A modern love story

Let me just start off by saying I love books that come full circle and this one certainly does.

Arching over the course of one hazy summer, Modern Lovers by Emma Straub tells the story of two families in Brooklyn who have been friends since the parents were all indie rock stars in college together.

I felt like the premise was original (cool rock stars turned disillusioned parents with teenage kids discovering themselves) but the story still solidly relatable by pulling together common themes like love, maturity, and friendship.

For a while in the middle, the book takes a very "life is pointless and you're just going to end up bored, depressed, and married to probably the wrong person" outlook which bummed me out. Is that all I have to look forward to? Are my millennial dreams of reaching the stars pointless? But things do turn out relatively happy and resolved in the end. The book also makes the point that things are never all bad or all good all at once. Things happen in phases and seasons and together, the melancholy and the sanguine make the mixing bowl of life.

I've already reviewed another book by Emma Straub, The Vacationers, so check it out!