All Adults Here by Emma Straub is a great summer read about families and their intricacies. Astrid witnesses a bus accident that has her reexamining her current life. She's the mom of three adult children, she's recently taken in her granddaughter, and she's been living a bit of a secret life. Now she's ready to tell all while also bringing her family closer together. Secrets, drama, and kinship! Read and enjoy!

My favorite Emma Straub book yet! I love the Strick family, and I love the fictional town where the story takes place. Straub delivers the story in a way that allows you a glimpse into the lives of each of the characters. Each character is dealing with their own place in life and the problems of growing up in a small town. The characters are all damaged in some way and are completely relatable. They are raw, and they are real.

Everyone that has had a family will enjoy this book. Relationships are complicated and the relationships with family members are the most complicated. If you aren't thinking about what you've done wrong to those that you love you're thinking about what they've done wrong to you.

This book is incredibly candid in the way that it shows the complexities of these family members and the struggle that each of them have of fulfilling roles of sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers while their needs change as they grow older. 

This book made me laugh, cry, cringe, and keep turning the pages. I would definitely recommend this title to anyone that loves generational tales with a sense of humor. Great for book clubs and leisurely reading alike.

All Adults Here by Emma Straub provides an honest look at the feelings of family members as they grow and change.

Astrid Strick witnessed a fatal accident on the street in her quiet Hudson Valley town. If Astrid had left her own car a few minutes sooner, it could have been her who was killed. The event unsettled Astrid and she decided it was time to change her life and own up to the mistakes she made with her children. The same day,  Astrid’s 13 year old granddaughter,  Cecelia, was sent by her parents from her Brooklyn home to live with Astrid. Cecelia had been involved in an incident with another student at her school and her parents decided to send her away. 

Astrid, a self absorbed woman, had been widowed for 25 years. Although two of her three children lived nearby, she rarely spent time with them. She was judgemental and none of her three children met her high standards. 

So it was a shock when Astrid announced to her family  that Birdie, her hairdresser and weekly lunch companion, was in fact her lesbian lover. The two women had kept their relationship secret for many years.

This was the first of many secrets that were disclosed in the course of the book. This book is a humorous take on a dysfunctional multigenerational family. However it deals with such serious topics as homosexuality, gender identity,  marital infidelity, abortion, single motherhood and sexual predators. 

Unlike in real life, most of the serious problems in this book are resolved by the end. 

I enjoyed the book and the author’s use of humor to describe this group of flawed people. One of the most likable characters was the very mature Cecelia who you knew would be OK when she grew up.

I received this ARC from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Straub, the bestselling author of beloved and highly acclaimed works like THE VACATIONERS and MODERN LOVERS, returns with ALL ADULTS HERE, a novel that focuses on the ways in which the Strick family falls apart --- and comes back together. Combining her signature wit and wisdom with a cast of deeply human characters, this is Straub at her finest, with her sharp eye set firmly on the trials and tribulations of adulthood at any age.

Sixty-eight-year-old Astrid Strick could best be described as “sturdy.” She is unflappable and dependable in a crisis, but not necessarily the person who will comfort you after everything has been taken care of and put away in its proper place. Widowed when her youngest child was still in high school, Astrid has grown accustomed to her neat, orderly life of maintaining the family “Big House” and chasing after her three adult children. But at the start of the book, Astrid is sent reeling when she watches a school bus mow down her acquaintance of 40 years, Barbara. Astrid never particularly liked Barbara, but her untimely death reminds Astrid that life is fleeting, and if she has anything she wants to share with the world, now is the time. It turns out that Astrid --- sturdy, dependable, boring Astrid --- has quite the secret.

For years, Astrid has been carrying on a relationship with her female hairdresser, Birdie, and no one knows about it. She hasn’t kept it a secret per se, but every time she has tried to tell her family, something else has come up: the turkey was ready, Birdie was out of town, her grandchildren woke up from their naps. But now, with the reality that she has been living a double life hitting her right in the face, Astrid realizes that Birdie isn’t her only secret. The shock of Barbara’s tragic death combined with her planned confession reminds her of the reason that she had avoided Barbara for so long --- and it isn’t very flattering. For the first time ever, she is acknowledging that she might not have always been the perfect mother, and she might not really know her children at all.

