The Awkward Age

by Francesca Segal

In a Victorian terraced house, in north-west London, two families unite in imperfect harmony. After five years of widowhood, Julia is deeply, unexpectedly in love. If only her beloved daughter, Gwen, didn’t hate James so much. At the very least, she could be civil to his son, Nathan. Bringing together two households was never going to be easy, but Gwen’s struggle for independence, and the teenagers’ unexpected actions, will threaten Julia’s new happiness.

The Awkward Age is about the blended family; about starting over and the attempt to build something beautiful amid the mess and complexity of what came before. It is a story about standing by the ones we love, even while they hurt us. We would do anything to make our children happy, wouldn’t we?

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Novels, Family, Chick Lit, British Literature

368 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2017

About the author

Winner of the 2012 Costa Prize for First Fiction.
Winner of the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the 2013 Sami Rohr Prize
Winner of the 2013 Premio Letterario Edoardo Kihlgren Opera Prima in Milan
Winner of the 2013 Harold U. Ribalow Prize

Long-listed for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction

Francesca Segal is an award-winning writer and journalist. Her work has appeared in Granta, the Guardian, the Financial Times, and both American and British Vogue, amongst others. She has been a features writer at Tatler, and for three years wrote the Debut Fiction column in the Observer.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awkward......messy, complex, shattering, tender, and irresistible!!!!!

The writing is agitatedly alive. It's impossible not to feel unaffected by all that is going on in "Awkward Age". This is my first time reading Francesca Segal. It won't be my last. I'm so impressed with this page-turning story, that I just bought her other novel called "The Innocents".

It's Boxing Day in the United Kingdom....Julia had not slept the night before. She had been awake, worrying, disappointed, and trying to comprehend a very sticky situation. She caught her daughter, Gwen, in the arms of Nathan. Nathan is the son of James.
Julia and James- [lovers]- lived together. Would you want 'your' teen daughter messing around with 'your' boyfriends son? Creepy, ...."AWKWARD"!!!!

Julia's first husband, Daniel, had died years back. James, ex-wife, Pamela, lived in Boston.
Messy - messy - messy: The in laws of David - the grandparents of Gwen - Philip and Iris are in this story too. EVERYONE gets a piece of the pie! - except the poor dog, Mole!
James has two other kids besides Nathan. Just flying back and forth from Boston to England was enough to exhaust me - add the personalities of each of the characters-- their psyches...their emotional underpinnings--and there is a poignant intense story in itself.....
BUT THEN.....
ADD.....
The-family-'earthquake-shit-hit-the-fan-surprise', and YIKES ALMIGHTY.....I thought I'd die! MY ANXIETY levels went UP!
How can an adult couple -live together - under the same roof--when their teenage kids are 'in-love' having sex with each other? Think it can't happen?
I bet there is at least one person reading this review who knows of a similar situation.
Heck - I was in a 'similar' situation-- NOT THIS INTENSE - but I had a cousin -- a 3rd cousin --but I'm not reviewing 'that' story.

The dialogue is real and piercing:
Gwen says to her mother Julia: "Okay, fine. Look, we like each other, okay? And I know it's a little weird that you guys are dating and now we're dating and we all live in the same house, but we both understand the ramifications of it all before hand and considered it worth the risk".
"You did, did you? How very mature. Well, we all live in the same house, as you so charmingly put it, because you are our offspring and we are your parents. This isn't a Noel Coward Play; it's not just some unfortunate coincidence in a boardinghouse. I do not allow it, and that's the end of the story."
"We are not related, we never could be even if you guys – – we were adults before you even met".
"Both Julia and James began to laugh, which was enraging, and after a moment James set both his palms on the table and stood up, scraping his chair back loudly.
'Enough'. I've had enough hilarity for one night".

A little self pity - from 16 year old Gwen: an awkward age:
"Gwen had felt known her whole life, known and cherished, and had, she realized, taken that charmed state entirely for granted. She now saw it for the flossy, muffling cocoon of naivety and infantile solipsism it must always have been. A delusion. Only her father had entirely loved and excepted her, and he would certainly never have let Julia spend the rest of Boxing Day charging around in derangement demanding that James write a prescription for the Pill, nor allowed her to leave a frantic and humiliating message on the GP's out-of-hours answering machine after James had said his own involvement would be inappropriate. Without her father, no one saw her. Except Nathan".

