The Exiles

by Allison Lynn

A couple escaping the opulent lifestyle of Manhattan’s Upper East Side move to Newport, Rhode Island, only to be confronted by the trappings of the life they tried to leave behind.

Nate, a midlevel Wall Streeter, and his longtime girlfriend Emily are effectively evicted from New York City when they find they can no longer afford their apartment. An out presents itself in the form of a job offer for Nate in Newport—complete with a bucolic, small, and comparatively affordable new house. Eager to start fresh, they flee city life with their worldly goods packed tightly in their Jeep Cherokee. Yet within minutes of arriving in Rhode Island, their car and belongings are stolen, and they're left with nothing but the keys to an empty house and their bawling 10-month-old son.

Over the three-day weekend that follows, as Emily and Nate watch their meager pile of cash dwindle and tensions increase, the secrets they kept from each other in the city emerge, threatening to destroy their hope for a shared future.

A story about losing it all, the complexities of family histories, tainted gene pools, art theft, architecture, and the mad grab for the American Dream, The Exiles bravely explores the weight of our pasts—and whether or not it's truly possible to start over.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Family, New York, Novels, Adult Fiction

341 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 2, 2013

About the author

Allison Lynn is author of NOW YOU SEE IT, which won both the William Faulkner Medal from the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society and the Chapter One Award from the Bronx Writer's Center. She teaches in the Creative Writing program at Butler University.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

See more reviews at The Best Books Ever!

I feel like the summary above only skims the surface of what happens in The Exiles. Like, the bulk of the summary are things that happen within the first few pages. The rest of the book is really that tiny little third paragraph, Nate and Emily dealing with their own issues, and some family issues, and the fact that they're both secret keeper extraordinaires, and not in the cool Harry Potter secret keeper sort of way.

A lot of what drives Nate and Emily is their angst over not having enough money in New York. It absolutely consumes them, and they drive themselves into stress and a lot of debt just trying to keep up with their wealthy friends. On some levels, I get this; money is a huge motivating factor and it can be easy to obsess over, especially when the people you surround yourself with have much more than you do. But I hate it when people make New York out to be this mythical playground that only the uber-rich can afford. I have plenty of friends living there on very modest salaries and they love it and make it work. I even have a friend/acquaintance who has lived in Manhattan on $1,000 a month. She's even writing a book about it. Is it the same lifestyle that Nate and Emily's wealthy friends have? No, but she has fun and has amazing experiences and lives a very full life and is probably much more personally fulfilled than these two were. I just had such a hard time identifying with them or feeling any sympathy for them and their very narrow, elitist world view. I'm like, dude, move to Brooklyn or Queens or Washington Heights or something, your life does not start and end with gigantic high rises on Park Avenue.

Not every book needs to have likeable characters who make smart decisions all the time; that would be boring. The Exiles features a cast of terribly unlikeable people whose catastrophic decision making nearly ruins them. Like I said, Nate and Emily are hard to sympathize with, which made me roll my eyes a lot as I was reading the book. Their problems are almost entirely of their own making, and their lack of ability to communicate with one another about important things is super frustrating. They're both nearing 40 and haven't figured any of this out yet. Proving that this phenomenon isn't isolated only to YA books, I spent a lot of time wanting to reach into the book, shake them, and tell them to use their words. Or, at the very least, get them referrals to some therapists and psychiatrists and real medical professionals instead of letting them stew in their own angst and assumptions. I enjoyed the book but I've got to admit that one of my main motivating factors for getting to the end was waiting to see who would snap first.

That said, I thought this book was a great character study of all the characters involved, which is what made this a worthwhile read for me. While their start in Newport is rocky, with lies and accusations and theft and illness overwhelming them, by the end of the book you have a glimmer of hope that Nate and Emily will get their act together in the future. And in the meantime, you get to see what happens when a whole lot of stress piles up on two people and essentially breaks them. It's fascinating, and a little bit sad, with a few laugh out loud moments to lighten things up along the way.

[Charlie Mo · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Emily is a cocksucker" best part of the book

[jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too much suspension of disbelief with the main plot devices and their "resolutions."