Meanwhile, Astrid’s children are learning things about themselves, too. Her eldest son, Elliot, is as serious as Astrid, but with a perfectionist’s edge; he holds himself to unreachable standards and becomes totally paralyzed at the thought of making any real, grown-up decisions. He has a wonderful wife and two monstrous sons, but cannot seem to find the acceptance he yearns for --- and Astrid, so far, hasn’t been great at supplying it. Then there’s Porter, Astrid’s only daughter, a cheese farmer who has recently decided to get pregnant...on her own. With a history of failed relationships and a penchant for drama, Porter’s pregnancy is a surprise, but not a total shock. What is shocking is that she suddenly can’t stop thinking about and fantasizing over her married ex-boyfriend. Last of all is Nicky, Astrid’s handsome, charming baby boy. Once a one-hit-wonder of a movie star, Nicky now lives a bohemian life with his dancer wife and teenage daughter, Claudia, in New York City. Though Nicky lives the farthest from Astrid, he has unceremoniously shipped his daughter off to her Grammy’s for the summer, where she can live out an embarrassing and bully-fueled end to her school year.

Alternating perspectives among Astrid, Elliot, Porter, Nicky, Claudia and Claudia’s new friend, ALL ADULTS HERE follows the Strick family as they recognize that being a grown-up is more than just turning a certain age, having a mortgage or even becoming a parent. Although it is much more character-driven than plot-based, the book still unfolds like a mystery as these individuals learn about each other and themselves --- and start to realize that no one is ever really done coming of age. Straub infuses her usual wisdom and insight into the story, and her characters are wonderfully messy and undone. Porter and Claudia in particular shine; their character arcs were not only satisfying, they were full of tremendous growth and self-awareness. To watch them --- and Astrid --- grow and develop amidst Straub’s signature warmth and humor was a joy.

That said, I was not truly hooked until about a third of the way in. The Stricks are complicated and fully realized, yet I found it difficult to care about the mistakes they made and were making as they were introduced. Instead, it was Straub’s gift for exposing the universal in the minute that pushed me forward, focusing on her insights into family life, marriage and careers, rather than the journeys of her characters. The payoff is there in the end, and her talent for expressing monumental truths in perfectly quotable phrases remains as strong as ever, but the Stricks may struggle to find a warm welcome with readers at first.

ALL ADULTS HERE is sure to be a hit with Straub's fans and newcomers alike. No author grasps the true meaning of family better than Straub, who is as unflinching as she is compassionate in her renderings of a family as complex and layered as the Stricks.

Emma Straub has written another winner. Astrid Strick, a widow, has secrets of her own but it's the secrets and successes of her three children that weigh on her. Has she done a good job of raising them after her husband died? The oldest, Elliott, was in his early 20's; the middle child Porter was in her late teens, and the youngest, Nicky, a rising star in high school.
With Nicky's daughter Celia staying with her, Astrid has a chance to temporarily play at motherhood again and observe the differences in her own children. When an old but not close friend dies, Astrid has to examine the animosity she felt toward her friend and face the underlying demons.
Astrid's three children are different from one another but all working hard to find their place in life. Readers can't help but root for them and for Celia and her best friend, who are finding their own places in the world.
I received this delightful book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I'm happy to have had this opportunity. This book belongs on everyone's summer reading list even if we're not hanging out at the beach these days.

This book was fine. There wasn't any mind blowing revelations or a gut wrenching heart ache. I thought the superstars of the book were Cecelia and August. They were by far the most likable. Not that the other characters were unlikable, just those two felt most developed.

I really enjoyed this book, it is a perfect summertime read and exactly the level of conflict and resolution that I can handle in this moment.

Another charmer of a novel from Emma Straub, this one focuses on a family in a small town in New York State, and their individual struggles tackling new phases of their lives. It was a soothing, sweet, good time of a book. If vacation season hadn't been so brutally cancelled this year, this is a book you'd see on many beach blankets.

