Early Thirties: A Novel

by Josh Duboff

Kaia Gerber’s Library Science March Book Club Pick • Best Books of 2025 List by Vogue • Most Anticipated Novels of 2025 List by Marie Claire • Best New Books of Spring 2025 List by Bustle • Must-Read Books of Spring 2025 List by Town & Country

“The year’s best coming-of-age novel is about adults.” —GQ

A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about two thirtysomething best friends’ messy search for connection and love in New York, perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle, Gabrielle Zevin, and Dolly Alderton.

Sometimes friendship can be its own love story.

Victor and Zoey are getting old, well older-er, and it’s beginning to be a real problem.

Best friends for a decade in New York City, they have supported each other through bad dates and office drama, late nights and hungover brunches.

As their wild twenties come to a close, though, the dynamic between the two is shifting. Coming off a tough breakup, Victor dedicates his energy towards building a career writing celebrity profiles for one of the last glossy magazines left, while Zoey navigates the terrain at her nascent fashion startup, questioning her future with her fiancé. The friends and acquaintances in their orbit—authors, influencers, “It girls”—are also searching for a sense of belonging amidst anxieties and self-doubt.

But when tragedy befalls Victor, his once unbreakable bond with Zoey really starts to crack. They find themselves ignoring their ongoing text thread and pushing away what might be the most meaningful relationship of their lives. An immersive, hilarious, and heartbreaking story, this is a debut novel about best friendship, finding yourself, and realizing growing up has as much to do with the person you were as it does with the person you are desperately trying to become.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Library Science, Audiobook, LGBT, Adult

335 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 18, 2025

About the author

Josh Duboff is a novelist, journalist, and playwright. He is a former senior writer for Vanity Fair, and he has written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Gigi Hadid, among others, over the course of his career. He has also contributed to The New York Times Book Review, WSJ. Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, W Magazine, Town & Country, Bon Appétit, and more. A graduate of Yale University, he lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Ashley McMullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 46%

When the majority of the description of the book says it's about two best friends growing up in New York City, coming into their adulthoods, and then compared the writing to Gabrielle Zevin and Dolly Alderton, I expected to be captivated by the characters and the story. However, I was sorely disappointed by the other POVs that loosely tied in with Zoey and Victor, the vapid conversations, the overuse of pop culture references, and the general lack of depth in the study of these characters.

I wanted to be swept away in their friendship, especially with a line like, "Sometimes friendship can be its own love story." I believe that, but I didn't find it almost halfway through this book. Did Zoey and Victor even care for each other? I'm not sure. I never felt a true connection between them...

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This title publishes March 18, 2025.

[Lily Morreale · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this book was similar in theme to movies like Love actually where you have all the characters somehow meeting each other and stories overlapping. However, I found this very hard to follow in written form as there were a lot of characters who were only partially developed and you never heard more about them (Hannah). In fact every part with Hannah just felt odd and out of place within the rest of the book. Additionally, the narration I found odd as some was in third person, some was in first person and it was clear in some chapters who was the focus because the name was up front but in others it wasn’t and you’d just have to read to find out. But it was very inconsistent where this happened. Overall interesting idea of documenting a bunch of people in their early thirties but I wish it was a shorter book with less characters and more focus around the main ones.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows a group of interconnected NYC and LA elder millennials in their 'early thirties' as they navigate, love, loss, divorce, infertility, abortion, suicidal ideation, alcoholism, depression, career ups and downs, celebrity culture and journalism and more. I fear that anyone who dives into this debut blind expecting a light, frothy romcom will be grossly disappointed.

While I did find parts slow-moving and I doubt I would have finished if I hadn't listened to the audiobook version, I still think it will resonate deeply with a certain demographic of readers (perhaps those younger than me). It touches on some heavy topics and is definitely NOT a romance even though parts have romantic storylines.

The audio narration was good with a full cast and I would recommend this to fans of authors like Camille Kellogg or books like The Christmas orphans club. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @simon.audio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

[Tell]

This was right up my alley: a story of a gay man and his female best friend slowly growing apart in their thirties, their friendship torn asunder by marriage and career shifts. What I got was not what I expected.

The one-off chapters were very good: Duboff is excellent at portraying a specific level of delusion, self-absorption and low-level psychosis that animates many influencers and those who surround them, but the actual meat of this didn’t entirely work for me. The beginning was very strong, and I loved the ending for the main female protagonist, but ultimately I wished for more cohesion across the novel.

