Vintage Contemporaries: A Novel

by Dan Kois, Eileen Stevens (Narrator)

“Vintage Contemporaries is about being young and becoming less young, exploring friendship (sometimes magical, sometimes messy), parenthood (ditto), and how to reconcile youthful ambition and ideals with real life. It’s a warm and big-hearted coming of age story that made me wistful for my own twenties, set in a vividly rendered and long-vanished New York City.”—Rumaan Alam, New York Times bestselling author of Leave the World Behind

Slate editor Dan Kois makes his fiction debut with this stunning coming-of-age novel set in New York City, about the joys of unexpected life-altering friendships, the power of finding ourselves in the moment, and the importance of forgiving ourselves when we inevitably mess everything up.

It’s 1991. Em moved to New York City for excitement and possibility, but the big city isn’t quite what she thought it would be. Working as a literary agent’s assistant, she’s down to her last nineteen dollars but has made two close Emily, a firebrand theater director living in a Lower East Side squat, and Lucy, a middle-aged novelist and single mom. Em’s life revolves around these two wildly different women and their vividly disparate yet equally assured views of art and the world. But who is Em, and what does she want to become?

It's 2004. Em is now Emily, a successful book editor, happily married and barely coping with the challenges of a new baby. And suddenly Lucy and Emily return to her Her old friend Lucy's posthumous book needs a publisher, and her ex-friend Emily wants to rekindle their relationship. As they did once before, these two women—one dead, one very alive—force Emily to reckon with her decisions, her failures, and what kind of creative life she wants to lead.

A sharp, reflective, and funny story of a young woman coming into herself and struggling to find her place, Vintage Contemporaries is a novel about art, parenthood, loyalty, and fighting for a cause—the times we do the right thing, and the times we fail—set in New York City on both sides of the millennium.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, New York, Coming Of Age, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published May 6, 2014

Reviews

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vintage Contemporaries is a warm, big-hearted, and funny New York City coming-of-age novel about a young literary agent assistant and the two friendships that change her life. The book starts with Emily ("Em"), who landed in New York after college. She grew up in Wisconsin and went to school in Connecticut, so this is sort of her first big-city experience. She aspires to publish hip, new fiction, edgy New York stories. But, throughout the novel, she discovers that that's not the kind of book she loves the most.

Part of the argument of Vintage Contemporaries is about figuring out what role art plays in our lives. So many people who grew up loving books have an image of themselves growing up to be writers. Part of Emily's journey is figuring out that she can love books and reading and be committed to making art, but that doesn't mean she has to be an artist. There are other ways she can facilitate the making of beautiful things. She ends up being an editor, a totally different job, but one that is crucially important. The book is brilliant and has a very subtle undercurrent of funny. I loved it. Vintage Contemporaries is about art, friendship, youth, and a particular slice of New York City.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at: https://www.momsdonthavetimetoreadboo...

[Ari Levine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Gen-Xer nostalgia for early 1990s New York is the only reason I skimmed to the end of 300+ pages of middlebrow sentimentality with occasional bits of clever wordplay.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this. It has so much that I recognized as a mother, as a bookish person, as a pop culture consumer. Spending time with Em/Emily and her friends was a joy.

Dan Kois clearly knows the book and publishing industry, and the way that Emily progresses through her career from agent to editor was confidently written and compelling. It takes someone pretty remarkable to write a book auction in a way that makes it seem exciting (I'm also looking at you, Lily King in WRITERS AND LOVERS) but he pulls it off.

But then the writing about motherhood. It really does fascinate me how a man can write so believably about a newly-postpartum mother. I was delighted.

There's so much happening in this book (I'm not even mentioning the other Emily! Or the squat! Or 90% of the plot!), and so much that DOESN'T happen, and I truly gobbled it up.

