Unfortunately I am of the wrong generation. This book is just too much. I appreciate good writing and sophisticated characters. I am unable to find either here. Did not finish.

"Fleabag meets Conversations with Friends in this brutally honest, observant, original novel about a woman going through a breakup...but really having more of a breakdown.

Jenny McLaine’s life is falling apart. Her friendships are flagging. Her body has failed her. She’s just lost her column at The Foof because she isn’t the fierce voice new feminism needs. Her ex has gotten together with another woman. And worst of all: Jenny’s mother is about to move in. Having left home at eighteen to remake herself as a self-sufficient millennial, Jenny is now in her thirties and nothing is as she thought it would be. Least of all adulthood.

Told in live-wire prose, texts, emails, script dialogue, and social media messages, Grown Ups is a neurotic dramedy of 21st-century manners for the digital age. It reckons with what it means to exist in a woman’s body: to sing and dance and work and mother and sparkle and equalize and not complain and be beautiful and love your imperfections and stay strong and show your vulnerability and bake and box...

But, despite our impossible expectations of women, Emma Jane Unsworth never lets Jenny off the hook. Jenny’s life is falling apart at her own hands and whether or not she has help from her mother or her friends, Jenny is the only one who will be able to pick up the pieces and learn how to, more or less, grow up. Or will she?"

I was intrigued by the Fleabag comparison and sold on the different prose style.

When I heard "Fleabag meets Conversations with Friends", I had to read this book. I love imperfect characters and story lines that are honest and real. "Grown Ups" follows a character named Jenny who is trying to find her way in the world... while it seems like hers is falling apart. With a social media addiction, a failed relationship, turbulent job prospects, and shaky friendships, Jenny's view on her future doesn't seem so bright. Being a "grown up" isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Written through prose, texts, and social media messages, this book is a quick read. It grants you a deep dive into Jenny's thoughts, leaving nothing to the imagination. Though I found aspects of this writing style strong, I found the frankness and honesty of the main character to be too revealing and the character's flaws to be borderline too unlikable. I would recommend this book for people who like this style of character description, but it wasn't something I cared for.

I wanted to like this book because I liked the premise a lot but I couldn’t get into it at all. I will say the cover is very appealing!

“I see that I have been in an oubliette of self regard.”

So observes our protagonist Jenny, who is a sort of feminist version of a Woody Allen character.

Neurotic and self obsessed, Jenny narrates her neurotic tale with a mix of humor that ranges from the quirky and clever (the characters refer to McDonalds as “that Scottish restaurant) to the delightfully awful (if you’re going to have a miscarriage, do it at a performance of Macbeth).

The book manages to be both darkly, cringily humorous and endearingly sweet. Which is how you might describe Jenny herself. From her social media addiction to her interactions with her loopy, faux-psychic mother, Jenny is at once painfully, hilariously naive, yet startlingly observant.

I wish the book hadn’t included a pregnancy plotline (or had at least approached the topic differently)—Are we really still tying motherhood to self worth, even in a sharp feminist novel? Otherwise, I had no complaints.

There are so few darkly comedic novels for women, by women that Grownups feels like a real find. I look forward to reading more from Unsworth in the future.

I just think I'm of the wrong generation to "get" this book. It's the story of a self-obsessed social media junky who is totally unlikeable and not relatable.
I kept hoping there was going to be some point to the whole story, but I found the story led nowhere and the main character only infuriated me more as I continued reading.

I received this book free of charged from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Jenny is a thirty-something millennial who is addicted to social media. She is all about the likes, comments and who is following me. It sounds kinda familiar.She loses her job, her boyfriend leaves her for someone who she admires (obsesses about?) on social media and to top it off her mom moves in with her after her other two flat mates move out.

I liked the book and yet it was irritating at times. Maybe because we all know people like Jenny who are obsessed with their phones and can't put them away and enjoy the moment.

I guess this book just left me a little meh at the end.

I think I was expecting something funnier from the cover which I love by the way so its definitely partly my fault for going into it with expectations but this book just didn't rise for me. I think maybe if Jenny had been 10 or even 5 years younger I could have found it funnier but being 33 myself with a career a husband and 3 kids Jenny's hot mess just seemed kind of pathetic and immature, which again isn't really anything against the book itself, just how I related to it. I was just hoping for more of a GIRLS vibe I guess, reliving the folly of youth. I don't know I'm repeating myself I just really think 35 was too old to be acting like Jenny does.

Jenny Mclaine is her own worst enemy. And I am so GLAD!! Because her mistakes and mishaps are endlessly relatable and hilarious and made me feel so much better about my own life! Just a delightful and sometimes poignant read.

I was really disappointed in this book actually. And I had to give up on it. I was excited about the premise of the book, but Jenny is not a likable character. She epitomizes a lot of the negative and stereotypical qualities that people ascribe to millennials. The writing was humorous at times but not enough for me to keep reading.

