This is a fascinating book which I'm feeling conflicting feels about even hours after putting it down. Arguably a #metoo novel but told from the perspective of a man, THE SMASH-UP is a modern re-telling of ETHAN FROME by Edith Wharton. This version takes place during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings (yes, it's just as painful to live through again in a fictional setting). and centers around a family of Ethan, his wife Zo, and their hyperactive daughter Alex. They also have a live-in nanny Maddy, who causes chaos and whose actions set off disastrous consequences for all of them in different ways.

This book is extremely "of it's time." It is seeped in musings on the current political climate and uncomfortable truths. If you want to escape, this is not the book for you. However, Benjamin's writing is exciting and clever and I felt like I was on a roller-coaster that I sometimes wanted to get off of. The ending especially is impossible to put down and pretty much broke my heart. It raises a lot of questions and would be a perfect book club book - I know I wish I had someone to chat about this one with right now. Proceed at your own risk, but I think it will be worth it if this is something you're in the mood for.

When I read the blurb for this book I was so excited to read it!! At times I enjoyed this book and others, not so much. Unfortunately, I found myself not enjoying it more than I was actually enjoying it.

I can appreciate the author wanting to dive into heavy topics like the #metoo movement and the political state of the country, but that’s wasn’t enough to salvage the story.

These characters weren’t likable, and usually that wouldn’t determine my enjoyment of a book, but not only were they unlikeable, they were also boring and hard to connect with. Since this story is character driven rather than plot driven, it was hard to enjoy a story when you couldn’t even connect with what was driving it.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted book in exchange for an honest review!

Oof. I loved this book. It pulled me out of a serious reading slump I’ve been struggling with for weeks now. A modern retelling of Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, this book tells the story of a family living in Western Massachusetts in the aftermath of the Trump election trying to answer the essential question “What happened ?” It’s about the confirmation of Supreme Court Judge Kavanaugh and the rage and trauma it sparked in women who were already filled with rage and trauma. It’s about a husband trying to be good, trying to understand his wife’s rage but also feeling hopeless and lost himself in the new reality. It’s about living with a difficult child and being constantly exhausted by the neverending battle over simple routines like convincing her to wear socks and answer a question and go to sleep. But it’s also about loving that child and feeling helpless at the knowledge that other people will never quite understand her and her journey in the world will be a hard one.
There are so many things in this brilliant book! It’s very much perfect for the times we live in and Ali Benjamin has constructed such a lovely balanced story that is both profound and a pleasure.
Read this if you want something to help you make sense of our current political landscape. It’s not an escapist read, but more of an empathetic reflection.

I thought The Smash-Up was an interesting book about an important topic. I read it quickly and couldn’t put it down. I did find it difficult to follow at times with different points of view. I would still recommend it for people to read.

Thank you to Ali Benjamin, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange in for an honest review.

It took me several minutes (and my minutes, I mean pages) to get into this book. There are things about this novel that I want to thank the author for, such as bringing subjects from today's time into the book (re: Bret Kavanaugh, the #metoo movement, politics), but it wasn't executed quite the way I wanted it to be. I never fully bonded with the characters or felt invested enough in the book. Maybe this could be for somebody else, but it unfortunately didn't meet the expectations for me.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I am officially a HUGE fan of Ali Benjamin and The Smash-Up was such a fantastic and perfect for me specifically kind of read.

I spent an unusually long time with this book because I had some major health issues going on while I was reading but I genuinely enjoyed getting to walk around inside and be with this story for such an extended amount of time. It’s difficult to write this review because I have so many thoughts. I didn’t always love the subject matter and even think I would’ve set down a book written about this period of time with such vivid description of our own recent hellish past but this author, I truly love her style. It feels familiar to me. There’s a lot of specifics in the tone and voice and level of detail that are similar to my own writing style and kind of have me suspecting the author is neuroatypical as well. I hesitate whether to bring this up but then the neuroatypicality of the young daughter is an important part of the story and I loved this little girl so fiercely because she was so similar to me as a child. She’s described as having ADHD and there are many similarities and a lot of overlap with autism spectrum disorders and with both conditions, we are only just learning what the symptoms even look like in women and girls. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was months shy of my 30th birthday though other women on the spectrum had been counting amongst them for a few years prior. I loved the depiction of Alex so much and much as the parents struggled (and I felt for them and for my own parents) maybe it’s my own outlook and just the thrill of seeing something so familiar in a book (especially because I grew up feeling like an alien and always thought I was the weirdest dang kid!) but I got so much out of the character of Alex and all the ways her neuroatypicality were illustrated and shown to us.

