Book Review: "Writers & Lovers" by Lily King
“Writers & Lovers” by Lily King
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Publisher Synopsis: Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with another instant New York Times bestseller: 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, moldy 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 onto 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 humor, 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.
Trigger Warnings: grief
Rating (out of 5): 4.5
Review: This was a March Book of the Month pick for me, and I probably started reading it 3 separate times during the first month of quarantine. You know, when I couldn’t focus on anything other than rom coms (books and/or movies) or Instagram.
Luckily, my ability to focus has drastically improved; while I wouldn’t say I’m used to quarantine, it’s definitely the new normal at this point. So, on the Tuesday after Memorial Day, when I had an extra day off thanks to the company I work for, I sat on my roof for 6 hours and finished one book and read an entire one. “Writers & Lovers” was the latter.
This book was a beautifully written coming of age story of a 31-year-old woman who is deep in mourning for her late mother. She’s heavily in debt, works as a waitress in a Cambridge restaurant, and is basically floundering while she attempts to finish the novel she’s been writing for 6 years. Oh, and it’s 1997, so the story isn’t reliant on technology. There are just some subtle pop culture nods (that in no way hit you over the head) that, if you’re my age, you may find famliar but still need to Google (Casey Kasem).
Written in the first person, we get a glimpse into the mind of Casey Peabody as she visits old haunts in Boston, makes mental notes to call her mother, remembers her mother is dead, and deals with old friends who want her to travel to Italy for a wedding. She’s truly at such a low point in life, and being inside her head while she navigates this, you can’t help but root for her.
While she does start dating two drastically different men, the love story isn’t the main one here. It’s about Casey coming to terms with her grief while she finds her voice and inspiration. King’s prose is so beautiful, I found myself not wanting the novel to end, just to stay in Casey’s world a bit longer, even with her struggles.
TL;DR: A beautifully written coming of age story of a woman struggling through the grief of losing her mother while attempting to build a life that allows her to do the one thing she truly loves—write.
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