Modern Lovers is about a group of close friends, navigating college, adulthood, friendship, marriage, family, and children. Sounds like a recipe for a good book. But.....it wasn't. In my opinion this was a book about a bunch of self-absorbed, shallow, annoying, hipsters.
Zoe and her wife, Jane, are going through a mid-life crisis. Their teenage daughter, Ruby, doesn't want to go to college and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. While Zoe and Jane contemplating divorce, their next door neighbors and best friends, Elizabeth and Andrew "think" they have a happy marriage but of course they don't. Their son, Harry, is bursting with hormones and has a crush on Ruby. There are several subplots, but the central focus is on the two families. Their problems were just plain BORING! I wanted to stop reading this, but I persuaded my co-workers to read this for our book club. So I felt an obligation to finish reading this book.
The characters are not likeable or relatable. Zoe doesn't always know what she wants, despite having everything she needs right in front of her. Jane is a workaholic. Ruby is a know-it-all brat. Harry is a lovesick puppy. Andrew is a gullible slacker, nearly losing thousands of dollars to a scam artist. Elizabeth spends too much time inserting herself into Zoe's life and marriage to realize her own problems. All of this could have been interesting, but nothing really happens. Any conflict gets wrapped up into a neat little bow at the end, but real life just isn't like that. This book was just so blah! If that makes sense!
Rating: Meh
That is so disappointing! I read another one of her novels, The Vacationers, and I liked it enough - however, it was also about Rich White People Problems. I'm sensing a theme with her novels...
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