There is a lot going on in this book. Some of the story lines and characters were enjoyable, but there were others that didn't seem to mesh with the others. Some books try to cram too many topics into one book and this one was one of them.

If Olive were a little bit nicer......she could be this matriarch.  Oh and an emergent Lesbian!  I really loved each character in this fun romp of a novel, even the dirty lying veterinarian!  My favorites were the adolescents. #meangirltakedown  This is a perfect beach read.  It's fun but not stupid.

Thank you to Riverhead Books and NetGalley for the early digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yes, this book deals with a lot of different hot topics. What I liked most is that she didn’t make it a big deal, and honestly, they should be explored with more ease. These are real-life situations that can happen to anyone. Don’t sit there and tell me that they won’t or can’t. Was it a little long for what it was? Yeah, maybe. Did I only care about certain characters? Yeah, but that didn’t take away the enjoyment. It wasn’t a five-star read, but I thought it was still a great book. The writing isn’t special, but it proved its point. If you’re interested, then go pick it up!

All Adults Here by Emma Straub
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Astrid Strick has raised three children in her quaint, progressive Hudson Valley hometown. She thinks she’s done a pretty good job, too, until witnessing a freak accident turns her perspective on its head. When Astrid’s granddaughter comes to stay after her own set of drama, Astrid reflects on her parenting and where she went wrong. Astrid and her children may be adults on paper, but she soon realizes that they all have some growing up to do.
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I was excited to receive an advanced readers copy of All Adults Here, but a little apprehensive at the same time. So many readers LOVE Emma Straub, but I read Modern Lovers and really didn’t enjoy it. I’m pleased to say that this book was SO much better! Straub’s novels are character-driven, and thankfully I adored most of the characters in this book. This novel tackles the classic “adults who act like children, children who act like adults” troupe, but does it so well. There is a lot of current social commentary embedded within the story, including LGBTQ+ representation, single parenthood, and modern relationships. I personally thought every issue was incorporated seamlessly. I gave this novel four stars because it is a bit slow to start. I stuck with it, however, and finished it immediately... I couldn’t put it down! I’m so glad I gave this one a chance 🐐 Thank you @riverheadbooks and @netgalley for my advanced readers copy! All Adults Here is out now!

This is certainly a novel one can easily read at a beach. Nothing terrible happens in this novel.  It's more or less an upbeat quirky novel about a family.  The main character, Astrid, witnesses an acquaintance get killed by a bus, a woman she wasn't particularly fond of, but her sudden death makes Astrid question her own mortality, and her own parenting skills of her grown children.  She also discovers that she's in love with her hair stylist, a woman who has been her friend for years.

With this new sense of mortality, Astrid owns up to her faults with parenting her children, faults that had not been forgotten nor forgiven by her children, and they open up more with each other, as the thirteen-year-old granddaughter meets conflict head-on, teaching all of the adults valuable lessons.

There's no plot--it's more a dramedy of sorts--a novel filled with social issues, meals together, and reconnecting.

I loved Modern Lovers and The Vacationers so I was excited to get my hands on Emma Straub's newest release, All Adults Here. If you want a plot-driven story, this isn't it. All Adults Here is a character-driven novel with a winding storyline. This one is a bit more slow-paced but is engaging nonetheless.

Excellent characters and I enjoyed how they developed through the story. The plot was a bit thin, but I enjoyed the characters relationships so that made up for it.

I usually love a family story that has all the family members coming back together because usually the story is so character driven.  The author had a great cast of characters here but missed the mark on flushing them out.

I enjoy Emma Straub's quirky characters and interesting portrayal of family relationships-- usually. Her previous novels have been great summer vacation reads for me. But "All Adults Here" was different. Although each of the main characters was still quirky, I was unable to find one that I cared enough about to propel my reading through the novel. There were current issues galore in the plot lines, but again-- Straub didn't convince me that any of it mattered to her characters or to her. 

I may pick it up again at some point to see if a hardcopy of the book has a different effect on me.

A great story of family and all the secrets we keep from the people we love. The characters were flawed and like able..