[Holly Corson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure I have never been less interested in a book! I listened to this one for 10.5 hours and I honestly have nothing to say about it. I do not even remember much about this and I just read it. None of the characters had any character. It would be zero starts if that was an option. I am not going to even waste my time with a synopsis.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calling this brilliant is an understatement—beautiful, imperfect, devastating, and page-turning. I feel like I know these characters. Wait, scratch that, I might be one (or two) of them…

[Joel Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so sharp in so many ways. Sometimes to a scary degree, to be honest. I sent multiple snippets to friends in that sort of "isn't this funny but also oof" way you acknowledge that a piece of art has hit a little too close to home. These are thorny characters but they're not irredeemable and I never stopped rooting for them, which I think is the point. I say "I think is the point" because—and this is the real miracle here—the book never belabors it. It doesn't wallow or overstay its observations. If anything I was surprised at how fleetly it moves through the mini-seasons of its two main (and handful of ancillary) characters' lives. This is a pretty vivid snapshot of how complicated it is to refine friendships, life priorities, and your own identity as you age out of the window where you can say there's time for that later. That, I imagine, is universal. For anyone that was in their early thirties in the time this book is set, I think this'll be something of a time capsule.

[Justine Hauk · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 ⭐️

I was really excited about this book but I could never fully get into it! It took me over a month to get through and I wanted to DNF it a few different times. There were too many characters to try to keep up with how everyone was connected and I still cannot explain what the plot of the story is.

[gracie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I went in expecting a story about friendship and drifting apart as you grow older, only to get that as a subplot with a bunch of other plotlines I just didn't care for. The writing was also really all over the place, sometimes it was first person pov, other times it was third person. Sometimes you'd even get both in the same chapter and it just wasn't working for this story.

[Paige Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

This book was MESSY. It was an interesting investigation into the relationship between journalism, celebrity, and performance of personality. There was a certain insufferable quality to literally every character that was both stifling and complex, since I feel like everyone has the potential to fall into the traps that many of these characters did out in the real world. Zoey was my favourite. The lit-fic girlies will like this book, the fiction girlies will not.

[Alison Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel plods along in a read-my-diary kind of way. The chapters occasionally switched to a different character in a seemingly nonsensical way, although they do seem to connect at various points later in the story.

The protagonist, Victor, is depressing and frustrating, yet achingly human. It took me a lot of pages before I could decide if I liked him or not (the jury is still out, honestly).

The book jacket alludes to a problem between Victor and Zoey “when tragedy befalls Victor.” Honestly, this could have been a moment at any point in the pages since Victor is a tragic character. I was expecting a gasp-y, pearl-clutching moment instead of a long, slow ride down the self-centered drama hill.

When I finished the book, I felt a sense of relief, sure, that it was over, but also a calm and wistfulness of a ride well ridden. I’m glad I got to spend time with these characters, and I’m relieved to never have met them. If there was a “ho-hum” option for a book review, this would be the time to use it.

[Zoë]

Worst book I’ve ever read ❤️ if you can even call it a book

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some real moments of poignancy, and I liked the writing style. It’s also slow, meandering, and unfocused in some pretty significant ways.

First, there are too many POV characters in this. The book clearly wants to be a character study, but aside from central protagonists Victor and Zoey, all of the POV characters feel interchangeable in terms of voice, and can really only be adequately distinguished by their jobs, which are all the same jobs always assigned to the characters in one of those “single pals trying to make it in the city!” sitcoms.

I’m also a bit fuzzy on who the audience is for this. In terms of tone and the references it uses, it seems to be aimed at elder millennials. But that doesn’t line up using either how old the characters are in the book (early thirties, obviously), or in terms of references that set the book in a year in the past (Cava, for example, didn’t exist yet when we elder millennials were this age). I guess all of this would imply that the book is aimed at a younger generation, but again, the tone and references don’t match that.

It’s a bit maudlin for my taste, and not quite accurate enough to be relatable (even to someone like me who lived in New York at this age and worked in a similar industry as the central characters). The book also has absolutely no sense of humor, which I think is fine but important to know if you came to this looking for a fun and frothy early adulthood tale or a RomCom.

I thought Victor’s character was both very well-written and also intriguing, and that is the highlight of
this book. Zoey is a lot thinner and seems to exist only as a tool to help flesh out more of Victor’s thoughts and actions.

Not a bad read by any stretch, and Duboff definitely shows talent as a writer. But this type of book isn’t rare, and there are a lot of them out there doing this particular theme better than this book does.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my (very) late 20s, living in NYC, dating, and navigating my career so I see myself in this debut novel and really enjoyed it. It pulls off the differing perspectives of Victor/Zoey and a cast of compelling secondary characters. Romantic relationships do have a major role but I most appreciated that a long-term friendship was the focus!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

For fans of: Frances Ha (2012), Beautiful World, Where Are You, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

[Katie Amos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an early copy of this book and I wanted to like it, I really did, but I just never could get into it. I would have stopped and left it unfinished, but 1) I’m not a quitter (always hope they will get better) and 2) I felt like since I won this book, I needed to read the whole thing to give a fair review.