[Novel Visits · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Several years ago I read 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦 𝘈 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 by Dan Kois. It was a memoir of the year he and his wife took their two daughters and lived in four different international locations to gain new perspectives. I really enjoyed that book, so I was excited to see what Kois would do with fiction in the newly released 𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦. In general, I’d say he did well, though I don’t think this will be for everyone. It’s on the slower side without a lot of action, but the characters are excellent and very well-developed.⁣⁣⁣
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This is the story of two Emilys, both 22, who meet in 1991 in NYC. One is confident, living in a squat and pursuing a career directing plays. The other is quieter, new to the city, working in publishing. As is often the case, their friendship ebbs and flows over the 20+ years of this book. That really spoke to me as we all have had those friendships. I also really enjoyed getting a glimpse inside the publishing industry and thought the sense of place was excellent.⁣⁣⁣
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I only wish there had been a little more “something” to the book. It fell just a little short for me and I can't pinpoint why. Maybe the relationships within the story could have gone a deeper, with fewer side characters? In the end, despite a few drawbacks, I enjoyed reading 𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.

[Joy D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a female friendship. At age twenty-two, Emily (called Em) graduates from college in Wisconsin and moves to New York City, where she lands a job as an assistant to an editorial agent. She meets a charismatic young woman, also named Emily, who directs plays and works various temporary jobs to support herself while pursuing her artistic dreams. This Emily lives in a “Squat,” an abandoned building that has been taken over by a group of unofficial residents who now manage it as a cooperative, which puts them in occasional conflict with law enforcement. Em gradually learns more about the publishing business and obtains a client through her mother’s connection with an author named Lucy Deming. Em also meets a book cover designer and various publisher’s representatives when trying to sell the authors’ works.

The book is structured into a few critical years in Em’s life, covering 1991 to 2007. The characters are just wonderful. They come across as real people, and all the main characters are so well crafted. Emily is one of the most memorable characters I’ve encountered recently in my reading. She is eccentric and passionate, and her creative energy is almost palpable. She jumps into the fray without too much concern for any consequences. Em, by contrast, is more practical and cautious, but is influenced by her new friend to take some risks. Eventually, the two experience a rift in their friendship, and the storyline follows what happens to them later on in life. I don’t want to give away how this all comes out, but it is a great story with fabulous characters!

I found myself completely absorbed in this story. If you enjoy character-driven narratives, I definitely recommend it. It is hard to believe this is a debut. I absolutely love this book. It will make my short list of favorites for the year.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I settled into my first Covid diagnosis this week with this advanced copy in hand, and I can recommend neither the virus nor the novel.

[Alyssa Lentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very warm and reflective novel about friendship and growing up. I particularly enjoyed all of the texture in both timelines about living in New York City--everything felt very lived-in and the details were spot-on. The structure of looking at our protagonist through these two timelines is such an interesting one and gifts readers which a deep understanding of Emily. But I found the focus on female friendships to be the most compelling: I recognized many aspects of my own relationships over the years here, and this novel is just filled with love and growth. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy character-focused relationship novels with a strong sense of setting in the literary fiction vein.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think there was a point to this novel. It was kind of interesting, but mostly about having children. The reviews and the description barely mention that it is really, heavily focused on having children. If I had known how much was devoted to babies, I probably would not have read it. I did skim quite a few long-winded paragraphs that described what Emily’s baby was doing. Nobody cares what babies are doing other than their parents. It was a large part of the book, who can have babies, who wants them but can’t have them, the joys of motherhood, the parents cooing about their baby. It should have been called Baby Jane and What She Did. The small sections that were not about babies were well-written but they seemed to have no point other than showing what live was like in NYC in the 1990s, 2005 and some other year.

[talia ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

beautiful covers on books about nyc are basically what i live for

[Steven Tollios · Rating 5 out of 5]

i looooved this. i wanted it to be like 700 pages. i think i have realized that my favorite genre is coming of age novels focused on powerful friendships and how they evolve over time, specifically based in nyc. it reminded me a lot of A Little Life (but much less sad) in that the author writes about new york in such a lived-in way you can so clearly picture their apartments and their neighborhoods - how a simple scene of 2 characters just walking down their street is so easy to visualize. it doesn’t have a whole lot of plot imo, which may make it not for everyone, but just reading about their lives and the shit they go through and how it shapes them is so pleasing to me idk highly recommend

[Dan Kois · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is great but the author is a real asshole

[Jennifer Janechek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much! How could I not—the protagonist is an editor in New York City in the 90s and 00s. It feels like Nick Hornby, but for women, with all the music references. I loved that the central relationship is an intense friendship between two women. Kois captures how this relationship changes as the women grow—and grow apart—and come back together, and in doing so he illuminates some important themes, like the way desire transforms (and yet doesn’t) after children, the tension between support and enablement, the meaning of forgiveness, and more. I would definitely read this again!