[Cindy H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn’t going to appeal to a lot of readers because honestly, Nate & Emily are ASS-HOLES! Pretentious New Yorkers who can no longer sustain their NY lifestyle, they move to Rhode Island for a fresh start. But their arrival in RI is met with drama & tension. This book was more than just privileged rants (although there’s plenty of that) it’s also about family lore, legacy, secrets and what we owe our kin.
A bit repetitive and sometimes verbose but I was really engrossed. #BorrowNotBuy
I listened on audio/ good narration

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heart of this story takes place over a 3 day holiday weekend. Nate, his girlfriend Emily, and their 10 month-old Trevor relocate from Manhattan to Newport Rhode Island, where Nate has been offered a job. They are escaping a horribly expensive lifestyle in Manhattan, where they pay $5,000 a month for a small two bedroom, 1 bath apartment. Part of their dilemma is trying to keep up with friends and colleagues who are in higher income brackets. The hollowness of this privileged lifestyle comes through in this novel, and yet, Nate and Emily are not sure relocating was the right decision. They are quickly thrown into crisis when their Jeep Cherokee and all their belongings and financial information packed in it, is stolen. To further complicate things, Nate is struggling with a secret he hasn't shared with Emily, because the time never seems right. While one of the cover blurbs used the word hilarious to describe this story, it is anything but funny. As always, the secrets that various characters in this novel harbor come close to destroying them. This was an engrossing book though not "happy" there were satisfactory resolutions to the series of crises that beset Nate and Emily.

[Rand]

"Enclosed please find a finished copy of THE EXILES. Amazon Services LLC hereby irrevocably transfers title to this prize to you. Title to the prize transferred to you upon delivery by Amazon Services LLC to a common carrier in Seattle, Washington. This prize cannot be returned to Amazon Services LLC once title has transferred to you."

The big A did not bother paying a publicist to woo reviews out of the rabble.

As for the book itself, it looks rather nice. Does not weigh as much as it looks like it should; the pagestock is decent: looks good but feels thinnish.

Breezy prose, breezy plot.

[Florinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

...“Comfortable,” however, is not a word that readily applies to Nate and Emily’s current situation. They’ve just arrived in Newport, Rhode Island after a day on the road from New York City with a fully-packed Jeep and their ten-month-old baby boy. Parenthood has forced them to recognize that they can’t keep up with the New York lifestyle any more, and Nate’s new job is offering them the chance to exile themselves to a fresh start. But when their car is stolen during the short time it takes to meet with their real-estate agent and get the keys to their new home, on the eve of a holiday weekend, that new start faces a serious setback. And while they’ve lost all the possessions they brought with them, the couple still has some baggage.

MORE: http://www.3rsblog.com/2013/07/tlc-bo...

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down. Literary fiction that yes, is about privileged people, but privileged people with an interesting combination of both "first world" problems ("struggling" to live in Manhattan on salaries most people will never see in their lifetimes, lamenting having to buy a second-hand, luxury stroller, etc.) and legitimate, more universal problems (health, child-rearing, starting over, etc.). I loved the way the author at turns evoked both genuine sympathy from me and indifference for this couple's dilemmas. Many of Nate and Emily's problems are self-inflicted; they are not terribly responsible adults, and through the course of this weekend, it is discovered that both conceal a lot of important information from each other. I found the author's voice to be very refreshing and unique.

[Stacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nate and Emily have been in Newport for 5 minutes and their Jeep gets stolen with almost everything they own along with it. The story unfolds as the author takes you through the first three days of the couple's life in their new town. Both Nate and Emily have a secret that they are keeping from the other. Of course, the secrets come out but instead of running from the troubles, the author shows us how Nate and Emily work together to solve their issues. Usually I'm not a big fan of books that are more of a character study than anything else but this one managed to keep me interested. Plus there were no affairs or anything so that's a plus given the books I've read lately!

I received this from Net Galley.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - I enjoyed this book well enough when I first started it, but didn't think of it once during a busy week with little time to read. When I picked it back up, I realized I was apathetic about the characters and not curious at all about the story's eventual ending - with so many books waiting for me on my TBR stack, I don't mind saying goodbye to this one on page 189.

[Laurie Buchanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well-told story is about omission. Not one of the three main characters has told a lie, but none of them has told the truth either. The ramifications are tremendously impactful and the ensuing events—the heart of the matter—are what makes this book an engaging page turner.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Depressing

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It's very readable but depressing. It took me a long time to get through it.