Scintillating prose.....squabbling entertaining- genuinely heartfelt. ..ADDICTIVE READING!!!

Thank you to Riverhead Books, Penguin Random House .....and Allison Carney for sending me this book! Loved it!

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm about 3.5 stars here.

Ah, family drama. What would we do without you? I'm just glad none of these issues happened on The Brady Bunch (although apparently some of the shenanigans were occurring backstage)!

It has been a number of years since Julia Alden's husband died, leaving her with a young daughter, Gwen. Julia and Gwen have been an inseparable duo, weathering life's problems and enjoying adventures together, just the two of them. But now Julia has fallen in love with James, an American OB/GYN who has made his home in England for years. James has awakened Julia's passions—for life, love, sex, and security—things she figured she'd never find again.

The two plan to merge their lives and their households together, and receive nothing but enthusiastic support from James' daughter as well as Julia's inlaws, a couple which has their own interesting relationship. The roadblock? Gwen, now 16, completely dislikes James, and can't even deign to keep her hatred a secret. Not only does she resent the fact that her mother has found happiness again and (as she sees it) abandoned her, she now has to share her house with James and his egotistical, 17-year-old son, Nathan.

Every day is an emotional minefield for the blended family. But after a Thanksgiving trip to James' Boston hometown, Gwen and Nathan begin to see each other in a different light. It's not long before the new relationship turns the household upside down, bringing drama and recrimination, and severely testing Julia and James' relationship.

"How was it possible that one spoiled, angry teenager had wrested control of all their lives?"

Even as your children grow to adulthood, are you expected to sacrifice your own happiness for their sake? Should your loyalty always lie with your own child, even if it might cause stress in your own romantic relationship? How much, and for how long, should you owe your child for a difficult childhood? Does honesty really mean telling the person you love everything you feel, even if it's about their child?

The Awkward Age is an interesting look at these questions. It's a take on modern relationships, gender roles, and how often the things we don't say to one another can cause the most damage. The book definitely has a soap opera-esque feel, even veering into melodrama, and at times I wanted to shake some of these characters to get them to be sensible.

I absolutely loved Francesca Segal's first novel, The Innocents (see my original review), an interpretation of The Age of Innocence set in a Jewish suburb of London. Segal created fascinating characters and a plot you couldn't tear yourself away from.

I didn't feel as if she succeeded as well with The Awkward Age . I thought the first part of the book, which dealt with Julia and James' growing relationship and how everyone around them reacted, was really interesting, but once the melodrama began it lost a bit of its appeal. Perhaps the plot was realistic, but everyone just acted so unpleasantly and dodged around the elephant in the room for so long, I wished I could have walked into the story and set everyone straight.

Segal is an excellent writer, and there is a lot to like about this book. Her characters, while irritating, are really well-drawn. (I found Julia's inlaws and James' ex-wife fascinating.) I just wish this book was less dramatic and more contemplative, because when her storytelling does the talking, the reader definitely wins. (P.S.: Definitely read The Innocents !)

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Blended families, extremely challenging and something I have experienced myself. Teenage years, difficult for many maybe especially so for those whose parents are embarking on a new relationship. I love this authors writing, very realistic, natural yet elegant. The premise is intersting, fertile ground, can go so many ways with this situation. Loved the first part of the book, though I found both teenagers hard to like. Still, I was interested to see how this played out, could a middle ground be found, happiness at the end of the rainbow?

The second half, unfortunately for me descended into so what of a melodrama, which is not a style I appreciate. As for the answer to the above question, you will have to read the book for the answer. So four stars for the first half, three for the second. Those who come from blended families or those who are thinking of entering into one, this book may serve as a guidepost or maybe a little warning. Or maybe we are all just better off believing that things that are meant to be will happen as they will.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I found all of the characters unlikable, and the entire situation they found themselves in was obnoxious. The author's sentences sometimes reminded my of high school English where my teacher insisted on finding obscurely creative ways to convey an idea - there was a fussiness that I just didn't care for.

[Malacorda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se non proprio rosa, alquanto rosé. Tre stelle e mezza.

