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The Grown Ups: A Novel
The Grown Ups: A Novel
The Grown Ups: A Novel
Audiobook11 hours

The Grown Ups: A Novel

Written by Robin Antalek

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Spanning over a decade, told in alternating voices, The Grown Ups explores the indelible bonds of friends and family and the connections that form between Sam, Suzie, and Bella as they navigate parents, siblings, and one another on the way to becoming who they really want to be when they grow up.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJan 27, 2015
ISBN9780062390318
Author

Robin Antalek

Robin Antalek is the author of The Summer We Fell Apart. She lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.

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Reviews for The Grown Ups

Rating: 3.875 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When you think back to your teenaged self and your group of friends, can you remember the times you felt as if you were already grown up, as if you already knew what the world meant and how life worked? I sure can. But if you are a bit distant from those years, or watching them from the vantage point of a parent, you can see how jaded but naïve you, or your children, are about real life. And you know there's not really one defining moment where you become forever an adult, that growing up is a long process done in fits and starts and that what once looked like a definitive thing might, in fact, be an eternal process. Robin Antalek's new novel, The Grown Ups, shows this coming of age and dawning understanding about the nature of change and growth very well. Opening the summer they are fifteen, the novel follows Sam, Suzie, and Bella over a fifteen year span. Suzie's life is falling apart, with her mother no longer able to turn a blind eye to her father's philandering. Sam is less concerned with what all of the neighborhood infidelities mean and more with just what he and Suzie are up to in her basement rec room and whether or not they qualify as boyfriend and girlfriend. In fact, his own mother will leave their family this same summer, just as Suzie's family leaves town for a fresh start. Bella's mother is an invalid and Bella is Suzie's best friend. In the wake of Suzie's move and subsequent complete disappearance from the larger group of neighborhood friends, Bella will find that Sam is her own first love, even if she is not his. As each of the three move through the years, learning how to navigate the shoals of impending adulthood, college, relationships, family crises, and eventually the decline and aging of parents, they come to a burgeoning understanding of the larger things at play in their lives and families. They come together and grow apart, waxing and waning in each others' lives and thoughts through the years. The novel is a snapshot of life for three people, each of whom is shaped by their life, experiences, and hard won wisdom as they take different paths and different timelines toward the elusive concept of adulthood. The three of them, Sam, Suzie, and Bella, are inextricably intertwined, even when they are not speaking to each other because of distance or circumstance. Their bond is indelible. Told in chapters from alternating perspectives, there are jumps in the timeline that allow for moments, large and small, to build the picture of their growth and change. The characters are likable and Antalek has done a good job capturing not only their confused teenaged voices but also the maturation of their voices as their lives and experiences mold them into the people they've become by the end of the story. There are no big cataclysms or pyrotechnics here, it's just a steady, well done, and engaging slice of life bildungsroman.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book reminds me of movies like Crazy, Stupid Love, and Adventureland. Not so much the story, but how it’s written.

    I loved seeing Sam, Bella, and Suzie grow up. They are all intertwined since they lived in the same neighborhood and have been friends forever. Each character had their own flaws and circumstances that caused them to make the decisions they did. All three of them make some questionable choices, and try to figure out how they will live them. Bella was probably my favorite character. She seems to get the crap end of the deal no matter what she does.

