Immediately funny and exactly what you want out of your women's lit. Navigating sisterhood - one incredulous conversation at a time!

**Thank you to Scribner & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

At first I bristled at this – it seemed too close to millennial satire, too relatable in a self-deprecating way that has just worn on me lately. Even down to having heard the rumor that your finger has the density of a carrot, or whatever it is... (Just, I already live my life I don't need to spend any more time ruminating about it) But when I actually got into the book, I found those concerns to completely fall away. This is a beautiful and honest portrait of sibling-hood and struggling coping mechanisms. A little before halfway into the book, it took hold of me and I became rabid, doing nothing but barrelling through the rest of the book. I was dying for the end yet never wanting to leave the primordial swamp of Poppy and Jules. Favorite part hands down is the videochat with their mother about their chins. Tanner's ability to write Jules's inner monologue, showcasing her narrator's flaws and her obliviousness to them – loved it.

Hilariously dark and cynical with a strong dose of relatable existentialism, I really loved this one! Highly recommended for fans of Fleabag, Melissa Broder, No One Is Talking About This, etc. This one is gonna do numbers on the “sad girl” book recs lists.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the e-ARC!

Worry pretty perfectly captures the chaotic and unsettling experience of living with your sister,... in NYC. Story is set in the post-Trump, pre-Covid era -- what a little snippet of time! Despite my distaste for the unlikeable characters, the portrayal of modern young adult life -- fraught with social media pressures, depression, and family struggles—was both disturbingly accurate and deeply poignant.

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.