Ricopio lo slogan da fascetta stampato in copertina: "Una miscela esplosiva: due genitori, tre nonni, una ex, una sorella e due adolescenti irrequieti". Il tutto raccontato da un punto di vista molto femminile, (gli uomini, pur non venendo proprio bistrattati da trama e autrice, non ci fanno comunque una gran figura), quindi con un discreto carico di romanticismo e inquietudini: ai personaggi femminili sono state date maggiori profondità ed espressività. A questo punto sembra quasi che stia scrivendo la recensione di un volume della collana 'Harmony', e forse potrebbe anche somigliargli visto che non ne ho mai letto uno; comunque sia questo libro mi è parso un intrattenimento intelligente, sa riflettere sui temi della vita quotidiana nell'ambito della maternità e più in generale della genitorialità, nell'ambito del quando e quanto dare ai figli la precedenza assoluta su tutto il resto, con le aspettative più o meno nascoste che si ripongono in essi, e i timori e le speranze relativamente al momento in cui i figli si faranno una vita propria e si staccheranno dai genitori. E soprattutto bisogna riconoscere che i due protagonisti adolescenti, con i loro sbalzi di umore e le loro prese di posizione, non sono meno realistici del più riflessivo e più celebre James di "Un giorno questo dolore ti sarà utile", anzi al contrario.

La narrazione corale offre un punto di vista brillantemente sdoppiato, fa calare il lettore nei panni della coppia di giovani così come nella coppia di adulti: nessuna delle due prevale veramente sull'altra. La trama è meno fumosa del romanzo omonimo di Henry James e l'intento di descrivere la società moderna (ambientazione al giorno d'oggi, a cavallo tra Boston e Londra bene) non vuole tanto farla apparire ad ogni costo decadente e/o deprecabile, quanto invece mostrarla così com'è, con pregi e difetti, opportunità e debolezze. La Segal ha abilmente operato una trasposizione dei temi e degli schemi tipici di Henry James, dall'ottocento ai giorni nostri: operazione riuscita. Finale aperto e sfumato ma non del tutto banalizzato, peccato per i numerosi refusi.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) I adored Segal’s first novel, The Innocents, a sophisticated remake of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence set in a contemporary Jewish community in London. I wasn’t as fond of this second book, but in her study of an unusual blended family the characterization is nearly as strong as in her debut. Julia Alden lost her husband to cancer five years ago. A second chance at happiness came when James Fuller, a divorced American obstetrician, came to her for piano lessons. He soon moved in with Julia and her sixteen-year-old daughter Gwen in their northwest London home, and his seventeen-year-old son, Nathan, away at boarding school during the week, came on weekends.

Julia is as ill at ease with Nathan as James is with Gwen, and the kids seem to hate each other. That is, until, on a trip to Boston for Thanksgiving with James’s ex, Gwen and Nathan fall for each other. Awkward is one way of putting it. They’re not technically step-siblings as James and Julia aren’t married, but it doesn’t sit right with the adults, and it will have unexpected consequences.

The first third or so of the book was my favorite, comparable to Jonathan Safran Foer or Jonathan Franzen. Before long the romantic comedy atmosphere tips into YA melodrama, but for me the book was saved by a handful of things: a balance of generations, with Gwen’s grandparents a delightful background presence; the eye to the past, whether it be Gwen’s late father or the occasional Jewish ritual; the Anglo-American element; and a realistic ending.

Releases May 16th.

Favorite passage: “Though Pamela [James’s British ex-wife] had not grown up with Thanksgiving, as a hostess she had nonetheless managed to capture its essence: a day on which hardworking Americans are required to spend upwards of five hours on a freeway (one way) in order to eat turkey, very late, in the twilit company of family members avoided the rest of the year.”

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a smug novel of middle class manners. Despite the family household imploding, we still have transatlantic travel, good relations with previous in-laws, ex-wives etc. It is moot whether the house of cards will tumble by unplanned 16 year old's pregnancy or missing "the" Rossini in Milan...Found it self-indulgent management of problems (by the extended family) rather than finding solutions.

A cast of largely self-centred players riven with an overblown sense of entitlement.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never wanted to scream at characters more

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh... nothing fantastic about this book and it dragged on for way too long.