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda harsh to give this a two star review. It hovered between 2-3.5 stars. I was really interested in this book for its plot and potential (coming of age, 90s nostalgia, even 2000s nostalgia, a friendship that seemed inspired by the Neapolitan books), but it didn’t deliver. Maybe it’s because I was sick half the time I was reading this, but I was constantly confused by the pronouns and writing style (yes, I know that the two main characters have the same name and there’s a smug call out to the audience about it in the book). Pacing and characters felt off as well.. a lot of plot points and seemingly important characters just fell to the side and sometimes re-emerged after I long forgot about them. Wasn’t sure where the book was going with the theme—there was a lot of realistic musings on new parenthood, suddenly towards the end of the book Emily realizes how problematic she’s been her whole life, there’s some Me Too/ micro aggression type stuff, etc. I just felt like the author was throwing a bunch of Important Themes and seeing what would stick. Feels like this needed a lot of editing. Also, the main Emily protagonist was a really boring person.

[Nation Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!!

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (3.9 stars)

Everyone one of is done when we’re done, as I told my friend. You flip us over at the end and see what life did to us. Every watched pot boils eventually. Every sauce would benefit from a little more butter. And every recipe served four — but you can always stretch it to six or seven.

• Vintage Contemporaries is another one of those books that was exactly the types of things I wanted to read about, aka being in your early 20’s & what life after that looks like. it talks about friendships, work, parenthood, and NYC in the 90’s. I love a good then-and-now structure in books.

• reading about Emily reminds me of the feeling of when I read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell for the first time and was in my awkward adolescent phase, in that l I felt some relatability to the type of person she is and I appreciated that (minus the parts abt not initially understanding harassment in the workplace)

• I also found Alan and Lucy sweet, I loved the premise of Lucy’s memoir/recipe book and actually wish it was a real thing

• like lots of literary fiction, it was a bit slow/boring at times, but also comforting, kind of like the contentment that comes in the routine & more mundane parts of living

• overall: this + Happy Place significantly helped scratch my itch of reading the coming-of-age-in-your-20’s genre, so shout out Dan Kois for writing a book like this. I need more!

[Emily Teigland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conceptually, this book was HILARIOUS. Two young women in New York (Emily and Emily) are navigating the complexities of female friendship, motherhood and the publishing industry. On-paper, this book was perfect for me. On the other hand, the execution left much to be desired.

I'm all about literature and art transcending all sorts of preexisting notions when it comes to gender and life experience; fiction is imaginative by nature. Although I'm certain there were many great women who helped make this book and I'm positive Dan Kois has many wonderful women in his life, this was a book about experiences of female friendships and motherhood written by a man who has clearly never experienced either of these things in real life.

The characters in this book were flat with streams of consciousness focusing on the male gaze. I know nothing about Dan Kois's references, but there were far too many detailed descriptions of breastfeeding in this book that were grossly unnecessary. Please, just stop. Nothing happened in this book, and I personally found no deeper meaning in any of these characters' arcs. I'm not really sure why I finished it, but here I am.

[Bill Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. There’s no dramatic fireworks here, but the novel is tender, funny, poignant, and incredibly spot on about the New York literary scene (and NYC in general), complicated friendships, love relationships and parenting, and families. Perhaps there’s some idealization here and there, and a too happy ending (but it so fits that it’s silly to carp), but anyone who loves books and wants a view behind the curtain of the publishing world will want to check this out…and you’ll get so much more out of it if you do.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Kois wrote a book about Manhattan when I was young! We don’t know each other, but he thought my early 20s in book publishing during the 90s were interesting enough to write about. Of course he changed some of the details, thoughtfully considering my privacy in a social media age: I lived on the Upper West Side and experimented with religion, not drugs, but isn’t it really quite similar?

