Y’all. I love Emma Straub as a person and author. She is adorable in her online presence, and visiting her bookstore is on my bucket list. Plus, her writing style is perfection. She truly gets people and captures the most intricate nuances in her characters and settings. All Adults Here is another great example of her ability to create stories that are as real as anything you will come across in your everyday life.
The thing is, while I can appreciate just how well Ms. Straub writes and how amazing her stories are, including her newest book, I realized once and for all that I don’t like to read family dramas. They do nothing for me. In fact, they make me feel uncomfortable as if I am a total creeper voyeur spying on someone else’s life. Plus, they don’t help me escape my own life when I read. Parental drama makes me think about my own parents. Sibling drama makes me think about my brother. It is the exact opposite of why I read.
I am someone who reads to escape, so I want worlds that are unfamiliar, lives so not like mine as to be foreign. Ms. Straub in All Adults Here does not provide me with that. Her setting of a fictional town in New York feels universal and could be any small town in America. Similarly, the Strick family is normal, filled with the same doubts, bad choices, trauma, secrets, and flaws that make up any family. It isn’t escapism so much as it is a confirmation and potential comfort that you are not alone in your family’s weirdness or issues.
I get why such novels are popular, and I truly believe that All Adults Here is a gorgeous story. Unfortunately, it did nothing for me, and I was really happy when I finished it so that I could move onto something weird and fantastical. But this is me. Fans of such dramas are going to go ga-ga over this novel, and rightly so.
I often find books that are out of my usual comfort zone will make me wonder why I avoid those kinds of books in the first place. But more often I’m reminded that my comfort zone is my comfort zone for a reason; the are the books that give me what I need. We really should be ok with saying what you’ve said here – I get it but it’s not for me.
I’ll keep reading family dramas because those that I do like are done so well. I am getting pickier in my reading choices though, so I am learning, albeit slowly!
Not my thing either. I try (why?) but inevitably find myself bored and I usually DNF. Why bother, I guess?
I keep trying because there are so many family dramas that win accolades within the industry. I don’t want to miss out on a book that could be a life-altering experience. Unfortunately, most of the time I feel like I would be happier having not read it.
Hahahhah, I understand this completely. I periodically dip back into genres that I know aren’t for me, only to find that they continue to not be for me. Family dramas just aren’t my thing, especially if they are multigenerational. 😛
I keep trying, and I don’t know why. I should just give up, but then I feel like I miss so many good books. Not that I need more books to read. It’s so stupid.
HI, I like the look. Sorry if that means I haven’t’ stopped by here lately. Or not enough to remember what I should have noticed?! (sorry!) And you’ll have to write me and tell me about the abrupt job thing! and I’ll write first. You want some pie recipes, RIGHT? of course you do!
But of course! I don’t think I have your current address, so shoot me a note and I’ll fill you in on all the deets!
You do, too! We’re going on our 3rd year here! (can you believe it!?!? I’ve lived in RI longer than we were in NC. which is SO WEIRD
I wasn’t certain if you were in the same apartment or not!! And no, I cannot believe you have been in RI that long. Where does the time go?
I laughed a bit when I read your thoughts here. I like some family drama occasionally, but I really have to be in the mood for it. Probably for much of the same reasons you listed. I prefer a ‘nice’ murder puzzle – which always kind of shocks people when I say that or so my husband tells me. Though he does agree that I’m in a much better mood when I’m reading about an intricate and probably gory crime investigation. Wonder what’s wrong with me? LOL
You like murder puzzles. I like dark fantasy. We like what we like!