[Melissa Lee-Tammeus · Rating 2 out of 5]

When my husband says, "You've been reading that book for awhile now," I know that's not a good sign. Reading this book was a bit like walking through sludge. It was long, laborious, and repeated itself repeatedly. The plot, which can be summed up it a few clipped sentences takes 358 pages to explain. Pretty sure it could have been told in much less. Spoilers: Two people - one divorced, one widowed - meet, fall in love. They both have teenagers - man has a boy, woman has a girl. They blend families. Boy and girl have a relationship. Everyone freaks out. Girl gets pregnant. Everyone freaks out. Girl has miscarriage. Everyone freaks out. Boy sleeps with someone else. Husband and son move out. No one's in love anymore. Last scene: Wife, a year later sees husband at random event. Spark still there. Walk away smiling. The End. Good grief - now that I've written it out - it actually is more contrived than I once originally thought. The freak out parts last for eons and the writing is a bit choppy. One sentence may be about one thing then suddenly we just jump to something else entirely - I found myself rereading sentences, sure I missed a transition or two, but nope. So, kudos to Segal for getting this out there, but I'm hoping The Innocents - the book that put her on the map - is better than this.

[Frabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amori diversi, tra persone mature - con i figli di precedenti matrimoni che condizionano - e tra adolescenti - con i genitori che condizionano pure, se possono. Amori che avvampano e amori che si frantumano. Amori placidi in corso e amori ormai passati. La storia di Francesca Segal (figlia dell'Erich Segal di Love Story) li intreccia tutti, questi diversi amori, proponendo nella prima parte del romanzo interessanti sviluppi, con simpatica vena umoristica; poi gli scenari diventano prevedibili, e il romanzo chiude in calando. La scrittrice comunque è giovane e merita senz'altro ulteriori attenzioni.

[TL *Humaning the Best She Can*]

I received this via Goodreads Giveaways in a exchange for an honest review. All my opinions are my own:).
----

I appreciate winning and being sent the book but I tried to read it and the print in the book is giving me a headache :( (Had a concussion in 2008 and since then small print is a no go for me.. I've had to get rid of quite a few books because of this issue and/or return em to the bookstore.)

Unfortunately, have to throw in the towel.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shelf talker: I once heard a great quote that perfectly summarizes this book: "The problem is, humans raise humans." The Awkward Age explores what happens when our different roles and identities conflict with each other, and how we all struggle to find those delicate balances that keep our relationships alive.

Segal's novel is a rather drawn out novel about what happens when an American man with a son and a British woman with a daughter who are deeply in love move in together, uniting the households. James's son Nathan believes his father and mother have an undeniable sexual bond and will end up together again, and Julia's daughter Gwen loathes James, most specifically for creating a chasm in her and her mother's relationship.

This is a novel where you don't like anyone. I generally don't mind this, to be honest, but Segal appeared (I could be wrong) to be attempting to just show how human everyone is. In reality, I felt she only created the sympathy she was aiming for for specific characters or at very specific moments, and did not succeed in making it a universal quality. Some characters remained very one dimensional (especially James and Nathan), while others really flourished as full characters, complete with motives and flaws and emotions (like Gwen and Iris). Honestly, it felt like whenever James was in a scene, it was either to think about how much he hated Gwen, to think about how perfect James was, or to physically show affection or Julia. That was it. I liked the idea of Julia's character, so weak and dependent while trying to carve an identity to, but in execution, I didn't believe her, and she felt like a caricature of the Julia Segal originally came up with.

Despite these flaws and a rather slow pace that did not help the characters who seemed only capable of having the same four thoughts on repeat, I really dug this book. I loved her parallels between relationships, I loved the variety of relationships presented and explored, I loved the contradictions and the humanity of it all. I loved when she was successful at making me feel one way toward a character when we were in their head and another way two pages later when someone else took the lead. I loved watching characters attempt to grow, struggling to shed old ways and move into new ones, and seeing them grow in some places but not others, despite the wishes of everyone else (including the reader). I loved seeing so many relationships exist in the precarious state of one or both parties taking the other for granted and following through to the inevitable problems. Most of all, I loved the exploration of what it means to be a parent and a person, that inevitability that we all play multiple roles on our lives, from caregiver to support system to lover to friend to child and back again. What identity gets our priority? Is it the one that makes us happiest, the one that we have a moral obligation to fill, or the one easiest to fill? How does an enmeshed relationship survive when someone decides to no longer be enmeshed? And how do we leave one extreme without going to the far extreme?