The first few pages started out great and I was excited about the prospect of where the story was going to take me. However, it quickly became so boring. It follows the main character, Victor, who is majorly self-doubting, self-absorbed and just annoying. Then it throws in other characters who are all randomly intertwined with each other. But it was just boring to read with no real plot, just kind of the normal day-to-day happenings and thoughts of the characters, but it never really goes anywhere or has any real resolution. Definitely not one I will be recommending to anyone

[The Bookish Elf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josh Duboff's debut novel "Early Thirties" offers a painfully accurate snapshot of that unsettling period when the carefree spontaneity of one's twenties crashes headlong into the expectations of proper adulthood. Following best friends Victor and Zoey as they navigate career ambitions, romantic relationships, and the changing nature of their decade-long friendship, Duboff creates a narrative that's equal parts witty and melancholic.

As someone who's inhabited the New York media landscape similar to Victor's, I found myself wincing with recognition at the novel's sharp observations about professional insecurity and social media performance anxiety. Yet for all its cultural specificity, the emotional core of this story—the complex, evolving friendship between two people who've grown into different versions of themselves—feels universal and timeless.

Plot and Character: Misaligned Stars

In "Early Thirties," we meet Victor Harris, a gay entertainment journalist who's just secured his dream job at glossy magazine Corridor after recovering from an accidental overdose following a devastating breakup with his boyfriend Oliver. His best friend Zoey Prince is planning her wedding to the straight-laced Tom while questioning her future at fashion startup Selah.

The novel tracks their parallel journeys as Victor navigates a career-threatening incident with actress Valentina Lack and later deals with Oliver's sudden death, while Zoey ends her marriage, gets an abortion, and launches her own fashion company. The once-inseparable friends begin drifting apart, their communication fraught with unspoken resentments and divergent life paths.

What works brilliantly is Duboff's refusal to romanticize this friendship. Victor and Zoey are messy, sometimes self-absorbed people who genuinely love each other but don't always know how to express it. Their relationship isn't idealized—it's complicated by jealousy, neediness, and the reality that growing up sometimes means growing apart.

Style and Structure: A Social Media Feed in Novel Form

Duboff employs a rotating perspective that shifts between Victor, Zoey, and occasionally peripheral characters like publicist Erica or influencer-adjacent Hannah. This technique creates a mosaic effect that mirrors the fractured attention spans of the characters themselves.

The prose is conversational and witty, peppered with references to celebrity culture and social media dynamics. Dialogue flows naturally, capturing the particular cadence of educated millennials who use humor as both shield and connection point. In one particularly effective exchange at a baby shower, Victor and Zoey trade barbs while revealing deeper vulnerabilities:

"I can't believe you wore a bow tie to Oliver's funeral."
"Yeah, that was weird. I wanted to make him laugh, I think."
"Okay, so now we are communing with the deceased?"
"Yes, we are."

However, this stylistic choice sometimes works against the novel's emotional impact. Some sections feel like scrolling through an Instagram feed—entertaining but ultimately ephemeral. The narrative occasionally lacks the depth needed for readers to fully invest in the characters' growth beyond their self-constructed personas.

Strengths: Authentic Voices and Cultural Commentary

Where Duboff truly excels is in his pitch-perfect rendering of millennial anxiety and the peculiar dynamics of friendship in the social media age. The novel captures with uncomfortable precision how we perform versions of ourselves for different audiences:

1. Media industry insights: Having worked at Vanity Fair, Duboff brings authentic detail to Victor's professional world, from the hollow thrill of celebrity encounters to the manufactured crisis of Twitter controversies.

2. The friendships-as-partnerships phenomenon: The novel astutely explores how many millennials have invested in friendships with the emotional intensity once reserved for romantic relationships.

3. Digital identity vs. authentic self: Characters constantly filter their experiences through the lens of how they'll be perceived, whether on Instagram or by their immediate circle.

4. Gentrified New York as character: The city appears as both enabler and constraint—offering endless possibilities while trapping its inhabitants in loops of comparison and FOMO.

Weaknesses: Emotional Depth and Pacing Issues

For a novel centered on friendship and personal growth, "Early Thirties" sometimes keeps readers at an emotional distance from its protagonists. This seems partly intentional—reflecting the characters' own guardedness—but it occasionally undermines the novel's most poignant moments.

The pacing sometimes feels uneven, with the first half devoted to establishing Victor and Zoey's worlds, while major developments come rapidly in the second half. Oliver's death, a pivotal event, happens off-page and might have benefited from more narrative weight.

