It’s strange, to not be the youngest kind of adult anymore.
I’m thirty-one now, and my mother is dead.
A realistic ode to the profession of working with words, Lily King uses the life of 31-year-old Casey to bring a writer’s struggles to life.
It is 1997 and Casey Peabody is floundering. She’s waiting tables in Harvard Square to make ends meet and going on her sixth year of writing a novel when she meets Oscar, which is complicating because she’s already met Silas. Although there is an entanglement of romantic interests, the novel focuses more on Casey’s life as she perseveres in her writing while grappling with the unexpected loss of her mother and the other realities of life that come with being thirty-one.
I, for one, found the love triangle refreshing. It was not another case of two amazing but complicated men vying for the attention of one seemingly quirky and unnoticed protagonist (who, in reality, is by all accounts beautiful and unrealistically single). Instead, King provides a jerky, authentic sequence of events enacted by flawed and original characters.
My only real complaint is the length. I’d have happily kept living in Casey’s world, learning about the fascinating individuals in her sphere of orbit and following her a bit longer down her newest career venture, but the novel just stops. There are so many facets that feel noticed but not developed – a child golf prodigy, crippling student loans, a peeping-tom in the family, a relationship that has wrecked her but is only halfheartedly referenced – and it leaves the narrative feeling a bit rushed, especially toward the end.
Even thought the ending felt abrupt, it was wrapped up in an incredibly tidy fashion. I can forgive King for the novel ending in a neat bow because of the authentic characters and struggles she provides throughout. Writing about writing can seem like a cliché, but King made it feel unique and pertinent to Casey’s life and the world she inhabits.
Personal rating: 7.5/10
Recommend? Yes, I thought it was light and refreshing
Re-read? Maybe
Time: 1:48