[Andi (A Literal Hottie) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally I wouldn't let my hating a character affect how much I like the story itself but this time it really ruined what could have been good chick lit. Julia is a terrible mother allowing Gwen to be a spoiled brat. The complicated mess that is this blended family would have or could have been much better had Julia not had a voice. What an idiot.
I suppose what I can say is that the story telling worked and moved quickly allowing me to have these strong feelings. But it should be considered a cautionary tale about what happens when your child thinks the world revolves around them.

I don't even know if I can recommend this one, I'll have to think about it some more

[Jacki (Julia Flyte) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julia was widowed five years ago and since then has been a devoted single mother to her 16 year old daughter Gwen. But when she meets American doctor James, everything changes. James moves in with Julia and Gwen, bringing his 17 year old son Daniel. Both teenagers resent their new step-parents and step-siblings, and the constant bickering is putting everyone on edge. However things get even harder on the parents when Gwen and Daniel become romantically involved.

There's a slight "ick" factor to this premise. Of course it's not incest, but it teeters on the edge of what feels morally acceptable and that of course is part of Julia and James's issue. But they also realise that the chances of a relationship between a (spoiled and immature) 16 and (marginally more mature) 17 year old enduring are close to nil, and what will it mean for the family when they split? So the parents are hell bent on separating the pair and at the same time desperately trying to retain a united front and not take sides. As Julia character observes at one point, "teenage relationships were always roller coasters, but how had the whole family ended up trapped with them on the ride?"

What I liked about this book is how good a job it does of taking you inside the heads of all the different characters: not just the central four but also other members of their families. There's lot of "meat" to the book and it would be an interesting one to discuss in a book club because everyone knows someone who is struggling with the issues of blended families in one way or another. However at the same time I found the storyline a bit dragged out and I actively disliked Gwen and eventually her doting mother Julia as well. My favourite character was Julia's former father-in-law, Philip.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kids are All Right: THE AWKWARD AGE by Francesca Segal
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...

I voluntarily reviewed an advance readers copy of this book. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions presented herein are my own except as noted.


With what is a natural protective and maternal reflex Julia has spoiled her daughter, Gwen after her husband dies. Gwen demands her mother’s utter devotion and complete attention as it is what she is accustomed to. She’s not needy she just feels entitled. You know that even as an adult, Gwen will impose upon on her mother for things like babysitting, money, etc. On the other hand, James and his ex have raised entitled and cavalier children. Gwen is perhaps cavalier too, or maybe just self-centered. Almost out of high school Nathan actually harbors a belief that his parents will get back together. When James and Julia combine their households they do so without really preparing their kids.

This is partly a coming-of-age story, only I am not sure who is coming of age, the children or the parents. There’s also a back story about Julia’s in-laws. Julia is close to them and is estranged from her own mother. It speaks to a feeling of an extended, molecular family, but I thought of that as its own story and honestly didn’t think the story of Julia’s in-laws belonged in the same book. The mother-in-law seems a real self-involved character while the father-in-law seems in decline. Both parents seem strangely blasé about their late son.

It may be partly about how “family” is constructed of truth, love, and sometimes, lies. We lie to ourselves and each other to make a family “rub along.” It was obvious to me that Nathan starts his relationship with Gwen to drive a wedge between his father and Julia. Equally obvious, except to Gwen, is his cavalier attitude.

The top line in the blurb says it all: when it comes down to it, a relationship between James and Julia, parents of pissy teens, is doomed to failure as they naturally take their own kids’ sides. I saw where it was heading but ultimately, found the parents’ behavior with their kids too insipid to really care about the outcome of the relationship. Both parents are taken in by their children and not seeing reality is a wedge a relationship has a hard time surviving. Eventually, both kids will come out on the other side, all right and could probably teach a workshop on how to manipulate parents.

Well narrated by the effervescently voiced Jayne Entwistle who totally gets all the major characters carefully. I kept seeing the characters very clearly through her voice.

Listen for a good tale of how NOT to combine households and to NOT raise privileged kids.

[Brie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is intriguing, the characters were imbued with just the right amount of whimsy, and overall it was a delightful read.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first page packs so much in so few words. It sets the rest of the novel up superbly. And then the story unfolds slowly, the meat of it sandwiched between two Christmases.

