In March 2019, Jules, a struggling writer in Brooklyn, is both eagerly anticipating and dreading the arrival of her sister Poppy. Poppy is fleeing their parents' home in Florida and hoping to carve out a new start after a difficult few years. Jules and Poppy soon find their days revolving around each other, even as they grow resentful and blame the other for the shortcomings in their lives. As the year comes to a close, they must confront what steps, if any, they will pursue to take control of their future -- and if the most important step is separating from each other.

This was a thought-provoking novel with sharp observations about the promise and limits of creative careers, the impacts of social media, and the complexities of sibling relationships.

Highly recommended.

This novel's biggest strength is definitely the modernity of the plot. We see modern siblings dealing with realistic situations and relationships. These aspects make the novel jump out and feel like a true story. The plot itself left some to be desired, but there's promise here

I love books about sisters and dysfunctional families. This book was definitely that. I didn't mind that there was no plot. My only problem was the abrupt ending that I didn't understand.

I wish there were more books written like this, that capture the anxiety, self loathing and simultaneous desire that women in their late twenties feel. Our narrator, Jules is someone you desperately want to root for despite knowing she’ll never root for herself. “Worry” also captures codependency quite well, as the sister relationship made me quite anxious. My only concern is that the book ended quite abruptly—there should be more to read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this arc. I never had sisters but reading this you get a clear sight on the lives of the main characters and how they navigate life in NY. There’s some comedy but also tragedy. There is a trigger warning and it’s antisemitism. This book does touch pop culture, social media, family drama, and mental health. I can never imagine having a sister like poppy and I have two brothers. Julie’s is a realist and I can relate to her in a way. I did this book held my attention and I’m glad to have been approved. The ending will have you thinking at the end but those are the books you will either hate or love it after you finish.

This book is hard to read in its vulnerability. It perfectly nails the human experience while also making you hate yourself a little bit. I enjoyed it because it gave me such visceral feelings of what it is to worry, what it is to be a sister and a daughter, and how we bear the traumas of living. My only complaint is that I don’t know how to process the ending.

If you like deadpan, dark, short, topical humor with no depth, you will enjoy this book. I found it uninteresting and trying way too hard.

loved this a lot!!! laughed out loud several times. definitely a book where nothing really 'happens' but I was fully invested in Poppy & Jules. i've never had a sister but i love the way this novel seems to explore the ugly (or 'real') side of sisterhood - the complex underbelly. I did find Jules pretty insufferable at times and also wished for more growth along the way. but I still had a thoroughly good time! would definitely recommend.

Wow. This gives ‘my year of rest and relaxation’ vibes. I loved the dialogue between the sisters how you felt like you were actually there with them.
The mother cracked me up - she gives off Lucille Bluth or Ilana’s mom from Broad City. The whole mommy blogger thing also was so on point.
What a mesmerizing, interesting book.

Grateful for the opportunity to dive into the ARC of this book, though it didn't quite captivate me enough to reach the final page.

If ever there’s been a book for the delulu girls, this is it.

WORRY by Alexandra Tanner doesn’t come out until 3/26/24, but already I feel that this novel is posed to become bookstagram’s newest darling, as Tanner writes like she could be the younger sister to, say, Jen Beagin. This story follows Jules, an internet-obsessed gal whose younger sister Poppy comes to stay with her in New York City. Both girls struggling to find their footing, adrift in that special sauce of twenty-something angst & ennui, dodging their highly strung mother, taking care of a 3 legged dog, falling in and out of jobs that Jules, at least, doesn’t seem particularly concerned about keeping or excelling in.