Kois didn’t include me on the page of friends who left New York in their late 20s and early 30s, but are otherwise not mentioned in Vintage Contemporaries, so I suspect they were real people. It’s probably because I left later, at age 40 when my husband got a job in Baltimore. I became an accountant. I have always marveled at the array of careers my former publishing colleagues moved into as well. Feel free to include my details in the second edition, Dan.

Vintage Contemporaries evoked both nostalgia for that passionate time and relief that I am past it on to a much happier phase of life, plus gratitude to the friend who gave me the book. It made me feel fully seen, especially as she didn’t even know me back then.

Emily Thiel and her best friend from college, Louis, have moved to Alphabet City on the Lower East Side to an apartment with a large mushroom growing out of the floor. It’s all they can afford. She’s trying to break into book publishing, and he’s trying to be gay and out. It’s a heady but scary time for all involved, especially with AIDS all around.

On a rare outing to a nightclub, they meet a fearless, outgoing woman their age. Emily becomes friends with her, also named Emily, and wacky hijinks ensue. Emily Thiel, dubbed Em by the new Emily (who cuts her down in other ways, too), becomes the responsible, loyal sidekick to her wilder companion, who is trying to become a playwright, but refuses to bend to anyone’s tips or advice.

By contrast, Em goes out of her way to accommodate even the most difficult people, including her first boss, a literary agent who takes credit for Em’s work, and her second, a jerk who doesn’t quite cross the threshold into sexual harassment, but nevertheless drives away a succession of assistants. This is a key talent for those who want to succeed in book publishing, and she becomes quite successful.

Success in book publishing, or anything else, also requires luck and vision. Em’s mom, back in Wisconsin, insists her daughter meet up with her old college friend, Lucy Deming, a small-time published author. This meeting is key to Emily Thiel’s career and personal life. Lucy is based on author and cookbook writer Laurie Colwin, wildly popular among publishing assistants in the early 90s, boosted by her unexpected, too early death. I still reread her memoirs combining cooking and living for comfort.

Vintage Contemporaries, named for a line of books from the prestigious Knopf, moves back and forth from Emily’s early adulthood to her mid- to late-thirties. She becomes more sure of herself, telling her old friend, who still calls her Em: “I’m Emily.” She tells her mother that there will be absolutely no more discussion of Emily’s weight and the moral character of certain foods. She stands up for herself to get the opportunities and credit she earns in her work life. She eventually realizes that her jerk boss has made all his other assistants miserable, and she fights for them. She recognizes her own racial microaggressions and works to eliminate them.

As in Laurie Colwin’s books, Dan Kois’ work has a happy ending, or a happy middle when the book ends. No one knows how it will all turn out, but there is great joy in living.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the subtle reference to "the gyro lady" (NY icon)

[Megan Crean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and took a few notes throughout while reading it:

You don’t get all of the information at once and have to really think and try to piece it together in your head. I like his writing style a lot, it’s different

the characters in Lucys book is like Lucy and Emily or Emily and Em.

At first the two characters being named Emily annoyed me, but the more I read the more I realized you really needed to think and let their voices and tones stand out for themselves to sometimes tell who was who and that was something cool I thought he did. I’ve never read a book like this and appreciated the extra thinking work and the irony of it

I would have liked more parts with Lucy in it - she was a really cool, strong character

Growing up in Wisconsin I loved the references to Milwaukee like Mequon, Schwartz’s Books, Midwest Express Airlines and what it was like for a tornado warning - super spot on and nostalgic. I also lived in Athens and enjoyed those references too

A lot of reviews say there wasn’t really anything here, but that’s kind of how Lucys book was too. The book really just focused on relationships and friendships and I feel it didn’t need a huge plot line because that’s how life is. It’s about the different things Em was passionate about and enjoyed doing in the city. Living in New york city isn’t one big plot line, it’s the little things and the people that make it special.