But there’s a certain neuroatypicality to the entire style of this book, in my opinion. I know it because of those similarities to my own fiction writing style. And I want to discuss it this way because I don’t otherwise know how and I’ve noticed through reading other books that the style of this book was kind of divisive amongst readers. Let me offer a perhaps unique look at what I think is going on there. This one is densely detailed. And while I think the historical detail and the choice to write that way about such recent history was an iffy decision and I have more to say on that below, that detail really is present in so many other areas as well. Some would perhaps say (much like my own reviews 😉) that it needs more editing. But that is such a spectrum-y kind of thing. Info dumps and passionate dives into nitty gritty details. And because this is how my mind works as well, I clicked SO well with it. More than that is the tone and voice. Most of the book is told through the husband, Ethan’s perspective and we are sort of in his head but not. There’s a casual tone rather like he’s chatting with you. I’m working on a novel that uses this same sort of voice and a certain sort of distanced first person perspective like this. The neuroatypicality comes in here because while it is a complete myth that folks on the spectrum have no empathy (personally, I subscribe to the “intense world” theory of autism and would argue many of us are hyper sensitive to others emotional states) it is still true that we (as well as people with ADHD and other forms of neurotypicality) sometimes struggle with theory of mind which is the ability to attribute beliefs, intents, emotions, desires, etc to oneself and others. How this shows up is much more complicated and nuanced and perhaps individual but the distanced way we see our characters in this which is so similar to how I write as well, is, I think related to how neuro atypical minds have to really work at interpreting and understanding others as well as sort of learn to serve as our own translators in explaining our own intent and emotions to neurotypical people. I know I personally tend to think in images and pictures first, like many autistics, and then have to translate it into words next. So even as a big reader and writer and someone who tends to express themselves best through writing, it’s still very difficult to use words to put someone inside a characters head. I think these things may be where some of this distance and the sense that the main character is in discussion with you instead of you being right inside their mind comes from. It also perhaps explains the detail. Perhaps, like me, our author is a bit of an over explainer- a trait I know I’ve personally developed because I am so often misinterpreted. Things get explained in a way through Ethan that they perhaps wouldn’t be if you were fully inside his head. This reads more like you’re a trusted confidante he’s confiding in.

Make of that info what you will but perhaps it’s a different way of figuring out if this one will work for or appeal to you. It’s also part of what made reading this one so special to me and there is something about it that really clicked with me on a special and familiar level. Something about the writing felt like coming home or even a little as if it had been written for me. When you spend your life feeling like an alien, it’s kind of magical when you find another of your kind. And for me personally, even if this was never the author or her works intent, so much about this book, both in writing style and content really speaks to my experience and way of looking at the world as an adult woman on the autism spectrum. It also was one of those right book, right time kind of reads for me. I have a notepad full of notes and quotes and thoughts and as I personally work on embracing the positive sides of autism while also accepting and learning to better work with the deficits and difficulties it causes and how much it adds such an extra level of difficulty and challenge to my already extremely difficult life as someone living with and managing a complex and severe life limiting physical illness- there was something to the whole Alex storyline that really spoke to me and even helped me sort through many of my thoughts and feelings and look at things from a different perspective.

I’m tempted to end the review here but there was one major thing that I had very mixed feelings on and that is Benjamin’s choice to really ground this story so deeply into recent US history. Trump’s election, the Women’s March, #MeToo, and especially the Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearing play such an integral roles to the book and it’s plot and I think that’s a difficult thing to do with such recent and heated history. In my opinion Benjamin pulls it off very well, though I did think the ending was maybe a touch preachy.