The novel struck me as so down to earth. It's universal yet so specific (as every good novel should be). It's a year in the life of a melded family. It not only takes a close look at the core family but at its varied extensions. It shows a strong mother-daughter relationship partly forged by tragedy and what happens when life steps in to interfere. What happens when the invaders are invited in by your own mother? The author brilliantly lets you see this new world from everyone concerend.

The author had an interesting writing style. I was engaged and curious about the characters but I never really felt invested in any of them. I felt more like an observer on the outside, looking in. Overall, it was a good story and good writing. It was simple and light in the telling and did have something to say without being heavy-handed. It wasn't lyrical or poetic in a way that some other novels are but it was interesting. It was universal and deep in the weeds and read a bit like nonfiction.

For most of the novel, I felt held at arms length from the characters. It felt a bit as if they were contained within the pages and never quite leapt into three dimensions. And then the author led me toward the end of the book and I felt heartbreak. Because of how the author constructed the book, the fall felt harder and the break more palbable. Stunning. The ending felt real and open-ended as life itself.

This novel is about many things but at its core I think it's about the magical thinking that love sometimes invites, whether it be first love or second love or hundredth love. It's also about endings and beginnings that can be counted as blessings and curses to all Involved. It's about control and losing it and finally having to admit that total control of anyone or any situation is a fairy tale. It's also about the lies we tell ourselves and how they shadow the lies we tell others about ourselves and our life and about love. It's about who your people are and what happens when the one person you have made your world about abandons you. It's about the polite lies we tell, when we say everything is fine when in fact it is not. And from that the crevice that forms when we don't feel safe enough to say what we really feel or think and how that can become the new normal.

[Laura Spira · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest I didn't expect to like this book. I didn't like Francesca Segal's previous book, The Innocents, and was surprised that it received awards and plaudits. But reviews of this book tempted me. It proved to be perfect reading for a couple of wakeful hours in the middle of a very hot night.

The story deals with Julia, a widowed piano teacher, and James, a divorced American obstetrician, attempting to create a blended family with their teenage children, Gwen, Julia's daughter and Nathan, James' son. Initially resenting each other, the teenagers embark on a doomed love affair. I think that Segal captures teenage emotion very credibly: both Gwen and Nathan are unattractive in the way that teenagers often are but the reader gets a sense that they will turn into sensible adults eventually. Gwen's emotional ups and downs have been tolerated by her mother on the basis of their shared grief for the loss of her father and it was inevitable that Julia finding a new partner would affect their relationship. Segal explores this with sensitivity.

The peripheral characters are interesting. Pamela, James' ex-wife is something of a caricature but Philip and Iris, Julia's in-laws, are well drawn (although I found it odd that Iris referred to Philip using both his first name and surname). They are realistically supportive to Julia and Gwen through the period covered by the story, while their own relationship faces some challenges.

Segal writes well and evokes the atmosphere of north-west London very clearly. But, although more well-rounded characters than in Segal's previous book, these people seem to exist in a bubble. Maybe life in Hampstead and Gospel Oak is like this but the outside world hardly impinges on them and money is clearly no object. They are able to spend a great deal of their time examining themselves and their relationships and this overwhelming sense of solipsism prevents the reader from engaging with them with any real interest.

(I received an ARC from Netgalley.)

[Christopher Hicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

At times I literally hated this book but I’m glad I finished it. None of these characters had any redeeming qualities and were just all together horrible people. It makes me sad to think people like this truly exist in this world. I was kinda bummed by the ending because it was setting it up for something really good then it just fizzled. It’s like the author finally got bored with writing and just added the last chapter as an afterthought. I was originally going to give it three stars but gave it two because of the ending. I am glad it’s over and I’m done with these characters (with the exception of Philip Alden and Joan. They were lovely people)

[Meredith Hines-Dochterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a 3.5.

This is one of those books where the premise was better than the actual story. Shifting points of view allowed a glimpse into the major players so I was sympathetic to nearly everyone at one point or another, no matter how annoying they were in an earlier chapter. Blended families are full of drama and theirs is no exception.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Precise, gifted writing elevates this novel many levels beyond what might otherwise seem a melodramatic plot. It's hard not to be a touch affected emotionally reading it as a parent, wondering if your own rose-tinted glasses could ever lead to similar repercussions.

[Becky Ginther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. For the first 1/3 of this book I really enjoyed it. The second 1/3 annoyed me because I didn't like the direction the author decided to take it in. And then the last 1/3 just felt rather unnecessary and it was clear that the story had started to drag on.

