Writers & Lovers: A Novel
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"I loved this book not just from the first chapter or the first page but from the first paragraph... The voice is just so honest and riveting and insightful about creativity and life." --Curtis Sittenfeld
An extraordinary new novel of art, love, and ambition from Lily King, the New York Times bestselling author of Euphoria
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.
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Community Reviews
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
324 pages
What’s it about?
Casey is in her early thirties and still struggling to finish her first novel. She waits tables in Harvard Square as she recovers from her mother's unexpected death and a brief love affair. She is burdened by grief, anxiety, and debt but she continues to try to write. "I liked reading, but I was picky about books. I think the enthusiasm came when I started writing. Then I understood how hard it is to re-create in words what you see and feel in your head."
What did it make me think about?
I was overwhelmed by the beauty of this book. This is a novel for those that love the written word. However it is also about so much more. "I squat there and think about how you get trained early on as a woman to perceive how others are perceiving you, at the great expense of what you yourself are feeling about them." So many small revelations- so much hope.
Should I read it?
The first novel I read by Lily King was "The Pleasing Hour" and I have not missed any of her books since. For some reason I have been putting this one off. Shame on me! I am sure "Writers & Lovers" has an autobiographical element to it, and for that reason alone I would love to get stuck in an elevator with Lily King one day!
Quote-
"Nearly every guy I've dated believed they should already be famous, believed that greatness was their destiny and they were already behind schedule. An early moment of intimacy often involved a confession of this sort: a childhood vision, teacher's prophesy, a genius IQ. At first, with my boyfriend in college, I believed it, too. Later, I thought I was just choosing delusional men. Now I understand it's how boys are raised to think, now they are lured into adulthood. I've met ambitious women, driven women, but no woman has ever told me that greatness was her destiny."
"I just nodded. I wish I had been awful to her that day. I wind I'd thrown my food and screamed vile things at her. I wish she'd dug all my feelings out of me. Maybe I'd be better at saying them now."
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I love a good read about grief and passion. I wasn’t prepared for how close to home this would hit.
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