Writers & Lovers: A Read with Jenna Pick

What a strange book. It wasn't bad. It was just random. 🤣 I don't know what I expected but it wasn't what I got. Lol!The writing was good. The storyline was odd. I don't normally reach of literally fiction very much. I appreciated how normal the story was. It was just a girl, going through loss and love and confusion and kids and the everyday letdowns we don't see coming.

I wish this went on longer and I yearn for a sequel. I saw myself within the protagonist/antagonist. Watching life pass me by and everyone in it. Dissociation, something that is very real and very hard to ignore. I was still able to find beauty amongst the sadness. I loved how the story just seamlessly flew from one scene to another. The way in which Casey was written, the mental illness, the traumas, coasting through life and somehow pushing thru it all and how the gaping hole in her heart was sewn up with the help of friends and lovers. I am Casey. My only dislike were the amount of characters and trying to keep track, aside from her lovers and her best friend, I hadn’t a clue who anyone named was. Just ppl from a restaurant. Otherwise I couldn’t find fault or anything to truly dislike to where I wouldn’t recommend. Even as someone coasting through life expecting for something to just magically happen despite not doing anything to spark that certain something

A friend recommended Writers and Lovers to me at the beginning of the year, and upon seeing it available from Libby, I gave it a go, and am SO VERY HAPPY I did. While it took me less than 24 hours to read this book cover to cover, I know I must own it so that I may go back and re-read and annotate this novel by Lily King. The simple, yet captivating story about a young woman trying to succeed in life, love and work, Writers and Lovers is contemplative and heart-felt. I easily found myself not only relating to the MC often, but rallying for her throughout the novel. I truly loved the flow of this novel, and look forward to reading more of King's works.

There's a lot to like about this book. The book has some great highlightable one-liners about life in general, and the restaurant in the book feels like a very real place you're hanging out in. The writing is enjoyable overall. If you just want to kind of experience someone else's daily grind, it does take you on an interesting journey. If you're not someone who needs a book's plot to be realistic, you can just enjoy the maudlin vibe and contemplate all the ways your life is going better than the narrator's (I hope).But if you're the sort of person who throws books across the room anytime a deus ex machina appears ... just skip it, for your own sake. Almost anything good that happens to the protagonist feels painfully forced.** Many, many spoilers ahead **Maybe this is book a little bit too realistic, because the depressed/anxious narrator is SO depressed and anxious that she never manages to do anything likable. She just trudges through life in a slow-motion panic. If the book's aim were simply to be an accurate portrayal of grief, this might still be worth reading about -- hell, I loved The Road and it doesn't get more miserable than The Road, right?But no, against all odds, there's romance mixed in. This woman sounds like she's barely managing to stay upright, but somehow she manages to date not one, but two entire men, who somehow are really interested in her despite the fact that she is plainly decimated by grief to the point of not having a personality. What attracts these men? The exhaustion? The undereye circles? Because both are repeatedly described, by both the narrator and by other people who are startled by how bad the narrator is looking these days.The source of attraction for anyone involved, including the narrator, is not clear. We only get to witness a few snippets of conversation throughout both relationships, and it's all pretty dull with a few deviations into mild quirkiness. At one point, I was so startled by a man taking ahold of her arms and kissing her that I had to back up and read it again, because their entire brief conversation up until that point was so mundane that I thought I must have missed something. And it was their first conversation, it's not as if there was some additional context to make it believable. But no, he's just reaching for her in the park even though they barely know each other, and she's cheerfully rolling with it instead of screaming, which is what I would be doing if someone came at me after five boring minutes of our first conversation.Shortly afterward, this man tells her that she is the first woman he's cared about in years, and somehow it's not an epic red flag to this thirtysomething woman that a wealthy man is THIS interested in an exhausted sad waitress, all because they stood in a park and talked about trees for a few minutes.Eventually, of course, the narrator must make a choice between the man who is wealthy but clearly awful, and the underwhelming man who doesn't bother to communicate well or reassure her at times when anyone with half a brainwave would have been able to deduce that a little reassurance would be appropriate (such as when he doesn't get in touch because he is sick for several days). She chooses the underwhelming one who doesn't know how to use his words or his phone, and Mr. Radio Silence "forgives" her for not trusting him more despite the fact that he gave her zero reason to trust him in the first place. Yay?If the biggest conflict of the novel feels forced (woman's student loans have left her in dire financial straits because her discovery that her golf-coach dad was a misdemeanor-level perv somehow permanently ruined the entire sport of golf for her?? and also she just noped out to Spain for two years and defaulted on everything because it's fun to make bad situations way worse?), the resolution is even more so: she basically suddenly gets everything she wanted, including a job at an amazing school because somehow, again, there are all kinds of people sprinkled throughout this book who cannot get enough of this woman even though she's too busy stumbling bleakly through a grief-stricken existence to be confident, charming, or clever.It's at the point when this sad-sack protagonist asks for the exact amount of money she would need to solve all of her problems, and actually GETS THAT AMOUNT, that you start to wonder if you're being trolled. But it's too late now, because that's the end of the book.