[Leslie Hutchings · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better not to comment

[Mary G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject of this book, largely composed of navel gazing by the two protagonists, seems to be the angst of people that live in New York City about living in New York City. These two not quite middle aged folks and their infant son are forced by their inability to keep up with their chosen group of Joneses to move (not to “fly-over country”, god forbid) but still east coastal Newport, RI.

The man is revealed to have what could turn out to be a very interesting health conundrum which is developed to some extent. The woman is revealed to have gotten herself into a thoroughly ridiculous and incomprehensible legal fix from which she is rescued by a “deus ex machina”. This is somewhat beside the point since she had already exonerated herself anyway. She steals from people she is using to give herself some semblance of power and screams insults at good friends who try to help her. For all, she is forgiven and celebrated.

Throughout, the two main characters are completely unable to be honest or authentic with each other, a trick that they finally learn within the last five pages of the book. All’s well that ends well.

I guess it’s clear that I really didn’t care for or about the two main characters. I’m sure the author meant the protagonists to be plucky and adorable. The man, to be fair, had a serious problem to work out; the woman, I hate to say, was self-centered and whiny. If you like books about people who think NewYork and its up and comers are the center of the known universe and that leaving it is being consigned to the outer reaches of hell,this book is for you.

[Jennifer Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every character in this book is unlikable. I don’t think that was intentional and it’s not over the top, they are just the kind of people I personally wouldn’t want to hang out with in real life. Also, there was no plot, it’s just the story of a couple having a crummy weekend but it’s crummy because of their own poor decisions, so I don’t really feel that bad for them.

[alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love domestic ennui. i love character building novels with little to no plot. this is both of these things bound together with savoury prose and a dreamy setting. a healthy mix of privilege and real world problems — a truly enjoyable summer read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can a book be out dated?

The main points of the story are moving. The characters are an interesting blend of likable and awful. But some of the references I had to look up! That was a drag.

[Barb · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. What a waste of time. Didn't like Nate or Emily from the start. Self-centered, dishonest, "it's all about me," lazy, irresponsible, gulp ... parents?!? An easy book to set aside and forget for days - it's still the same "woe is me" when you pick it back up.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay but not great.

It drug out so I had trouble staying engaged. It was a slow read, but many interesting snippets of Holliday’s life

[Max Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A novel dealing with Gen-x’ers, their morality and mortality”

“The Exiles” a novel by Allison Lynn chronicles the lives of Nate Bedecker and Emily Latham. At the opening of the story, the reader finds the young pair has recently been joined by an infant son, Trevor and they all are in the process of moving from Manhattan to Rhode Island where Nate has acquired a new job and a new home and hope for a new life for his fledgling family. On their first day in Rhode Island, their car is stolen along with all its contents and the saga of Nate and Emily then unfolds over the next three days.

This is a story that sees two individuals, drawn together, yet seemingly unknown to each other, for each has a secret of sorts. On the one hand Nate is overwhelmed with dealing with his genetic odds at mortality and Emily is overwhelmed by her inexplicable moral turpitude. These are the fabrics of the tale. In the process of revealing the relationship between Nate and Emily, one is drawn to the fact that the lives of these young people are mainly drifting, undefined and virtually empty. The makeup of their existence to date is all materialism and it is elusive for they cannot afford the material life they try to lead. Those that Nate and Emily see as their friends are sorely derided by them in private, the dichotomy being the attempt to emulate those that seem to be detestable.

The writing is good and the story moves right along. It is, however, uneventful. At least that is to say nothing happens that concludes from any rising anticipation for the reader. It is, in the end, just mildly satisfying – a chronicle of events, short on intrigue or passion but not entirely uninteresting.

