Genre: Family Drama

Pages: 335

First published: 2020

Original language: English

The plot: When 68 year old Astrid Strick witnesses a woman get hit by a bus, it prompts an uncomfortable realization: that life is short, and perhaps she hasn’t been entirely honest with her family.

Having been in a relationship for some time with Birdie, her hairdresser, Astrid decides that it’s time to tell her children. But her children are carrying plenty of baggage of their own. Porter is pregnant via a sperm donor whilst having an affair with her married high school boyfriend. Elliot is making questionable business decisions and harboring old resentments. And Nicky has sent his teenage daughter, Cecelia, to stay with Astrid after a disturbing incident at school.

This sprawling, multi-generational family drama is all about secrets, ageing, identity and how our childhood invariably follows us into adulthood.

What did I think of this book?

I’ve never been the biggest fan of family dramas. In all honesty, I find many of them a bit dull. This book was well written, but it did little to change my mind.

There’s no doubt that Straub has a talent for making dysfunctional families feel funny, familiar and just uncomfortable enough. The characters are flawed but not unlikeable, and there’s a warmth to her writing that makes even their questionable decisions feel understandable.

The problem is that she tries to fit an awful lot into one novel, without it being particularly effective. Gender identity, parental guilt, infidelity, bullying, pregnancy, abortion – it felt less like a masterful exploration of these issues and more like a checklist of current hot topics. It was wearing, particularly because not all of these issues are explored fully and given room to breathe. It was a readable novel, and the writing is witty, observant and compassionate, but ultimately it left me cold.

What was most interesting about this book?

This book presents the idea that we never fully become adults in the eyes of our parents.

Astrid’s children are fully grown. They have children, partners and complicated lives of their own. But Astrid still sees them on many levels as the children they were decades ago. In turn, they carry with them versions of Astrid as their mother, and these versions don’t always match the version she imagines herself to be.

The generational perspective was enjoyable though. Cecelia, Astrid’s 13 year old granddaughter, seems considerably more self-aware than the adults who surround her. Through Cecelia, Straub explores changing attitudes towards gender and identity without making the whole book revolve around those subjects.

What am I going to take away from this book?

That it’s never too late to look at the stories we’ve told ourselves about our lives.

Astrid witnessing the accident forces her to look backwards, but other than that there’s little nostalgia in this book. Instead, it asks whether we can acknowledge how we might have failed other people, without becoming trapped by those failures.

Families are full of unreliable narrators! We often remember something that happened; but we rarely remember it the same way.

Will I enjoy this book?

If you like character driven family dramas, you might enjoy this one. If you enjoy reading about messy relationships and ordinary people making very bad decisions, you’ll find All Adults Here a fun read.

But.. it is a meandering tale, and its repetitiveness (which I believe is meant to echo the repetitive nature of daily family life), can be dull. It can be a frustrating experience for the reader.

This book is a solid 3 star read – good in it’s field, but not for everyone. It’s warm, occasionally funny and thoughtful, with lots to like. It is determined to ensure we notice how many important things it has to say! In short, it is a book to be admired rather than loved.

Rating : 3/5