Jenny is going through a rough patch. She has a difficult relationship with her mother, she has no idea who her father is, her boyfriend split after a devastating miscarriage, her best friend "needs a break" from her, and she is writing a pitiful column that ultimately leads to her being let go from her job.

Here's the thing. I get the rough patch and I get the meltdown, but honestly? Jenny is just kind of an awful person. She is whiney, entitled, egocentric, selfish and narcissistic. Even when she cutely admits she is somewhat of a narcissist, it comes across as trying to make an excuse for it to be alright that she is awful. Jenny is the epitome of the smack talk Millennials sometimes get. She is plain mean to her mother, and takes horrible advantage of her "best friend"...and scrolling her Insta and Twitter feed while her boyfriend is having sex with her?? And she is hurt that he walked?! Wow. Just Wow.

I was so disappointed in this book. I love Brit stories and was so hopeful after seeing rave reviews plastered all over the cover and description. But I don't get it. I'm not sure why I finished the book except in the hopes that she would have some kind of epiphany and try to make it right with all those she wronged. The book has a "happy" ending, but that is because her mom, ex, and BFF are very forgiving and loving people. I don't feel like she changed her stripes.

The only reason I gave it the 2nd star is because at the end, in a weird draft email to herself she notes that life isn't some kind of race to get through everything so that a person has a moment to rest. Life moves along and you have to move along with it.

I am not a millennial (Gen X) so this was an almost sociological experience into those slightly younger who came of age in a vastly different world. Seeing the influence of social media was entertaining and insightful, but the stream of consciousness style became difficult to follow and the author great grating and repetitive, but maybe I'm just not the target audience. The first half was certainly fun and enjoyable.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy!

Jenny’s a mess. She was living the fun, urban, unmarried life unapologetically until all of a sudden, she looked around and she in her thirties. And had nothing to show for it. Her boyfriend is gone, and her mother is moving in. Can you imagine? It’s kind of worst case scenario.
We all have expectations for how life will turn out, and it’s hard to face it when things aren’t going the way we expected and we’re note sure how to turn it all around. This is where Jenny is at when we meet her.
Jenny reminded me a lot of Bridget Jones. Or how Bridget Jones would have been if she was a millennial. And so while I thought she was fun and kitschy and opinionated, I might be too old to completely identify with her, and it took me a little while to really get into the book.
I appreciated the unique way the story was told. We got to kind of piece Jenny’s life together through a variety of communications and styles. Definitely a novel for the 21st century. If you love chicklet and are looking for someone to commiserate with, Grown Ups is for you.
Special thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for the advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out August 16, 2020. This review will be posted on my blog, July 14, 2020.

This book only goes to show how self centered and vain social media makes people. Perhaps I'm too old for it..

A dramody which is at times wildly inventive, but--alas--the pacing doesn't keep up with the author's desire to be inventive. There is a callowness to the heroine which makes it hard to invest in her dilemmas--albeit she is clearly obsessed with them. This is a novel I wanted to like more than I did--

Overall, this was an entertaining read that I had no problem finishing. In some ways, it reminded me of how Becky Bloomwood would be if she was closer to Jenny's age. However, Unsworth's writing sometimes seemed to take itself a little too serious for me, and Jenny often annoyed me in her myopic, self-obsessed view of the world. The break up with Art seemed like a long time coming, although his bounce to his new girlfriend seemed off-brand. I also often felt somewhat bad for Jenny's best friend, whom Jenny seemed to constantly take for granted. However, I did have some empathy for Jenny, as her obsession with social media seemed to be a symptom/result of an underlying mental health issue. This is truly a novelization of the idea of "I Can't Adult Today."

Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth is an unusually modern book, mostly a stream of consciousness book, proving to me yet again how little I enjoy that type of fiction. Our heroine is young and very in to social media. In fact it consumes her, a fact of which I am aware in real life. It's probably a function of my age that I find that attitude to be shallow and unappealing. Which is what I found this book. It was not my cup of tea. I would not recommend it as others will feel as I do, and the one that don't need no encouragement.

I received a free ARC of Grown Ups from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #grownups

Jenny was every flaw I’d ever seen in a woman put into one body. She was completely terrifying in her relatability. While the style was at times hard to follow, the text was something that I felt the innate need to keep reading.

I wanted to read this but it would not download. It does sound like a brilliant read though and I will be buying it soon.

I have not had a book make me cringe this hard in a long time, and I mean that as an absolute compliment. Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth focuses on how life in the age of social media can truly make narcissists of us all. There were scenes in this book that made me feel like I was watching my own most neurotic moments run on a hyperbolic loop.

I definitely found a lot of good laughs mixed in with the painfully relevant social critiques, and there were many moments that unexpectedly hit an emotional chord for me.

I'd absolutely recommend this one to fans of dryer, darker comedy. Only a few pacing problems here and there stopped this from being a solid 4 stars for me.