    This book will take you on an emotional ride. There are moments where you want to shake the characters, and others where you want to weep right along with them. There are also touch moments where you realize that friendship is so much more important than grudges, or heartache that happened in the past. This is a true coming of age story that will keep you reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Grown Ups follows three friends and their lives for over a decade. It’s a coming of age story, how they manage their relationships with family, friends, and each other. Sam and Suzie had a history the summer her parents decide to break up. She uses him but when she leaves, he still thinks about her and she feels nothing but guilt. When her parents move to try and start over, Suzie leaves behind a trail of pictures (literally, she throws them out the car window as her dad drives off) her father had taken of all the neighborhood mothers. Sam’s mom included. Suzie decides to not stay in contact with the friends she grew up with, embarrassed by how she left and her parent’s constant and very public fights that the entire neighborhood witnessed. When Suzie’s family starts their new life, it goes back to how it used to be, surprisingly fast. Her dad is never around, her mom is drinking, and Suzie takes on the responsibility of taking care of her brothers. She wants nothing more than to escape and start her own life. She graduates early from high school and eventually meets Michael, Sam’s older brother. When their relationship starts she’s suddenly thrown back into the lives of her old friends. Bella, whose mom is slowly dying from some mysterious disease, misses her best friend and takes comfort in Sam. Their relationship is off and on and lasts until college, when her mother passes away. Then Sam’s fear of commitment takes hold and he disappears. She eventually moves on with Ted, an extremely pretentious and obnoxious writer who treats Bella like crap and prides himself on being able to live in a cabin with not running water or electricity (omg I hated Ted). When Suzie and her family leaves, Sam’s mother also decides to leave, abandoning her sons and her husband. He drifts through life, caring for Bella but never really getting over Suzie. He fails out of college, abandons Bella in her time of need and floats from one job to another, frequently landing back at home with his dad. He tries to make peace with his mother but he can’t quite let go if his anger. I have to admit, I was so depressed after reading this book. It was too, idk, real (if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t). Good things and bad things happen to these three friends but the bad were the kind of things that leave a lasting imprint in you. Parents getting sick, dying, having accidents. Relationships falling apart, struggles to make things work, trying to have a baby and failing time and time again. There are the good things too, like getting married, discovering what you have a passion for, and coming to terms with your past. The time jumps and the frequent POV changes were a little extreme. Also, (and I have no idea why I feel this way but…) the beginning of the book was set in the 90’s but it has a 1960’s feel to it which takes me out of the timeline. I am roughly the same age as the characters in the book and it just didn’t feel right, the describing of some things. There were some things left unanswered and even though I sympathized with a lot of what she went through Suzie annoyed the crap out of me. It was a pretty decent coming of age book, I suggest if you love those types of stories
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm surprised by how much this book resonated with me. Perhaps because I can relate far too well to the characters. This book made me think a lot about growing up and becoming an adult - something I frequently still feel like I'm waiting for despite being almost 30. Perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that I'm about to marry someone I knew in high school - our path to this point was not direct, so it echoed some of what the characters in this novel experienced as well. I also thought a lot about parenting while reading this book - what it means to be a parent, what it means to be someone's child, when (if ever) those roles end. This is a very thoughtful book, but it also reads quickly. My only question is to why Michael was not given a perspective - he's the only major character who doesn't have any chapters and there doesn't seem to be a good reason for why not. Overall, though, I thought this was a really well-done book, one that would be good for thoughtful discussion. I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Suzie, Sam, and Bella are neighbors and friends when the novel opens up. As teens, they are vaguely aware of the secrets their parents are hiding from them, secrets that cause Suzie's family to move away and Sam's mother to divorce his father. This novel takes place over the course of ten years, with each chapter alternating between the the teens as they move off to college and become adults with their own lives and responsibilities. Although they all move away and grow up, family events (parent illnesses, deaths, etc.) eventually bring them all back together. Each young adult attempts to reconcile how the decisions they made as teens evolved to their adult relationships to one another. I really enjoyed this story and I felt that each character was so fully described that they could be real people. This novel also uses rich sensory descriptions of time, place, and food to help the reader fully absorb themselves in the story. I particularly loved the way each character developed in depth and emotion as they learned from the past and tried to make changes in their lives. Although I had no knowledge of this book before I received it as a Summer Reading Challenge 2015 giveaway, I was very pleasantly surprised by what a well-written novel it was and I was sorry to see it come to an end. #SRC2015