I’d also be lying (or anything but my autistically blunt and longwinded self!) if I didn’t also put it out there that- This book also serves as a means for the author to preach her views about Trump, the internet and 24/7 news cycle, toxic masculinity, etc. It really does get quite preachy at times. You’ll find it smart and witty if you agree with the views espoused and catch on far sooner that it’s so preachy, if you don’t. Even as someone who largely agrees with the views shared, it got to be a bit much for me too at a couple of points.

I think that’s one of the great difficulties of writing a book so grounded in the politics and culture of a specific time, especially when writing about the contemporary era versus some form of historical fiction. This is a book that has the level of detail someone reading it fifty years from now would really appreciate- detail so specific you couldn’t help but be grounded in a very specific sense of time and place. It reads a bit odd right now though, as it’s much, much too recent. I suspect this is going to be the sort of thing that makes or breaks this book for many readers. I both did and didn’t like it at different points. Sometimes it’s a comfort to read about people struggling with the same reality you’re living through and sometimes it’s offputting and you would rather read to escape. The Smash-Up is definitely NOT an escapist read. But the author is mighty talented and it’s a great commiseration read if you need to commiserate on our current or very recent political and cultural realities.

For me personally, the several weeks I spent slowly savoring it felt like curling under a cozy blanket with a mug of hot cocoa. You can still hear the wind howling outside, feel the chill in the air, and life is undeniably really tough for almost all of us right now. It’s just like that in the book, the comfort but the familiar and difficult realities of the world equally as present. But if nothing else, it’s better to go through the world with a friend at your side and with the blanket and hot cocoa. I really enjoyed the whole up and down and so familiar and fascinating on so many levels journey through the world I took with this one. Recommended if you’re a liberal leaning and politically minded literary fiction fan looking for a book to commiserate and reflect with. Bonus points if you’re neurotypical and love seeing a great portrayal of it in fiction (and maybe you’ll click with the writing style the very special way I did). Many thanks to Ali Benjamin and her characters for being a friend on this journey through the world in a time when friends can be hard to find.

I went in to this read blindly, and was excited to see the array of topics covered in this novel. It really kept relevant with what's happening in our culture today. Unfortunately, the style of writing (the way this book was written) did not capture my attention. It was an okay read, not something I would pick up again. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Ali Benjamin’s debut novel for adults is a hit. This is what we in the community call a slow burn, and, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t quite sure if I would continue after the first 10%. But I’m so grateful I did. Benjamin tackles an important subject with grace and poise.

I will be featuring on IG and will post a link to my feature in the near-term.

3.5 stars | This is a VERY modern story, centered around the #metoo movement and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. I'd say make sure you are up to reading about those topics and immersing yourself with what it feels like to be on the internet before picking this one up. I don't mind reading about these topics, but it definitely requires a certain headspace.

Overall, I liked this book, especially the way things came together in the ending which made the story for me. I thought it was an interesting choice that Benjamin chose to tell a story about #metoo through the perspective of a male main character. I liked it at times and at other times didn't like it. I also found it hard to be so immersed in the idea of cancel culture for the entire book.

I know this story is based on Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and I think I may have gotten more out of the story if I had read that or been more familiar with that plotline. Overall, an interesting read!

In The Smash-Up we are introduced to middle age couple Ethan and Zo who seem to who have it all. He is starting his own media company and she is an up and coming documentary filmmaker. They move to suburbia with their 11 year old daughter and hire a teenager named Maddy to help care for their special needs daughter. However, it is 2018 and the world has turned upside-down. Great storyline. Great characters.

This modern take on Ethan Frome was an interesting read. It is the story of a couple living in a small town, where national events and their personal lives have become, surprisingly, more and more intertwined. As the main characters deal with frustrations over how their lives are going, they must confront what that means for their future. Recommended.

I really enjoyed this story. I choose it for its cover and was not disappointed in the writing. I will definitely be on the lookout for more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an egalley in exchange for an honest review

I am not sure I wanted to find myself in the middle of a marital union imploding but Ali Benjamin placed me there. Inspired/Influenced by Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, this contemporary novel takes us back to a time of political and social upheaval. Of course, I am talking about the USA in 2016. Ethan Frome finds his home resembling more of a battleground as his wife and her friends are busy with their Resistance movement on the heels of a controversial Supreme Court nomination, their daughter faces expulsion from her alternative school, his old business partner could be the latest exposure in the #MeToo movement and the live-in babysitter offers all sorts of temptation.