Although this book is at times very funny, I found the main character Jules to be pretty unlikable. And maybe that’s the point, she’s got her head so far up her own ass (& stuck in a Mormon Mommy Land K-hole) that she doesn’t even register how consistently awful she is to her younger sister, who is more earnestly *trying* to make her way in the big city and build her own life after a rough go of things and dealing with numerous mysterious medical maladies. I thought this was interesting; sometimes in life we become accustomed to seeing certain people a certain way, because it allows us to retain an idea, whether accurate or not, of who we ourselves are in relation to them, when in actuality they’re much more capable & a lot more together than we give them credit for. This sort of obscuring of the truth as self-protection; aren’t we all guilty of it at times?

I thought this book put forth a realistic but melancholy view of sisterhood; albeit sisters who were in youth probably too close & have developed an at-times toxic interdependence. No one can understand you the way a sister can, & in the same token, no one can hurt you quite the way a sister can.

I gave this one 3.5 stars; the ending left me wanting something more, but I’m here for any book that can make me laugh out loud.

Thank you to @netgalley & @scribner for a chance to read this one early. 🫶🏽

Modern, funny, maddening, anxiety-provoking, repetitive, circular, over-emphatic. A list of relevant adjectives could go on for some time. Suffice to say the author makes her points (about the internet, about the sisters, their parents, etc) and then makes them and remakes them. She’s clever and quick, but there’s a definite sense of excess about the novel. And also that she didn’t know how to end it. For all that, it has its compelling and fun dimensions. I dare say it might make a bit of a splash.

Worry is a very funny, accurate, intimate portrayal of 2 sisters in their 20s sharing an apartment in New York. It’s very bleak and dark but also just really, really funny. If this type of book, simultaneously about everything and nothing at the same time, is for you, then Worry will *really* be for you.

Worry gives an inside look at the complex, often messy, and irreplaceable relationship you have with your sister and reading it made me want to call mine and tell her that no matter what I’m grateful I have her in my life.
My only complaint would be it dragged a little bit in the middle and ended too abruptly, but I’ll definitely be picking up whatever Alexandra Tanner does next.

Whoops! Realized I had never posted a review for this book. I read it and then kind of sat with it for a little while because I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. There was some weird introspection going on after I read it which I almost never enjoy.

Poppy and Jules are sisters who have a very toxic relationship, so naturally they decide it’s a good idea to live together. Jules is the older sister, she is cynical, critical, and just generally kind of bitchy. Younger sister Poppy flees their home state of Florida after a sui**de attempt and “temporarily” moves in with Jules in New York City. They are both extremely unkind to one another at times. They both vie for the affection of a mother they don’t even like. Jules is obsessed with Mormon mommy bloggers. Poppy speaks in Instagram infographics.

Here is where I got hung up. There were so many times in this book where the characters said something I have said, thought something I have thought, or did something I have done. I don’t think I’ve ever read something I related to so much. But… these two kind of suck. And then I’m sitting there like “oh god, is this how I sound?”. I remember having a similar feeling watching an episode of Girls once. Hannah said something and I was like “yeah!!” and then I remembered that Hannah is the worst.

Overall, I enjoyed it but sometimes it felt like it dragged on a bit. I cannot imagine that this book would be enjoyable for someone who can’t relate to it in some way because nothing happens.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Wow. I absolutely loved this book! The sisters, Jules and Poppy were so neurotic and complicated. I connected with Poppy right away. I definitely felt deep affection for Poppy's backstory, especially when it came to her anxiety/depression and hives-ridden body. This is one of those novels that readers will either love or hate. I like quirky characters and deadpan humor so "Worry" worked for me in so many ways. I felt like this book was written just for me. I laughed so many times and I love that Poppy adopts a three-legged dog. Even though the ending felt unfinished, I still enjoyed every second of this kooky little story. I must admit, it was the gorgeous cover art that drew me in, but I'm so happy that this book ended up being so well written and wickedly funny. Alexandra Tanner has a bright future ahead of her. Fantastic debut! I didn't want it to end.

Thank you, Netgalley and Scribner for the digital ARC.

