark, taut, and sharply drawn. The first paragraph made me laugh, and the story kept me riveted throughout. I couldn’t look away.