Modern Lovers

Starred review from March 14, 2016
Back in the 1980s at Oberlin College, in Ohio, Elizabeth, Andrew, Zoe, and Lydia had a band called Kitty’s Mustache. Elizabeth wrote a song called “Mistress of Myself”; Lydia sang it and made it famous, but she died of a heroin overdose at age 27. Two decades later, Elizabeth and Andrew are married and have a son, Harry. Living nearby in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park neighborhood are Zoe and her wife, Jane, with their daughter, Ruby. They own a neighborhood restaurant called Hyacinth. Midlife crises are roiling both marriages: Zoe and Jane are considering divorce; Andrew, the scion of wealthy parents, has never held a meaningful job and is now bemoaning his failure to find fulfillment, and Elizabeth sells real estate in Ditmas and feels responsible for everyone. To further complicate matters, teenagers Harry and Ruby suddenly discover sex. Into this volatile mix comes a Hollywood producer who’s making a movie about Lydia and urgently needs the former band members to sign over their rights to the iconic song. Straub (The Vacationers) spins her lighthearted but psychologically perceptive narrative with a sure touch as she captures the vibes of midlife, middle-class angst and the raging hormones of youth. Straub excels in establishing a sense of place: the narrative could serve as a map to gentrified Brooklyn; it’s that detailed and visually clear. Events move at a brisk pace, and surprises involving resurgent passion enliven the denouement. Readers will devour this witty and warmly satisfying novel. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME Entertainment.

Starred review from May 15, 2016
Middle-aged parents and hormone-addled teenagers all have some growing up to do--entertainingly--in the course of one hot Brooklyn summer. Straub's last novel, The Vacationers (2014), took place on Mallorca and was a perfect vacation between two covers. Her new book is set in a grittier locale, but in Straub's fond gaze, it too feels like an enchanted land out of a Shakespearan comedy: "Ditmas Park was great in the summertime. The sycamores and oaks were full and wide, leaving big pools of shade along the sidewalks. Families were on their porches...Neighbors waved." She takes us inside two of the area's rambling yet run-down Victorian houses and introduces their owners: Elizabeth, a real estate agent, and Andrew, whose family trust has allowed him to get to his late 40s without much of a career, and their sweet son, Harry; and Zoe and Jane, who own a busy restaurant and live with their daughter, Ruby, who describes herself as having a "bad attitude." Years ago, Elizabeth, Andrew, and Zoe were in a band together at Oberlin, which would have been completely forgotten except that their fourth band mate, Lydia, had a smash hit as a solo artist with one of Elizabeth's songs, "Mistress of Myself," before dying of an overdose. Now Hollywood has come calling, wanting to make a movie about Lydia, but for some reason Andrew doesn't want to sell their rights to the song. Meanwhile, Zoe thinks she wants a divorce, Harry and Ruby start sleeping together when they're supposed to be studying for the SAT, Andrew is hanging out at a creepy yoga studio, and Elizabeth frets that their idyllic life might be changing and tries to hold them all together. In chapters whose points of view rotate among the players, Straub pays close and loving attention to what foods her characters eat, what they have hanging on their walls, where their money comes from and goes, and the subtle fluctuations of their varying relationships. She's a precise and observant writer whose supple prose carries the story along without a snag. Straub's characters are a quirky and interesting bunch, well aware of their own good fortune, and it's a pleasure spending time with them in leafy Ditmas Park.

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Starred review from April 15, 2016
Back at Oberlin, ages ago, Elizabeth, Andrew, Zoe, and Lydia were bandmates enjoying their heady, collegiate microfame as Kitty's Mustache, until they graduated and moved on. Among them, Lydia rocketed out highest and fastest, getting famous and dying at age 27. Now a Hollywood producer wants to buy the group's life-rights for a forthcoming Lydia biopic, and Elizabeth and Andrew, wife and husband, are on opposite sides of the issue. Further down the Brooklyn block, marital woes have Zoe and her wife, Jane, out to sea, too, as they wonder if they should stay together, and what will happen to their restaurant and beloved old Victorian home if they don't. Added to the pile of worries is the budding relationship between Elizabeth and Andrew's son, Harry, and Zoe and Jane's recent high-school graduate, Ruby, teens who practically grew up together. As their puzzles come together, become more complicated, and begin to resolve, we see Straub's fortysomethings fascinated by their alien children (irresistible characters), by the speed at which their own youth is leaving them, and by the absurdities of their various decades-long partnerships. As in her smash-hit The Vacationers (2013), Straub's handful of characters, followed with alternating close third-person narratives, are honestly and devilishly observed with clarity and kindness.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2016

We all grow up and grow old, as friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth, Andrew, and Zoe learn in this new novel from the author of The Vacationers. Elizabeth once snarled, Andrew had chin-length hair, and Zoe was the hot, untouchable lesbian, but now they're nearly 50 and residents of upscaling Brooklyn, and it's their children who are cutting loose. Adult life has never looked so confusing to them, and then there's the fourth band member who can never be recovered.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016

An engaging story of shifting relationships, Straub's third novel (The Vacationers; Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures) focuses on Elizabeth, Andrew, and Zoe, who have been friends since their college days. They now live close to one another in a gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood. But it's been years since college, and they are all facing midlife reassessments. Elizabeth throws herself into her work, Andrew finds his way to a local commune, and Zoe considers divorce. Meanwhile, their children start sleeping together. All the secrets from those long-ago college days begin to surface when a movie company shows up asking about the fourth member of their briefly successful college band--Lydia, who went on to fame without them, and died young. Sprinkled with humor and insight, this is a Brooklyn novel with heart. Straub's characters are well rounded and realistic; even the teenagers are sympathetic. Zoe's wife, Jane, is a chef, and her love of food adds to the sensory appeal of the book. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy domestic dramas built around the small moments of life. [See Prepub Alert, 12/7/15.]--Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2016

An engaging story of shifting relationships, Straub's third novel (The Vacationers; Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures) focuses on Elizabeth, Andrew, and Zoe, who have been friends since their college days. They now live close to one another in a gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood. But it's been years since college, and they are all facing midlife reassessments. Elizabeth throws herself into her work, Andrew finds his way to a local commune, and Zoe considers divorce. Meanwhile, their children start sleeping together. All the secrets from those long-ago college days begin to surface when a movie company shows up asking about the fourth member of their briefly successful college band--Lydia, who went on to fame without them, and died young. Sprinkled with humor and insight, this is a Brooklyn novel with heart. Straub's characters are well rounded and realistic; even the teenagers are sympathetic. Zoe's wife, Jane, is a chef, and her love of food adds to the sensory appeal of the book. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy domestic dramas built around the small moments of life. [See Prepub Alert, 12/7/15.]--Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.