I liked the nod to Wharton, the different storylines that merge in this novel but oh these characters( well, more specifically Ethan) infuriated me. Which I guess means that the author did her job of invoking such strong emotions into my reading experience.




Publication Date 23/02/21
Goodreads review 03/03/21
#TheSmashUp #NetGalley

* Also reviewed on Instagram and Facebook

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy of this book! A retelling of an Edith Wharton classic, in The Smash-Up we meet a cast of characters suffering in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Ethan Frome is struggling. With his work. His home. His wife. His child. His purpose in life seems to be waning. When was the last time he was truly happy? When was the last time he was able to help his daughter with her homework without losing his mind? When was the last time he had sex with his wife? A jarring and relatable examination of the way one family chooses to survive in a world turned upside down, this book will make you question your own motives, views, and leave you aching for everyone involved.

I appreciate the subject matter with the #MeToo movement & the protests that started after Trump was elected & with the Cavanough hearings, but I had a hard time getting into the story. I didn't find either of the main characters very relatable or very likable. It just wasn't for me, but it might appeal to other readers.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for honest review

Taking some political tidbits from the Brett Kavanaugh appointment, this is a timely and charged book that many readers will find thought-provoking and could easily be a book club choice that can ignite heated conversations.

This is a very "of the times" book and I found it to be a quick and engaging read. This #metoo story has some unlikeable characters but if you give them a chance, you will understand why they are the way that they are.

#thesmashup #alibenjamin I’ve been reading the upcoming reviews for this book. Looking at you #buzzfeed anyhoo. I’ve read the book. And. It is out. Thanks #netgalley for the arc. It is focused on I’d say the 2016 year. When to some the world changed quite dramatically. So unfolds the story of Zo & Ethan. Married. With an energetic child. It’s definitely a boon to grab and see or remember quite possibly where or how some felt during that time and all the movements that started with it. #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagrammer #readersofig #bookaddict #readersgonnaread #bookgram

I was looking forward to this book from the description. The characters, though, were so annoying that I could not really enjoy the story. Unlikable characters can work, but when a person makes stupid choices and then uses those as an excuse to hurt others, I just can't get behind it. The handling of current and recent movements and events seemed heavy handed and forced. Just wasn't really for me.

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Attention Gen Xers 🚨you’re going to want to add The Smash-Up to your TBR pile ASAP. Ali Benjamin’s first adult novel dropped today and it did indeed smash my 40 year-old mind. It’s Emma Straub meets Bret Easton Ellis’ post-modern realness.

The book covers one week in the life of a struggling married couple in 2018. Ethan and Zo moved out of anxiety riddled post 9/11 NYC for a simpler life in Massachusetts. Now almost 20 years later, they have an 11-year old daughter and both are struggling with their declining arts career. The story is told from Ethan’s perspective as he finds himself in a ⅓ life crisis.

Ethan starts to wonder when did his wife change from a free-spirited, outspoken documentarian to a pussy hat wearing activist with a Wayfarer addiction. Meanwhile, he sold his stake in a Banksy-esque marketing firm and now is lost in his stay-at-home dad world. He’s no longer a partner in either his marriage or business, and feels silenced.

This novel deals with a lot of hot topics that could be sensitive to some, but the writing is so witty and clever that this was a page-turner for me.

Here are some that really resonated with me:

✅ #metoo - This subject is tackled through multiple narratives and different character POVs, with the main storyline revolving around Christine Blasey Ford. Ethan asks the question, what if someone only told a half-truth?
✅ Cancel Culture - Ethan thinks that the media is becoming a reaction factory. Individuals today don’t have time to think and analyze, they are too busy responding and putting their righteousness on public display.
✅ Infidelity - What is cheating? Does Ethan stray? I think Benjamin summed up faithfulness perfectly, “The faithful stay away from circumstances where love or lust might have the chance to flourish.”