Wednesday, September 2, 2020

DNF Chronicles #2: Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth

About the Book

Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth
Published by Gallery/Scout Press on August 18, 2020

GoodReads Description

Fleabag meets Conversations with Friends in this brutally honest, observant, original novel about a woman going through a breakup…but really having more of a breakdown.

Jenny McLaine’s life is falling apart. Her friendships are flagging. Her body has failed her. She’s just lost her column at The Foof because she isn’t the fierce voice new feminism needs. Her ex has gotten together with another woman. And worst of all: Jenny’s mother is about to move in. Having left home at eighteen to remake herself as a self-sufficient millennial, Jenny is now in her thirties and nothing is as she thought it would be. Least of all adulthood.

Told in live-wire prose, texts, emails, script dialogue, and social media messages, Grown Ups is a neurotic dramedy of 21st-century manners for the digital age. It reckons with what it means to exist in a woman’s body: to sing and dance and work and mother and sparkle and equalize and not complain and be beautiful and love your imperfections and stay strong and show your vulnerability and bake and box…

But, despite our impossible expectations of women, Emma Jane Unsworth never lets Jenny off the hook. Jenny’s life is falling apart at her own hands and whether or not she has help from her mother or her friends, Jenny is the only one who will be able to pick up the pieces and learn how to, more or less, grow up. Or will she?

I didn't like this book because...

  1. I was absolutely annoyed by the main character after the first chapter.  I found her rather dull and unintelligent.
  2. I believe that there is much more to women in their thirties than this book represents.  I felt like it paints a bleak picture of what young girls have to look forward to.
  3. Unsworth tries desperately to be funny.  Unfortunately, I felt like this fell short of its mark.  

To maintain complete honesty, there is a good chance that all three of my reasons for disliking this book change/improve over the course of the novel.  I was so frustrated and annoyed by Jenny, however, that I did not read past the 30th page.

In the future...

I would be interested to read other books by this author, but I will never be interested in reading this one.