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    (Audible version) this story hit on just about every aspect of real life drama that could possibly happen in a lifetime. I really enjoyed the characters and would recommend this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this book from the Early Reviewers program and read it last November. Unfortunately, my original review disappeared into the internet somewhere! I loved Robin Antalek's book, The Summer We Fell Apart and couldn't wait to read The Grown Ups. It did not disappoint. Just a wonderful book about growing up and trying to find happiness. This is a great coming of age story that gets it right.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book primarily revolves around Sam beginning at age 15 and follows him, his brother Michael, Susie, Bella and their close high school friends for a fifteen-year period. Everyone except Sam appears to be on task towards a prestigious career. Sam struggles, moving from place to place, job to job after dropping out of college.Periodically the group reconnect for various events and we are updated about what everyone is doing. The parents are an integral part of the book, albeit more in the background. In spite of the higher financial standing, the parents each struggle with some kind of dysfunction.We read about divorce, alcoholism, anger management, debilitating diseases, sexual identify, promiscuity, death--the life journey.The one character I could most identify with was Sam's dad's girlfriend Marguerite primarily because my life experience has much in common with her.I am not a big fan of the "f" word--generational thing I think. I skimmed through the sexual scenes as I really find no value in them. Almost every book I read, particularly more current ones, have "f" word, sex, and some form of gay-oriented characters. It seems to be required even if it does nothing to enhance the theme of the book.This wasn't the best book I have ever read--it was fairly predictable with few surprises. But I did enjoy reading it because it allowed me to reflect on my growing up years--things I could relate to at various ages, enjoying and remembering my past memories.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really LOVED this book. I loved that it followed a group of friends through the good, bad and ugly times. There is so much heart, honesty and truth in the pages of this novel. This is a coming a age story that focuses on a group of friends as time ebbs and flows. I love that there are no loose ends upon finishing the novel and that the novel highlights the ups and downs of family, love, friendship. The story made me both ache for the times of high school and college while simultaneously making me happy those times are long gone. I laughed, cried and felt connected to the characters. I felt a deep sense of wanting things to work out while watching them all make mistakes...both little and big. In the end I felt satisfied that they were all going to be ok...that things would work out. My heart is both a little broken and happy at the same time...but isn't that life?
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is the story of Suzie, Sam and Bella, their families and friends, told over a period 15 years. The story starts when they are teens, and each chapter is a snippet of time from a particular year, told from the third person viewpoint of one of these three.This book is a story of relationships, in all their messy splendor. Sam and Suzie have a thing for each other as teens, but Suzie’s family moves away. Sam later takes up with Bella. Suzie reappears about a quarter of the way through the book, after having gotten involved with Michael, Sam’s brother. Each ultimately finds a life’s work and path to adulthood.I tend to like relationship-driven stories, but I just did not enjoy this book. Most of the parents in this book are messed up in a major, almost soap-opera-esque way, and the feeling tone of the whole book is somewhat hopeless. I couldn’t find much to like about any of the characters. And, I just don’t appreciate the casual approach to falling into bed with each other, and the “f word” about once every three pages. I received this book as part of early reviewers. I appreciate the opportunity to have an excuse to pick up something I never would have otherwise picked up, even if I didn’t like it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book. I found it well written, with an interesting style. A group of friends, from the same neighborhood, as they grow and mature over fifteen years. Each chapter is told from a different character's point of view, as time goes on. Different than the usual coming-of age novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting story of a group of friends from teenage years to adulthood. I thought the main characters were well developed and their experiences well described. An enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. I'm used to reading young adult novels and this book had that sort of feel, but the writing itself was excellent. The Grown Ups follows three teens that are sort of friends, but have their own problems. They come together with a commonality that brings them closer and ties the story together. This, however, isn not a young adult novel as the characters age and move into their adult years. It does have multiple characters that narrate the story line and I think it was a bit difficult to follow at first, but each character does have a unique voice. I'll be looking for more books from this author in the future!