Didn't finish this, was not at all what I expected from the synopsis. Not personally a huge fan of "woman's literature". Certainly not bad - we will probably get a copy for our collection.

This was a miss for me, but I understand where other readers of Otessa Moshegh would see the similarities and value in “Worry.” I enjoyed the dynamic of the sisters constant tug of war between affection and alienation, and their mother’s obvious pathology. What I didn’t care for was the lack of any deliberate plot. Another novel in which character growth does not exist, and we’re merely here to observe through a window the dysfunctional lives of two sisters. Don’t get me wrong, I usually love a novel that’s merely a window, but this one felt like a yawn to watch through. I often felt myself putting the book down and not interested in picking it back up.

Who is more troubled Jules or Poppy? If you consider her recent suicide attempt and other health issues she was battling with, Poppy should be the one requiring more attention and care. However when you look at Jules' addiction to Mormon mommies and her reluctance to pick up any work, you would agree that she would need an intervention.

I liked that there wasn't anything life changing happening and the story reflected daily lives of two sisters. However, I tired me at the same time because it was constant whining. Was there nothing in their life that is okay? Or did they prefer to shower each other with their problems? I'm an only child, so not sure if that's how you would interact with your siblings.

It's giving me Duck, Newburyport vibes with the level of stream of consciousness going on in this story. I want to take this whole family and offer them therapy (both individually and as a group). I don't like that they consider injections and fillers as love language.

“Stop making things harder for yourself. Things don’t have to be so hard.”

WORRY was our book club pick this month and its cover certainly caught my eye. There was an energy to the writing that I enjoyed in the beginning. I felt like I quickly got to know these two sisters and I was intrigued by their dynamic. But then I feel like the book lost steam towards the middle. The constant fighting and repetitive arguments between Jules and Poppy became exhausting. Tanner definitely captured their ennui on the page and I started to wonder if they actually even liked each other, much less loved each other. There was a scene with their family that reminded me of that episode from The Bear, Season 2 and in that moment I wanted to eject myself from the reading experience.

There were elements of the writing that I really liked though. Tanner describes that feeling of not knowing what you’re doing with your life, but also feeling like you’re not doing enough. The urge to doomscroll until it feels like your eyeballs might fall out (we’ve all been there). Trying to achieve something to send a message to the world that you’re successful, you’re thriving, and then realizing that you don’t even really want that thing after all.

I don’t fully know what to make of this book yet. The overwhelming sense that I got from this book was that these two sisters are utterly lost. There were moments that made me cringe and wince, and also moments that made me nod my head in recognition. This book was definitely character-driven; not much happens plot wise, in my opinion. If you like books where the characters are questioning their place in the world, then this might be a book for you.

A compelling read and relatable characters. I felt viscerally connected to so many of the scenarios and situations Jules gets herself into. Highly recommended.

This book made me feel uncomfortable the whole way through, but I think that was the point. There were no likable characters and no one particularly good to root for, which made the book a little hard to get through. I liked the author's writing style though, even if I didn't particularly love the content of the book.

(Thanks to @scribnerbooks, @simon.audio #gifted.) 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗬 by Alexandra Tanner is a debut novel about two 20-something sisters who reluctantly begin living together. Jules has been living in NYC for 5 or 6 years (more or less successfully), when she agrees to let her troubled younger sister, Poppy, move in. This living situation is not ideal for either, but they’re sisters and Jules is worried about Poppy.⁣
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I know Millennials don’t like the stereotypes that are often associated with them. I have several in my life and they’ve all made that perfectly clear to me, but this book seems to perpetuate them ALL! Name any oft assumed Millennial quality and you’ll find it in this story. ⁣
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Now I assume this is what the author wanted. She used Jules and Poppy to examine the challenges to this generation at this palace and time in history. One of the two, really embodied the more negative stereotypes, while the other more of the positives. The story was done with a lot of humor which is what kept me going, but it’s impossible for me to say I truly enjoyed the journey. Doing a read/listen was helpful. Narrator Helen Laser was great, though even she could not make me much of a fan of this anxiety ridden sister relationship.

perfect. neurotic and messy and perfect. fell in love with the characters, their chaos, their tiny evils, and devoured it in one sitting.

