Modern Lovers is one of those novels that doesn’t deal with anything new or over the top exciting, but is still very difficult to put down. It’s full of domestic drama – relationships, work life and teenage angst – that takes place over the summer. There are multiple characters with their own issues, big and small. I found it fascinating, perhaps due to Emma Straub’s skills in crafting the world and concerns of her characters.

The story is about three old university friends; Elizabeth, Andrew and Zoe who live within a stone’s throw of each other in a neighbourhood of Brooklyn. Elizabeth and Andrew are married to each other and live with teenage sone Harry. He’s very well behaved; Andrew is a drifter, unable to stick with a job likely due to family money. Elizabeth is a real estate agent – it’s not a forever job, but she’s good at it. Zoe works with wife Jane at their local restaurant and tears her hair out at their daughter Ruby, who is rebellious and doesn’t look like she’s going to college in the fall. What binds the three together is not only their friendship, but that they co-wrote a song that defined a generation. Now a movie is being made of former bandmate Lydia’s life and they are being asked to sign over the rights. But this summer, that’s not their biggest problem. Harry and Ruby fall in love and get in trouble. Jane and Zoe are on the brink of divorce. Andrew falls in with a yoga group slash cult and Elizabeth tries to hold it together for everyone until secrets from the past spill out. It’s messy with big and small dramas.

The characters of Modern Lovers aren’t always endearing. In fact, they all have something that is irritating on various levels. Rather than detract away from my enjoyment of the story, it added to it. The characters (and their creator) aren’t afraid to act foolishly, stupidly or be obstinate just because. There are some complex interactions, made more tricky because of each character’s inherent biases and nature. I quite liked Elizabeth and Zoe, who both had different ways of dealing with things. Andrew, with his aimless wanderings, unhindered by a job or money worries, was grating because of his lack of knowledge of how the world actually worked. He came across as more of a caricature than the other adults.

At the heart, Modern Lovers is about relationships. Old love and new love, love that’s wearing thin and love that’s growing. It’s never constant, with the characters getting frustrated with each other and their younger selves. Brooklyn also acts as an anchoring character, with each character having strong ties to their local area and reluctance to move on. It’s not a book with a fast paced plot, rather a gentle exploration of interactions between and within generations.

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I enjoyed this story of two couples who are approaching 50 and having mid-life/mid-marriage crisis. Three of the four people have known one another since college and lots of things come up from their past to confuse their present. Meanwhile their very different children start to get very close to one another.

I was expecting a funny romance because of the cover (and I knew nothing else about the book) but it's nothing like that but it's probably better. ( )

This story sorta about a movie is like watching a forgettable movie that's trying to be trendy. ( )

It was a tone down or fluffy version of Daisy Jones and the Six. I listened to the book and was interested, but not as good as one of her other books I just read Time After Tomorrow, I believe. ( )

Spoiler alert: the cat does not die.

And that was probably the most emotional this book made me. ( )