The Awkward Age is a family story about different types of families trying to co-exist in harmony. Julia's husband passed away two years ago, leaving her with a 16 year old daughter named Gwen. James is divorced and his ex-wife Pamela lives in America with their college-age daughter who goes to school there, while he is left in England to raise their 17 year old son Nathan. Julia and James fall in love and decide to start a life together. They know that throwing two teenagers together who are used to living alone will be difficult, and sure enough Gwen and Nathan can't stand each other. Both miss having their parents to themselves.

Of course when you throw two teenagers together they might hate each other, or they might do the opposite. Which is obviously what happens with Gwen and Nathan. I'm not going to get too into spoilers without hiding content (which I'll do later in this review), but this was the part of the book I found interesting and compelling. I thought it took a really interesting moral/debatable topic and could have explored it a lot. If two adults are dating there is nothing illegal or technically "wrong" about their children getting together. They aren't related and they haven't grown up together in a family environment. Yet there are obviously some things that could be issues in this relationship - what happens if (when) they break up? What are the ramifications of their parents moving in together (and taking them along with them)? Would it be different if the kids were older and adults themselves?

I did some research and actually found lots of stories online about successful people in this situation, which was really interesting to read. There were some cases where the reverse happened too - two people got married and then their single parents met because of them and ended up getting together. As you can probably guess, there are a lot of ways this relationship could go and how people react to it. Unfortunately, it felt like this book took the opinion that the relationship was unequivocally wrong. Interestingly enough, the grandparents involved seemed more open to it than the parents, though they also ultimately disapproved.

Fairly major spoilers will occur in the rest of this review.

So that's the part of the book I found interesting - when I thought they were going to head in that direction. I don't see it as a black and white issue like it was presented, and that was disappointing to me. And the author then chose a plot line that "justified"that view when she had Gwen get pregnant. The kids kept insisting they were "adults." But obviously Julia and James should have done whatever it took to keep them apart because look what happened.

Through Gwen's pregnancy there is a lot of frustration from everyone else involved - Julia, James, and Nathan. They seem to blame everything on allowing this relationship to occur. Yet if Gwen had gotten pregnant by any other boyfriend she would be dealing with all of the same issues that were focused on. The plot felt like it was less about that relationship and more about "pregnant teenager" troubles at that point.

There's also a weirdly blase attitude towards abortion. From the beginning everyone was kind of like, "well this is unfortunate but let's just fix it." Even Gwen is on board to fix it until she gets pissed off at her mother, and then decides to keep the baby to make her mad. Which eventually turns into wanting the baby. The grandmother and mother discuss how this happens to plenty of teenage girls but they're able to take care of it and go on to have normal lives. You know, totally ignoring the mental and emotional repercussions of an abortion. But at this point it's basically turned into a soap opera, so if you guessed "miscarriage" up next in the drama, you'd be correct. That's a good way to not have the plot of your novel explore the whole pregnancy, but also not have to figure out a way to get your characters to reach a reasonable resolution.

And yet somehow the plot just keeps going on. Gwen and Nathan stay together through this. But then Nathan doesn't get the grades on his finals that he needs to get into Oxford and totally blames Gwen for it (who by the way had pretty much more or less left him alone to study). Hmm, how to end this story though? Oh, let's just have Nathan cheat on Gwen and have Julia and James witness it. Cheating, with his older sister's best friend too. Can't just be some random girl, gotta be as dramatic as possible. And of course because of this Julia and James realize how much they hate they other's kid, and they break up.

The characters were all so unlikable. Julia was unbearable. She insisted she had lived her whole life for Gwen, but she seemed so selfish. When her daughter tells her in tears that she's pregnant her first reaction is how it affects her and her relationship in James. I think Gwen knows she messed up at this point but Julia scolds her and lectures her for doing it. It's no wonder your daughter is so messed up. Gwen is another unlikable character. She's used to getting everything she wants from her mom, but at the same time her mom is treating her too much like an adult. Gwen is clearly very emotional, but there's no one to provide real emotional support (which is why she turns to Nathan). James is mostly just boring, and Nathan's character seems a bit all over the place. The author tries to sell Nathan as not caring about other people and only working hard at school, but given how much he actually stayed with Gwen and put up with the whole craziness that resulted from that relationship, I think a little more needs to be said about his character than what it was given.