NYC coming of age ish story following two twentysomething sisters. I enjoyed the way Tanner wrote the characters here but ultimately it felt a little too all over the place tonally, and I am not someone who enjoys a lot of pop culture references in books which is something that was used very often here. there’s a lot of potential for a fantastic second novel from this author but this one needed a bit of tightening up for me.

This was a fun book! I loved the narrator’s voice and there were several parts that made me laugh out loud. This really is a vibes book with little plot though — so if you don’t like that, I’m not sure you’ll like this.

Worry was absolutely not the novel for me. I didn't like the sisters. Their dialogue annoyed me, and I didn't find any of it humorous. I didn't understand the point of the story, if there was one.

DNF

~ARC provided by NetGalley~

There have been a few books in recent years that have captured what the internet is like right now, but "Worry" by Alexandre Tanner is a book that deeply ~gets~ what the internet is like right now. In this novel, two sisters with a deliciously toxic dynamic share an apartment in Brooklyn in 2019. Everything they do is juicy and vile, but in a deeply relatable way. I was especially tickled by the elder sister's obsession with uber-Christian mommy bloggers who span the cult sphere from fundamentalism to multi-level marketing. While the novel smartly dodges the mess of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is due to hit our sister duo a few months after the closing chapter, I really loved how anchored in the now everything felt. In some ways, this book even feels obsolete after only 4-5 years of narrative distance, and yet I felt like it's disgustingly realistic depiction of these millennial women were still fresh and new. I could probably find a carbon copy of them in any neighborhood in Metropolitan USA. It's also so funny. At one point, they adopt a three-legged dog named Amy Klobuchar and try to teach her to talk a la "Bunny on TikTok." For my hot, chronically online millennial girls out there, this is required reading.

This book was all vibes and no plot, which normally annoys me but I really enjoyed here. I thought it was smart and funny and I was smirking the whole time. I found aspects of both main sister characters relatable, even though I just wanted to yell "GO TO THERAPY!" But that ending! My god it just... ends? I found that rather disappointing. Overall I thought Tanner had a strong and clear voice, and I'm looking forward to her next story. Hopefully one with a little more direction next time.

📚Book review📚 :: Worry: A Novel by Alexandra tanner

Story premise: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Character development: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing style: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ending: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the first book I've ever read that promised I'd laugh loud and delivered! It was so fucking funny.

Alexandra Tanner created a hilarious, poignant and incisive novel about two twenty-something sisters who love and loathe one another. As a sometimes shitty big sister myself, I found myself connecting to the characters in ways I wish I couldn't.

The absurdity and relatability of their day-to-day problems was so stupidly profound it felt like looking in a uniquely American fun-house mirror. From the obsessions with tradwife mommies on social media to bad kissers and sexuallu transmitted infections, the ups and downs felt so spot on. One moment, the sisters were fighting about ridiculous, trivial and insensitive things. The next, they've realized those trivialities are so devastating because of a trauma (mostly related their mother) that has gone unresolved and undiscussed.

I expected this to be yet another sad girl litfic swirl down the drain but it wasn't. It was so much more. It made fun of itself, sisterhood, online dating and performative white feminism. I read it all in one sitting and was DEVASTATED when it ended. I wanted to continue living beside Jules, Poppy and Amy Klobuchar.

A near perfect portrait of sisters, millennial-hood, and the feeling in 2019 of impending doom. I loved WORRY, the language, the humor, and the heartbreaking reality of what it is to be a young woman trying to make her way in the world.

Millenial and Xennial women seem to be drawn to complex, even unlikable female characters, and Woeey by Alexandra Tanner is sure to serve them up a heaping spoonful of that and more.

Sisters Jules and Poppy live together in Jules' NY apartment. Poppy has come to look for work, a year and a half out from a suicide attempt, and assures Jules that the living arrangement is only temporary. As the months drag on, the sisters begin to resent one another and all of the complications that their cohabitation creates.

This book absolutely screams late-20s. There is a lot of period talk and social dysfunction. Both sisters lives are very up in the air. Their mother is engrossed by online conspiracy theories. There were times where I absolutely had to put the book down because it was so uncomfortable. And there really isn't much of a plot. But what there is a lot of is thoughtful dialog on being a young woman in this modern age and what family means. If you're interested in a really deep dive in a couple of characters who you may actively dislike, check this one out. It's difficult but, in my opinion, worth it.