Jules is busy wasting time while working from home and following tradwife mommy bloggers on a secret instagram account. Poppy, Jules' little sister, is trying to put her life together after a mental health breakdown, and has moved into her sister's cramped Crown Heights apartment. WORRY ensues!

WORRY is not shy about horrors, politically impending or bodily instantiated. It's real about how much time you spend on your phone and how much runtime of a relationship you spend bickering. It's also a wincingly accurate portrayal of psychic relief and moral ickiness of saying, "Can I be mean for a second?" to someone you know well, as well as AT someone you know well.

The dialogue is bracing. Alexandra Tanner nails the way a mom can devastate you and a man will not stop talking about Dan Harmon's Story Circles.

WORRY feels like a close cousin to Broad City, Shiva Baby, and Cassandra at the Wedding—that is to say, totatally absorbing and occasionally harrowing. (Sally Rooney would never be brave enough to give a main character chronic hives!!)

Worry is a deeply funny debut, I’m even a little sorry I didn’t personally like it more.

Tanner absolutely has her pulse on the social climate among coastal, perpetually online millennials. As someone who fits into that demographic, I laughed out loud at a number of the scenes. In particular, there is a hilarious moment in which a bad Tinder date throws a rock at a squirrel and then is offended our protagonist calls this behavior “psycho,” because the word is ableist - this is exactly the state of modern dating.

Despite the lack of a strong plot, Worry still covers a number of relatable problems - a strained sisterhood, chronic illness, and fearing one’s own mediocrity. My own relationship to my sister (and to friends and partners) looks/feels nothing like the juvenile, selfish relationship presented here, but I think it will be relatable to some.

The Lockwood comparison is apt in content (the mormon mommies of Instagram are quite amusing), but not in the strength of characters or prose. Tanner seems like a better screenwriter than novelist - the dialogue is excellent and her set up is generally interesting, but the prose is underdeveloped. I also felt like the characters were at times a little too close to the trope of hysterical women, often acting younger than their age with very little trigger. I have a hard time enjoying a book with characters I don’t respect.

I look forward to more from Tanner in the future, as her witty observations carry this novel and are worth some of the more tedious points. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the advance copy.

jules is an anxious creative in her late 20s living in brooklyn. when her sister poppy comes to crash after struggling with her mental health, they quickly bring out the worst in each other.

the sisters struggle through a barrage of events, ranging from mundane to absurd: chronic illness, rescue dog adoption, and deep-state conspiracy theorist moms on the internet. as the chaos worsens, they’re forced to confront their futures and the codependency keeping them from getting there.

i know what you’re thinking, because i wondered the same thing — another plotless character study about women in their 20s being messy? does the world need another? with its deadpan humor and scathing precision, WORRY proved: YES

tanner is a rare author that had me laughing out loud — she nailed the wry humor of modern womanhood without feeling trite. instead, WORRY was original and clever, capturing the malaise of your 20s, the existential dread , the debilitating hypochondria, and the consuming pull of social media with refreshing candor.

WORRY punctures any attempt at respectability and will leave you cringing at the good, the bad, and the all-too-familiar ugly

5/5 ⭐️

I had mixed feelings reading "Worry". At times I felt very captivated and at others, I felt like what I was reading was completely insufferable. The relationship between Poppy and Jules and their relationship with their parents was very hard to read. Ultimately, it did feel like reading an episode of the HBO show "Girls".

Worry is a debut novel coming out in March that I think will resonate with a lot of people.
It’s about two sisters who accidentally end up as roommates in New York, at a pivotal time in both of their lives. The story is told through a “worry spiral”, which felt hugely relatable. And it was a joy to slowly pick through this weekend.
My only gripe is that I think it was a little longer than it needed to be. By the time I hit the last chunk of the story, the narration style wasn’t hitting as hard, and the ending was a little too brutal, in comparison to the rest of the story. Did I still really enjoy it? Yes! I highlighted so many passages! I’d recommend keeping an eye out for it.