The fourth section was very random bits and pieces and sometimes I wondered what the point of some of them are, but again, that’s real life with no true beginning and ending to everything like in a “perfect novel” just a lot of realness which I really appreciated

Thank you Harper Collins for sending me the book for my review.

[Carlee Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Harper Collins for providing me with an advanced copy. This book tracks the protagonist, over different periods of time as a young adult in New York City. Her tumultuous friendship with another woman named Emily exposes her to New York in a new way soon after she arrives to work in publishing, including to the challenges faced by squatters. I enjoyed the way the story covered publishing and how different publishers win in an auction for a book. I appreciated the growth of Emily's character over time, and the way she describes the challenges of motherhood and being a working mom. Overall, I really liked this book!

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just okay—it’s really REALLY not cute to have two main characters with the same name, even if one of them goes by a shortened version of that name for a third of the book. Too many characters, too many cultural touchstones and references crammed in there (at least 9-11 was kept to a minimum, which was actually surprising given the timing of the book and the fact that it takes place in New York). I wish it had been more about the other Emily and her addiction and less about boring Emily and her stupid job and baby. Also found it weird that she was upset that the video of her naked baby was taken off of you tube.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Life never worked out so well. Love never had it so good. “

By coincidence, after having just finished one book about libraries and librarians, and another book which made me grateful for quality publishers such as Europa, of course it makes perfect sense that I’d next be listening to a novel named after the great Random House imprint, Vintage Contemporaries. Is there a thing going on here? Not really…just chance, having been attracted by two very alluring titles, the first being Barbara Isn’t Dead (whew), and the second being this one.

Vintage Contemporaries—-the novel, not the series—begins with an affectionate literary nod to Laurie Colwin, the late, much lamented Gourmet Magazine writer, memoirist, novelist, and general believer that to be happy is not only good, but possible. I was so thrilled to realize that she was an inspiration for this book and for its smart, charming heroine, but I had no idea that the novel would, in fact, become a meta thing. I don’t want to give that part away, but like everything in this historically accurate novel, it works perfectly. From the squatter movement in Lower Manhattan to Off-Off-Broadway, to the AIDS epidemic, to becoming a talented editor, to making friendships in a vast city, to finding one’s passion and one’s ethics and one’s true love , everything just works so well. It does sound a bit like a recipe for Stone Soup, but believe me when I say that it is delicious.

[Peter Knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, I loved this book - written for me!

Coming of age story, following a young person's accent into book publishing, awash with old and new New York, the drama of friendships, relationships, and young parenting.

Every note rings true, from the cultural conversations, political awakenings, little details about writers and editors, the New-York-ness of it all.

If any of this appeals, there's plenty here. It's light and lovely, but honest and earnest. Dan Kois knows what he's doing and I'll keep reading it.

[kadence ✩‧₊˚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Chr*s Browning · Rating 3 out of 5]

picked this up, as many might, because i too love the 80s vintage contemporaries line of paperbacks, and, as can be expected, this is about the platonic ideal of the three star mfa-adjacent "literary" novel for folks who like reading about novels. mostly frictionless and compelling enough for that, outside of an odd MeToo-ish side plot which feels awkwardly enjambed and does little to advance the characters or position this as a contemporary successor/interrogation of books like The Information and Brightness Falls. fine! but unremarkable

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vintage Contemporaries is not quite the lighthearted read I’d expected based on the cover, or the searing read I’d expected based on the book description. It falls somewhere in the middle, and for this reason and the ones I detail below, I would recommend skipping over adding this one to your TBR.

Dan Kois is the author of three nonfiction books: How to Be a Family, a memoir; The World Only Spins Forward, an oral history of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (with Isaac Butler); and Facing Future, part of the 33 1/3 series of music criticism. He’s a longtime writer, editor, and podcaster at Slate. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his family.