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the story of some teenagers growing up and then following them into adulthood. The central focal point of the novel is about Sam who has a tremendous crush on a girl names Suzie. She leads him along but he is taking the relationship far more seriously than she is. When she eventually gives him the heave ho it takes him years (if ever) to rid himself of this infatuation. Lots of family drama in this one and I am not sure this cast of characters ever truly act like "grown ups" but perhaps that is the point of it all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Antalek nails the thoughts and emotions of each character. Dialog is well done. She unbolts her characters vulnerability, fears and inner thoughts. Her writing style tight and delineate.The reader is intimately aquatinted with each character. They stumble, fall, rise, relish and regret their choices. They are whole with their share of flaws, honest in knowing themselves. Each character deals with their rocky childhood shaping them for adulthood, while trying not to mimic or allow unsettled feelings taint their life. Spanning from teen years to adulthood, their struggles realistic, their reactions authentic. Yes they make questionable choices adding to the affecting plausibility to the story. Character development, outstanding, Antalek allows you entry into their mind and heart.A wonderful portrayal of lifelong bonds, navigating adulthood as childhood strains leave a lingering presence. A story readers will identify with in some manner either through issues and/or characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The cover of Robin Antalek's The Grown Ups is a photo of what looks like an abandoned picnic table. It drew me in right away, wondering what happened at that table. Did the people who ate there enjoy themselves or was there an argument and is that why no one is sitting there?The Grown Ups open in 1997 at Suzie Epstein's 15th birthday party. Suzie brings her neighbor Sam into her basement and shows him photos of neighborhood women that her father, who just moved out out, had hidden. Sam just wanted to kiss Suzie, but Suzie wanted Sam to know that his mother's photo was there, and that it implied that her father and his mother were sleeping together.Soon after, Sam's mother left too, and that left Sam alone with his father and older brother Michael to fend for themselves. Suzie's mom falls into a funk and it is left to Suzie to run the household and care for her little brothers.Suzie's mom moves the family away to reunite with her husband in Brookline, far away from Sam. Sam is distraught and he begins to date Bella, Suzie's best friend. Bella loves Sam, Sam pines for Suzie, and Suzie is determined to go to medical school. She will not let herself become totally dependent on a man like her mother.Suzie meets someone and falls in love, and Bella and Sam date, though Sam can't really commit to Bella the way she deserves. He becomes distant and loses his way in life.Until he finds that he has a talent for cooking. He works for a caterer in Manhattan where"The prep kitchens were in a warehouse building near the West Side Highway, and the food was what you would expect at a wedding for a hundred or so of your not-so-close friends. There were always a multitude of chicken dishes on the menu, as well as salmon puffs and shrimp rolls, and roasted red potatoes. These dishes traveled well on the Long Island Expressway en route to their location."I never would have imagined that the warehouses on the West Side Highway housed catering kitchens. I will think of that the next time I am at an event for hundreds of people.I enjoyed the descriptions of Sam's food, like "the quinoa salad with roasted vegetables, black bean burgers on whole grain rolls, a green salad, and new potatoes with lemon laid out on the table in the backyard underneath the grape arbor."Or this one: "For dinner Sam grilled the corn and steaks, pulverized the parsley, lemon, garlic and oil into a pesto he drizzled over thin slices of meat and roasted potato, and served everything on the deck."The Grown Ups is a wonderful coming-of-age story, although the scenes set in 1997 seemed to me to contain details more in line with being a teenager in the 1970s, with all the moms smoking and milk delivered to homes and left in boxes on the porch.Sam, Suzie and Bella each tell their story in alternating chapters, and they feel to me like people I would know from the neighborhood. They try to be good people, dealing with family problems, unrequited love, and all the scary things life can throw at you. Sam's dad Hunt in particular was a favorite of mine, supporting his kids and just being an all-round good guy.Antalek writes a story filled with very detailed scenes that you can visualize in your mind. After reading The Grown Ups, I picked up Antalek's previous novel The Summer We Fell Apart because she tells a story with so much heart.The Grown Ups reminded me of Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings, another story about a group of friends struggling with friendship, love and life.