I was so engrossed in this book I forgot to put my laundry in the dryer!Lily King pulled me right into the world of thirty-one-year old Casey Peabody as she struggles finishing the novel she’s been writing for six years, works exhausting sifts waiting tables in an upscale restaurant, juggles the men in her life, avoids bill collectors, and wonders if she’ll ever make her mark on the world.Casey’s day-to-day dilemmas bring back all the angst of living through those early years of adulthood, struggling to figure things out. Her ability to trust men and for attachments is tainted by a sickening revelation about her father when she was in high school, and the recent, untimely loss of her mother. She’s free floating and trying not to drown. Casey doesn’t even have an unwavering belief in herself to help keep her grounded. She suffers from panic attacks and serious bouts of self-doubt. But, through it all she is determined to continue to write and prove her value to both herself and the world through the creative process.The character of Casey is drawn with wit and intelligence. Because, underneath it all, Casey’s strength shines through, the reader doesn’t feel sorry for her situation but instead roots for her to overcome all obstacles and come out on top.I enjoyed this book much more than I expected too and definitely recommend giving it a read.

This book was unbelievably good. It had this paradoxical lightness and heaviness to it. The main character is so approachable in her grief, and Lily King does an incredible job of making grief a presence in the book, but not an overbearing and sagging weight for the reader. It’s atmospheric, and often times you forget it, until King jabs you with it at the end of one of her superbly crafted paragraphs. While the novel morphed into something more romance laden, which I hadn’t fully expected, it never really became a romance- which I appreciated. It’s just one of those excruciatingly beautiful, simple stories full of some life and some perhaps fantasy. I was left fully engulfed in it, and Casey quickly became like a close friend- a character I was and am so deeply attached to.King is so so good at delivering meaning and authenticity without exposing it outright. This book light, heavy gorgeous sad electrifying minute and grand and I loved it so so much. Highly recommend.SPOILERSSometimes, the really difficult periods in our lives unfold and a way forward is cut and a kind of resolution occurs where a nightmare scape of failure and grief and stagnation can become like waking up from a bad dream and all of your wishes can work out for you. I mean, I think at least. What I mean to say is that sometimes things work out. And in this novel I found myself certain they wouldn’t but achingly hoping they would. In a way, as it all kind of came together for Casey, I found myself *kinda* wondering if all of the exploration of her struggle had amounted to a less than believable turning of the tide, but in the end, I too have had moments where all seems hopeless and lost only to persevere and not even really know I was persevering, and come out on the other side with a world I couldn’t imagine. So I decided to go with my gut and love this book as unabashedly as I found myself loving Casey and needing her to succeed.Would highly recommend.

Perhaps as a result of short-term memory loss, I can't remember why I ordered Lily King's book Writers & Lovers. But in my pandemic reading marathons, I alternate between nonfiction and novels, so, it was time for a novel and this one was up on my stack. I have not read Lily King's previous novels, but just now found out that Euphoria is a novel about Margaret Mead, so of course I ordered it since I used to be an anthropologist. But back to Writers & Lovers. The opening line is super and snags the reader, but for the first few dozen pages, I found myself entertaining some dissatisfaction. Eventually, I was pulled in. I have never waitressed, so the detailed descriptions from the restaurant were skimmable. It wasn’t until page 11 of the hardcopy that I realized the novel takes place in 1997. Somehow, I missed that detail. I have some degree of sympathy for aspiring writers, despite never having been one myself. But King is a very good writer; this is obvious because her work has collected so many awards. But I prefer to read the readers’ reviews rather than the catalog of awards and publishers’ gushing descriptions. I enjoyed the novel, although I felt the ending was a bit too neat and tidy. Perhaps it was easier in 1997 to get published than it is today. Casey got a few rejections, yes, but then her novel was published after shipping out only a few copies. Don’t we all wish. And how much of this novel is sort-of autobiographical? I looked for more info about Lily King but have not found it. Just curious.