If you like the “human interest” sort of novel, then “The Exiles” should be considered reading. I would recommend you add it to your list. I would rate this novel okay, not particularly memorable but fairly good.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having loved Lynn's debut novel, NOW YOU SEE IT, I was excited to read her latest book and was not disappointed. I found it to be well-written -- the prose tight and beautiful -- and thought both characters were equally compelling, although, yes, as some people have mentioned, Emily is not necessarily likeable, but for me that made her real and interesting and made the conclusion of her story that much more compelling. As the book developed it got more and more tense as the characters had to face their pasts and its impact on their future and I could not put it down. The book touches on relevant questions of our time as well -- what it means to fall short of the ideal vision you have for your life as you grow into middle age, how more and more families are falling short of the prosperous "American dream" in this economy and the exiling nature of that, and how keeping so much of one's self secret, most notably from those closest to you, creates its own form of exile. I thought Allison picked the perfect setting to play this out, from the excess of Manhattan's financial scene to the "townie" side of rich Newport, making the couple move from one form of cultural/societal exile to another. That Nate and Emily find their way back to each other and finally, truly come to terms with who they are, and what they can be together, made this book especially moving for me. I look forward to reading what Lynn writes next.

[Mia Tat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slight stretch for me, and I'm honestly not sure what made me pick it up. As I was trying to figure out what shelf to put it on, I realized that I needed a whole new one, because it didn't specifically fit onto any that I already had. It's a story of Post-9/11/2001 NYC, economic downturn, what it means to be related to a famous person, coming to terms with grief and abandonment, starting over, greed, and how hereditary illness can re-map an entire family.

The complex web of circumstances at the heart of the story and how they layer upon each other was a high point for me--I realized mid-way through the book that if any of the storylines had been the most prominent, or any of them had been left out, the book would have fallen completely flat. As such, there is a lot of back and forth, though I didn't find it hard to follow (but then, I like that kind of book).

I dithered back and forth between three and four stars, and settled on four, because I think the ending was really masterful, and resolved everything as well as could be expected. It is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. The main raps I've read on it are the characters are whiney and unlikable, and the overall premise is too weird, as in, why would people need to be priced out of NYC? These were not my specific experiences with it, and while the characters had their foibles, I didn't come away feeling complete contempt for them.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Exiles" is the story of Emily and Nate, a young couple who has left their tenuous NYC existence for someplace quieter on the shores of Rhode Island. They are trying to forge a new existence after failing to be able to stay in the city but the city hid a lot of the cracks in there relationship and Rhode Island might undo their life together. There is also another storyline regarding Nate's father, a famous architect, who is suffering Huntington's Disease, which was an interesting side story in this book.

Neither Emily nor Nate are exactly likeable. Both of them are less that forthcoming with themselves and with each other. They're hiding so much from each other that I continually found myself wondering what they saw in each other. That being said, there complicated relationship was so interesting to read about. I wanted to see how long they were able to hide these big, huge secrets from each other.

I really enjoyed the writing in this book. Lynn definitely engaged me and kept me reading. I will definitely be watching for her books in the future. That being said, I felt that there were some ends that were left untied. I wanted more closure. We're sort of left with a couple of very ambiguous endings. It just sort of seemed a little rushed.

[Lela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review. For almost the first half of this book, I wondered why I kept reading. I didn't find any of the characters likeable -- not even the baby. The plot with its Huntington's references, lies, shallow desires, and constant angst made me tired. For reasons I should probably discuss some day with a therapist, I kept reading. I'm always sure a book I am struggling through will get better. Wonder of wonders, it did! Or, maybe I finally got invested in it. Any disease which is genetic and can be inherited is terrifying for anyone in the line and the information should be shared with anyone who could possibly receive the faulty gene. It's hell to know and hell not to know. Huntington's is horrific and there is no treatment and no cure. Most of the book is about that. There is a side plot involving stolen art and someone trying to find herself while dreaming her life away. A move, a stolen vehicle, being without money or credit cards or a bank account or clean clothes. A jumble of very self-centered people and a mixed bag of events. In the end, I didn't hate the book but I just liked it OK, barely.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allison Lynn is an extraordinary writer, and The Exiles deserves more than four stars -- I just need to read it a second time to know for sure if I think it merits a full five. It's a witty, brilliantly written piece of work throughout, but it's better than the sum of its parts. That is, upon finishing this book, I thought it was really beautiful and life-affirming.

I think people who like to laugh at life's (often cruel) absurdity and fans of dramedies will very probably find this to be a truly enjoyable read. I would also recommend it very highly to any aficionado of contemporary, literary novels. If this extract from the inside jacket appeals to you, I'd say you are not being misled in believing you'd like to read The Exiles:

"...as Emily and Nate watch their...cash dwindle and tensions increase, the secrets they kept from each other...emerge, threatening to destroy their hope for a shared future.
[This is a] story about losing it all, the complexities of family histories...and the mad grab for the American dream..."

