I’ve never read any Lily King before, though I’ve had her novel Euphoria on my TBR for ages. This book appealed to me – partly because of the books on the cover, partly because of the title, and then a little bit because of the blurb. Having meant to try Lily King, this seemed as good a place as any to start, so I picked up a copy. Then it showed up in my round for The BookTube Prize, and so I was excited to get around to it.
This is the story of a youngish woman, Casey, who has recently lost her mom, had a difficult breakup and is so deeply in debt that she is living in a garden shed while working at a restaurant. But what she really wants is to be a writer. She has been working on her novel for years, picking away at it in the mornings between work and taking her landlord’s dog for a walk for a break in her rent. It’s coming along, albeit very slowly.
Casey inhabits a space most people who grew into early adulthood in the past three decades will be very familiar with. Those who went to university usually ended up carrying a mountain of debt. Many never managed to find lucrative careers that employed that education, and therefore continue to slave away in the service industry while either living with roommates well past the age where it becomes intolerable, or are back living with family. Not only is this a demoralizing result of some seriously hard work, but it leads to a feeling of being rudderless and adrift in a world that is not at all what you were promised it would be. This book is set in the 1990s, so Casey is amongst the beginning of this lost generation, and she epitomizes what it would become.
Partly because of the stress of her job and debt, Casey has been unable to properly grieve for the loss of her mother. She is haunted by memories of her, and finds herself gripped by grief at various points in her day, rendering her incapable of simple tasks like breathing in and out. Her relationship with her mother wasn’t a simple one, but the loss has left her essentially parentless as her relationship with her father is difficult.
Casey faces various challenges throughout the novel. She has to face the possibility of failure at her chosen vocation, she has to contend with changes in her living and working situations, medical scares, and some very complex relationship decisions. She is challenged at nearly every turn, and is also forced to deal with some horrible people who either want to take advantage of her or just couldn’t care less about her. She has to find a way to keep going when all is lost, and she has to figure out how to grow up in a world determined to undermine any semblance of adulthood she grasps at.
I could relate to a lot of aspects of this book. I still haven’t figured out my place in the world, and I’m no spring chicken. I also ended up overeducated and underemployed. I had some horrible jobs with difficult co-workers and even more challenging bosses. I had to deal with being broke for over a decade and working six days a week just to keep a roof over my head and cheap noodles in the cupboard. This all felt uncomfortably familiar, as did some of the fairly awful relationship confusions she experiences (mine weren’t the same, but they felt equally confusing and overwhelming).
Despite the familiarity of the landscape in this novel, I didn’t feel a strong emotional connection. I wanted to know what would happen, but I found it took longer to get there than I would have liked, and when I put it down I sometimes had to push myself to pick it up again. I’m glad I read it, but I’m not about to eagerly push it into the hands of everyone I know. I’m not sure if I’ll try any of King’s other books – having studied anthropology I am still curious about Euphoria – but this didn’t rule it out. I think if you have a little more patience than I do and enjoy quiet books that focus on the emotional evolution of its characters or have an interest in books that feature coming of adulthood stories, this might be right up your street. It was in my neighbourhood, but maybe a block or two over. Definitely worth trying!
An extraordinary new novel of art, love and ambition from Lily King, the New York Times–bestselling author of Euphoria , which sold over 400,000 copies in North America.
Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.
Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, mouldy room at the side of a garage, where she works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching on to something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink.
Writers & Lovers follows Casey—a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist—in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis.Written with King’s trademark humour, heart and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another. – Goodreads
Book Title:Â Writers & Lovers
Author:Â Lily King
Series:Â No
Edition:Â Hardback/Audiobook
Published By:Â HarperCollins Publishers
Released:Â March 3, 2020
Genre:Â Fiction, Grief, Career Uncertainty, Debt
Pages:Â 336
Date Read:Â April 11-May 1, 2021
Rating: 6/10
Average Goodreads Rating:Â 4.08/5 (63,562 ratings)
My BookTube Prize Ranking:Â 5th out of 6