Most frustrating is the resolution, which feels somewhat rushed after the carefully built tension between the friends. While realistic in its ambiguity, the ending might leave readers wanting a more definitive exploration of what Victor and Zoey's relationship will look like moving forward.

Cultural Resonance: A Time Capsule of Millennial Unease

"Early Thirties" functions beautifully as cultural commentary on this specific moment in millennial history: the disillusionment with social media, the anxiety about career paths in dying industries, the recalibration of friendship as people pair off or pursue different life goals.

The novel keenly observes the peculiar career landscape its characters navigate:

- The hollowness of media jobs that blur work and identity
- The performance element of professional success
- The rise of influencer culture and personal branding
- The particular challenges of navigating these worlds as a gay man (Victor) or a woman trying to assert herself (Zoey)

In capturing these elements so precisely, Duboff creates a compelling time capsule of this particular moment in American urban life.

Final Verdict: A Promising Debut with Room for Growth

"Early Thirties" is a sharp, entertaining debut that accurately captures the uncertainties of this life stage. While it doesn't quite reach the emotional depths it occasionally gestures toward, the novel succeeds as both cultural commentary and character study.

Duboff's strength lies in his ability to render the specific anxieties of his generation with humor and empathy. The novel is at its best when examining the shifting terrain of friendship—how we grow together and apart, how we fail each other, and how we sometimes find our way back.

For a first novel, it's an impressive achievement that promises even better work to come as Duboff continues to develop his voice. Readers who recognize themselves in Victor and Zoey will find much to appreciate in this bittersweet portrait of millennial growing pains.

[Brittany Cardenas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a really hard time getting into this book and felt like I couldn’t connect with many of the characters. I also felt like some random character POVs were thrown into the mix and it felt unnecessary. I would have loved a deeper dive of Victor and Zoey’s relationship - I didn’t quite understand the premise of this book until the last couple of chapters. I was originally going to give it two stars, but the last few chapters drew me in and made me give it three (felt some authenticity peak through.)

I could see that this was a story about friendship and finding your way back to each other in your 30s, but I was left feeling a little lackluster and like I needed more depth throughout the story. Loved the jump of POVs each chapter, but I would have preferred if it was just about Victor and Zoey. Their relationship also felt really mean and inauthentic at times and I was questioning their friendship throughout - like did they really like each other? Hard to believe treating a long time friend like that 🥲. Nonetheless, I’m a sucker for a happy ending and was glad that they became “friends” again.

[Carly Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good. The haters are probs 12 and don’t get it like I do

[Julia Geller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weak writing , random characters that had absolutely nothing to do with any part of the plot (Caroline? Hannah? I literally only cared bout victor and zoey and I didn’t even like them). I could see how some of the themes are supposed to be relatable but the cliche dialogue and shallow characters made this unmemorable to me🥲

spoiler: what got me was the way that victors ex literally died and somehow or another it becomes all about victor and how inconvenient it is for him that Oliver died. This was also such a random plot “twist” that really didn’t add much in the way of the storyline other than attempting to demonstrate the presence of grief but fell flat

[Allison Moss · Rating 2 out of 5]

I literally have no idea what this book is about. Not sure how it started or finished but I guess there is a story for everyone and this one ain't fr me.

[Madison Sweitzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

just kind of eh. not an inspiring read for someone approaching early thirties 🙃

[Maia J · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 10%. I couldn’t get past the whiplash of starting off with the main character, Victor, in the hospital for an attempted suicide, to talk of celebrities, and then his inner monologues of not being able to move past his best friend being engaged. This was just not for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early reviewcopy!

[Shelby Mize · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. This book did not do it for me.

It felt like being stuck with a friend who won't stop complaining about their ex, their therapist or their job. I personally needed a little more story and a little less coffee talk.

I keep waiting for something to happen and instead it just kept getting a little worse every chapter.

[Alea Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was straight up bad. I kept thinking it would connect in the end but it didn’t and that’s the only reason I kept reading. Also all the name and restaurant dropping made it a very not timeless book which was maybe the point idk. All the characters were so unlikeable and there was really no plot

[Alixandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Victor is insufferable and the whole book was reading in the perspective of people who think their lives are so fascinating. I was so bored. I had a hard time finishing the book at all. Don’t need to read about a bunch of ungrateful New Yorkers who are borderline narcissists lol

[Jaime Eisen · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Nope. Bad. But not fun bad. Just bad.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found myself mentally shouting “WHO CARES?” throughout most of this book. I’m honestly mad I read it and that’s on me.

[Marlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mid-iana

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huh

[Brookie McIlvaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

ugh i wanted so much more! never trusting a certain podcasters “tastemaking” again