It’s 1991. Em moved to New York City for excitement and possibility, but the big city isn’t quite what she thought it would be. Working as a literary agent’s assistant, she’s down to her last nineteen dollars but has made two close friends: Emily, a firebrand theater director living in a Lower East Side squat, and Lucy, a middle-aged novelist and single mom. Em’s life revolves around these two wildly different women and their vividly disparate yet equally assured views of art and the world. But who is Em, and what does she want to become? It’s 2004. Em is now Emily, a successful book editor, happily married and barely coping with the challenges of a new baby. And suddenly Lucy and Emily return to her life: Her old friend Lucy’s posthumous book needs a publisher, and her ex-friend Emily wants to rekindle their relationship. As they did once before, these two women—one dead, one very alive—force Emily to reckon with her decisions, her failures, and what kind of creative life she wants to lead. A sharp, reflective, and funny story of a woman coming into herself and struggling to find her place, Vintage Contemporaries is a novel about art, parenthood, loyalty, and fighting for a cause—the times we do the right thing, and the times we fail—set in New York City on both sides of the millenium.

My major point of contention with this book is how it is a book that details the female experience and female friendships, but it’s by a man. This discomfort is very apparent in the opening chapter, with a young Em finding her way in New York City. I felt there was a disconnect with the writer and the subject, and that never stopped bothering me while reading. While there are moments where Kois describes parenthood and motherhood well (which I’m only saying because I’ve read Goodreads reviews on this book by mothers that say the same), I was never not aware of this what I would describe as a conflict of interest.

The writing at the beginning is slow to get started, but it is a pretty engaging story once you get through the first part. I enjoyed the time jumps and switches—this kept me interested in getting to the further chapters. The story itself wasn’t all that humorous, but I can see how a different audience might enjoy the cultural references and such. I personally felt like the writing didn’t go as deep as it could have—I left the book wondering what I was supposed to think about Emily and Emily’s relationship at the end. The closure and sense of peace for Emily and Lucy was apparent to me, but not so much between Emily and Emily.

I am so interested in female friendships, so I was looking forward to seeing that depicted here. However, the book’s message about that was overshadowed by Kois’s commentary on the publishing industry (necessary, but felt dated because of the form of the book despite its obvious timeliness) and on parenting. There was an interesting opportunity to expand more on the point about degenerative diseases and art lasting forever, but I felt like Kois never connected the right dots to make these points resound loudly in a reader’s mind. All in all, I was disappointed in the read because of the potential it didn’t live up to.

While Kois’s book is an engaging read and it’s time switching narrative is interesting, unfortunately I don’t feel like it dives deeply enough into its themes for it to be the strongest book on female friendships and the female experience that it could be.

*You can also find this review on my blog, tobeornottobenm.blogspot.com*

[Jj Burch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wisconsin girl moves
to NYC and grows but
does not really change

***this was a goodreads win***

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, author Dan Kois, and publisher Harper for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

First off, I adore both this title and cover, which drew me in to the book, and I enjoyed reading it just as much! I love books about coming of age and female friendships, and for the most part, this book did both topics well. I originally thought it would be more about all 3 women, Em/Emily, another Emily and Lucy, but it is more a book about Em/Emily and how Emily and Lucy have affected her life over the years. I don't think this was a bad choice because we still do get a pretty clear picture of both women, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I got to understand each character a bit better. Emily comes off a bit two-dimensional, and I felt like Lucy was always being held at arm's length. This could perhaps be an intentional choice, but for such a short book, it felt more like lack of development. I do think it's a great reflection on how people can serve a time and a purpose in your life that is significant, even if they are no longer in your life in certain capacities. I ended up being charmed by Em/Emily by the end, and the book made me emotional at times because I could relate as a 25-year-old woman. I don't think this is a book for everyone, and it is not a perfect book. As I said earlier, I think it needed to be a bit longer, Emily and Lucy both needed to be fleshed out more, as well as certain content needed to be handled better. There are a few examples of casual racism in parts that are set in the 90s, and a certain character is almost immediately forgiven for standing up for a "Me Too"-esque predator; these scenarios felt a bit strange in the context of the book, and I would have liked to see actual discussion and dialogue about these scenarios, rather than them just being plot points to explain characters' personalities. Overall, this is a slightly flawed book about slightly flawed humans that this slightly flawed reader happened to enjoy and recommend.

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warm and clever.