I was lucky enough to receive my copy of this novel through winning a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

[Juli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate Bedecker and Emily Latham are moving from Manhattan to Newport, Rhode Island with their infant son Trevor. When they go to pick up the keys to their new house, their Jeep is stolen along with all the possessions they packed in the jeep (everything they needed to last until the rest of their belongings arrive). As they deal with this unfortunate turn of events, we learn that each Nathan and Emily have a secret. Both secrets are potentially devastating to the future they hope to build together. I don't want to give anything away because I thought it was more fun to read this book without knowing much about it. The reader learns throughout the course of the book what the secrets are and then how Nathan and Emily deal with them, first as individuals and then as a couple. I personally thought Nathan's secret was more compelling and was curious to see how the author was going to have Nathan and Emily deal with the issue. I felt the ending was a little unsatisfactory, but definitely believable---I could see two people deciding the same way. Overall, this book was good. I received this book as a First Reads winner on Goodreads.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually received a copy of this book from Goodreads and was excited to read it. The book started off on a good note and kept me interested for a while with an interesting plot, but started to fall short about a third of the way through. It's a story of a financially struggling Manhattan couple who escape the city life with their young son to settle in quaint Newport, RI. Upon arriving in Newport though, their lives are turned upside down when the jeep carrying all of their belongings is stolen. From that point forward, the couple is forced to face secrets that they've kept from each other all while trying to get back on their feet. The plot is decent, but I really did struggle to get through the 2nd half of the book. For me, I think it was something about the characters that I just found to be a bit blah. Having grew up close to Newport, I did enjoy many of the local references. This is what truly kept me reading. It's a quick read, but is one that I found to be just okay.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won a copy of "The Exiles" from Goodreads and had very mixed feelings about it. "The Exiles" followed Nathan and Emily as they fled from the crushing high-priced lifestyle required in New York City to purchase a house in Newport. But only minutes after they arrived, they find themselves the victim of a theft which leaves them penniless. As they suffer through the holiday weekend, the secrets each of them have been harboring slowly rise to the surface. The beginning of the book was pretty good, and I was sympathetic to the couple who just don't happen to be financially successful. The writing was good, but the story slowed once it spilt between the perspectives of Nathan and Emily. Nathan's secret was depressing and sad, and not a subject I care to read about. This plot alone made me want to stop reading. Also, in the three days Nathan spent in Newport, he obtained a mountain of information very easily. Emily's secret was fantastic, but it developed too slowly. This book had a good start, but by the middle there wasn't much of a flow, and I stopped reading it.

[Tamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The economy is one of the biggest issues of our time, but one we don't see dealt with in fiction that often. Lynn takes it on and makes it personal with a suspenseful and emotional story about how tough financial times affect one couple. Her characters aren't poor compared to just about anyone, but until leaving for Rhode Island they were trying to make do in New York City, scraping what they had together for apartment rent, diapers, transportation costs, the rare meal at a restaurant with their peers. It wore them out - and readers who live in NYC, or who have lived there, will commiserate. These characters just want to live a simpler life.

So where to go? How does a family start fresh in a new place? For The Exiles' Nate and Emily, that question is compounded by the fact that their finances end up being only the tip of their problems, like a catalyst. The book spans four days, but encompasses their entire lives by the end. I won't spoil it by saying more.

[Theo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't fully know my feelings on this book. There were parts that were really good, and I found myself excited to read on, but then there were times where I felt like it would never end.

Emily and Nate are moving to Rhode Island with their son, Trevor, who isn't even walking yet. At first you'd think it was going to be a regular couple moving from Manhattan to a more suburban area, but then the characters start revealing incidents in their personal life. I'm not going to reveal their major going ons; however, I will say it makes them a lot more complex and interesting. I love Allison Lynn's writing style too, she is very descriptive yet not overboard. It makes for a good flow.

I think if we cut out about 50 pages 2/3 the way through, I would have enjoyed it more. But as I closed the final page, I felt satisfied, and I'd say that I liked it.