Reading this book felt like being in a bad mood, but enjoying it. It is quite effective, the writing evokes the same feelings of ambivalence and melancholy the main character experiences throughout the story.

I do have a tough time with unlikeable main characters, even though I know that’s the point.

4.5 Stars.

Worry follows sisters Jules and Poppy as Poppy moves to New York to start the next chapter in her life. The pair end up cohabitating, despite Poppy’s assurances this is only temporary. The sisters adjust to their new living arrangement and search for their purpose in life/work/relationships.

I loved this weird little book. This is the kind of slice of life book where not a whole lot happens plotwise, but you get to know the characters really well. A little too well, at times. The dynamic and sisterly bond between Jules and Poppy felt very authentic. As someone who is very close with both her sister and mother - whew I felt that relationship dynamic. These girls are MESSY, complex, and mostly unlikeable, but I had fun being inside Jules’ weird and messed up little brain.

I would say this is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year, but the ending is what keeps it from being a full five stars. I thought it just ended rather abruptly and thought the animal violence wasn’t necessary. Poor Amy Klobuchar.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for a review copy.

Everytime I opened the NetGalley app on my phone to read this book, it was like driving by the scene of an accident - horrifying to look at and sickness inducing but for those very reasons impossible to look away from - for too long, at least. Every moment of identification, with Jules especially in her constant self-pitying and self-hating turned outward state, plus her complete sublimation to the depths of social media hell, showed me the parts of myself I hate in too fine a detail. Because I too have scrolled to long on Instagram pages of people that I can't say I have fond feelings for and that I can't say rewarded me in any meaningful way either. And the relationship with her sister-roommate, as a sister-roommate myself felt too real sometimes and too misery-inducing. There's not always comfort in recognition. Maybe it's because I'm a cancer (moon), and this kind of relating can come easily, or maybe I'm the same kind of awful as these two, or maybe it's that a lot of people are that kind of awful and it's usually hidden, but at the time I read this, it was too much for me. Which is to say the author was successful if her goal was to depress her reader. I wouldn't call this comedic though, ignore any of those descriptions. I felt sick at the ending. Well crafted enough, though!

Book Review! 🥭Worry🥭

Rating: 🥭🥭🥭.75

Genre: Humourous fiction

Read if you like:

Weird girls
Mommy blogger slander
Girls in their 20s figuring it out

Synopsis:

It’s March of 2019, and twenty-eight-year-old Jules Gold—anxious, artistically frustrated, and internet-obsessed—has been living alone in the apartment she once shared with the man she thought she’d marry when her younger sister Poppy comes to crash. Indefinitely. Poppy, a year and a half out from a suicide attempt only Jules knows about, searches for work and meaning in Brooklyn while Jules spends her days hate-scrolling the feeds of Mormon mommy bloggers and waiting for life to happen.

Review:

I enjoyed this book for the most part. As a sister, I enjoyed reading about Jules and Poppy's dynamic and seeing them grow closer while being terrible to each other. It did a good job portraying the drama and craziness that comes with being in your 20s and dealing with family. I also enjoyed how Jules's internet obsession was portrayed throughout the book. Another thing I enjoyed in Worry was how well-rounded and fleshed-out the characters were. Alexandra also has a strong voice in her writing; it's witty, entertaining, and easy to read.

Jules' obsession with the mommy bloggers was a core part of this book. Jules compares herself to the mommies while also making fun of them. Thinking about having her mom become a mommy blogger added much to this. There are a lot of exciting themes of motherhood in this book. It asks who is a bad mom, a good mom, and who deserves to be a mom. Worry interestingly shows this as Jules judges the mommies and her mother while she also has thoughts of wanting to have a baby at points in this book and her being in a sort of significant sister/mother role for Poppy that I think many older sisters can find themselves in.

Some parts of this book were disturbing, specifically the animal abuse/dog fight at the end. I feel like it wasn't necessary and felt shoehorned in. I'm still determining. There were also some descriptions in the book that made me feel weird.

This book was a good mix of good and bad things. It just missed the mark a little bit for me. I'm glad I read it because I've never read anything like it. Worry will be a book that I think about in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.