Basically if you're looking for some cheesy, over the top family drama, perhaps as a good beach read, this will work very well. And once I could accept it for that I enjoyed it well enough, the way I enjoy trashy reality television. But if you're looking for some real insight into relationships and family struggles, this is not going to be the book to do that.

Oh, and I listened to this on audiobook. It was beautifully narrated by Jane Entwistle, who is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Though it was kind of amusing to listen to some her American accents.

[rye · Rating 3 out of 5]

family issues, heartache, lies, sex, and more is brought up in this interesting book.

18-year-old Gwen (Gwendolyn) and get mum lived with her father Daniel in the U.K, until he sadly passed away years ago. Gwen thought her mum was too old to date after 50, but enter James- 55 year old American with a 17-year-old son, Nathan. While the two lovebirds are falling deeply into love, the two kids are constantly teasing, nagging, bickering, and literally fighting each other.

when the four of them take a trip to Boston, James's last home, an unexpected night changes Gwen and Nathan's relationship drastically. As their lives all change from one big secret the two kids share, it tests the limit of their family they've both started to love.

honestly, i thought this book was easy for me to DNF, and quite frankly, i almost did. i had to have a 2 hour reading session to finish it in class, and i got pretty bored.

this book was not like the usual ones i read, and the topic of kids with unmarried couples and dating kind of weirded me out just a lil bit.

overall, it wasn't special, kind of boring and not my favorite i'll remember for years to come. loves the topic of teen pregnancy and having Gwen to hate on a lot.

wouldn't recommend to read.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ne znam što ima ovako nisku ocenu. Knjiga je sasvim solidna, ili je meni u ovom trenutku leglo ovako nešto.

Porodična dramica, možda za nijansu malo više melodrame u drugom delu, ali sasvim fino. Najviše su me deca nervirala, tačnije Gven. Ali mi se mnogo dopao stil pisanja autorke, i možda pročitam još nešto njeno.

Preporučila bih ovo svima koji vole porodične drame i priče o bračnim odnosima gde ne cvetaju uvek ruže.

[Xenja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho scelto questo libro dopo aver letto sui giornali due recensioni molto lusinghiere, e per fortuna, perché la stupida e frivola copertina, alla faccia della spocchia degli editori che insistono con il loro eterno “al marketing ci pensiamo noi” mi avrebbe fatto scappare. La figlia di Segal ha superato il padre: è un bel romanzo, molto attuale, che rispecchia fedelissimamente la nostra società, i nostri rapporti familiari e amorosi, così come sono ora, a Londra e negli USA non diversamente che in Italia, dove veniamo accusati di iperprottetività. Finezza psicologica, empatia, realismo. La storia è semplice: James e Julia si innamorano a cinquant'anni in modo così travolgente da decidere di vivere insieme. Ma entrambi hanno un figlio adolescente. Qualcuno di voi ricorderà, sullo stesso soggetto, la serie tv per ragazzi “Kebab a colazione”: anche lì, il figlio e la figlia adolescente, prima si odiano, poi si innamorano. Ma solo lo spunto è uguale, solo lo spunto è divertente: perché questa situazione sfocia in un enorme disastro. Chi ha ragione e chi ha torto? Quello che più mi ha colpito è l'amore sconfinato e incondizionato da cui sono avvolti, come un bozzolo, questi due adolescenti tutt'altro che perfetti. Per proteggerli dalla sofferenza noi genitori faremmo qualunque cosa; per farli ammettere a Oxford venderemmo il braccio destro. Cosa è successo, perché i figli sono diventati per noi così importanti, così determinanti? Se qualcuno l'ha capito, ce lo dica: perché non ci si raccapezza più.

[Marlee Waldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a very interesting story— always made me want to know what will happen next. It had elevated vocabulary and a beautiful descriptive way to share every detail. I thought that each character was honest and real and multifaceted. Not my favorite book ever but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m glad I came across it

[Elizabeth Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not perfect, but five stars because it just...moved me and it was so dramatic and I could. not. put. it. down.

Oh my heart. This book grabbed it.

[Stephmo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Characters set my teeth on edge. I despised the bratty teens and found the resolution of their impending development to be far too convenient and lazy. I did not enjoy this book.

[Elizabeth Owens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hated all the characters and the end was meh.