Casey is a 31-year-old single unpublished writer who has been working for 6 years on her novel while surviving as a waitress. She has just lost her mother and broken up with her long-time boyfriend. She has a brief passionate rebound relationship but turns out he betrays her early on by lying to her. If you want to take a journey with a relatable, likable character on her way towards realizing some of her dreams, then this may be just the book for you.A major theme in this book is loss. Casey has recently lost some major relationships that were core to her life. For example, Casey comes home one day and thinks about calling her mom, then quickly remembers her mom has died. If death, loss and/or loneliness are triggering for you, then this may not be your season to read this book.Loneliness is another prominent theme, as Casey feels alone during much of the novel, and is by herself for a significant portion. That said, Casey grows and develops throughout the story, and she is in a different emotional state by the end of the novel.At the beginning of the novel there is a sad tone because Casey is desperate to evolve from her college-age like lifestyle to begin her more stable and adult years. Readers get the sense that she is craving a reliable, stable career, finances and relationship. Despite striving and working for years towards all those things, it just hasn’t happened for her yet. Even though at parts in the story it seems like her life is unraveling at the seams, this novel is about the journey of how her adult life path comes together.In my opinion, King spends somewhat longer than necessary at the beginning of the novel setting the stage. There are lengthy descriptions about Casey waitressing, including describing humdrum everyday behind-the-scene occurrences of working in a restaurant. Readers who have never worked in a restaurant or heard about what it is like may find this interesting, and it does set context for Casey’s actions later. Personally, I have three children who waited tables as teenagers, and I’ve heard enough about it to last my lifetime.While Casey waitresses for the practical purpose of paying her bills, her actual passion is writing. Casey is unsure about her writing ability and constantly questions her own judgement about her debut novel. While she is dedicated and diligent about writing, she is not confident about her ability and always second guessing herself. I think a lot of readers will relate to being experienced or knowledgeable about something and yet wondering if they are “doing it right” sometimes. Particularly in a craft like writing, where it is done in solitary isolation and then shared when completed. King’s descriptions of a writer’s concerns sounded authentic and I enjoyed reading about what kind of worries go through a writer’s mind.Another dream Casey has is to have a family someday. When the story begins, she is feeling very lonely and heavy with the loss of significant people in her life, but as it unfolds Casey ends up befriending two men that are potential love interests. A significant portion of the conflict in the novel is Casey’s indecision between two love interests and determining at what point she absolutely needs to make a choice. One of the men is significantly more economically and emotionally stable. He is older than her, accessible, open with his feelings for her, well established in his career and has a history of successful long-term relationships in his past. The way Casey meets him is the perfect opening of a charming romance novel alone.However, Casey has more chemistry with the other potential love interest. Even though the second man is still working on getting to an emotionally healthy place, struggles with communicating to Casey, is not economically stable and having trouble getting started in his career, she relates to him more and the passion between them is undeniable. He frequently makes her feel unsure about his feelings towards her and whether he even wants to be with her. He is the type of man that has lied to and left Casey in the past, and she is aware of this fact which complicates her decision.I found myself rooting for one of these men, and Casey does not pick the man I was hoping she would. However, King gives us good reasons for why Casey makes her decision, and ultimately, I agree with the point King makes here. This is the time old tale of choosing between fireworks versus a steady fire. If you enjoy watching TV shows like The Bachelorette where a female character must decide between potential love interests, then you might enjoy reading about Casey’s experience deciding between these guys.I do appreciate how dimensional King wrote the character of Casey. Generally, I prefer strong female characters that do not require being “rescued” by male characters. I do not enjoy reading about women who spend all their time thinking and talking about men (or a man), which always feels disappointing and sad to me. What I do like rea...

This book seems like it was written effortlessly (they never are, of course) and is delightfully un-self-conscious. The characters are drawn beautifully, there are some genuinely funny parts and the narrative takes hold of the reader and doesn't let go, even though the story is nothing revolutionary. That's a huge part of this novel's appeal--the reader can actually imagine this slice of life.I have two complaints: 1) A major interaction between the protagonist and a principal character happens almost out of nowhere and has ramifications that I believe the protagonist, as her character has been presented, would have grappled with A LOT before so casually saying what she says. 2) A medical episode is told completely incorrectly. My immersion into the book was abruptly halted, because the sequence of events is utterly wrong. The author's sense of detail is meticulous in every other context; I am stumped as to why no editor caught the incongruity. Lily King must not have had any exposure to how the medical profession works, because it certainly doesn't work as she describes it here.But this is a charming literary romp and I highly recommend it.

This book had a rough start and I had some trouble fitting into the cracks of Casey's life. But as those cracks widened she became more real and easier to relate to. I'm sure that would horrify her. The book is first person POV, casual cursing, some emotional depictions of sex, lots of dealing with grief and family.My dad was an English teacher but has always been a writer, he and my mom amicably divorced when I was a kid and my brother younger than that. He always talked of publishing books and not just articles and keeps doing NaNo WriMo, but I believe he doesn't want the full ambition of a novel.Casey's life is so shaped by sorrow that once I made it halfway through her story I had to push to the finish. I needed to know she'd be okay in some way. This book is set in the 90s, and a few major events fill it out, but it's almost timeless. Ignore the tech gaps!Beyond her family tragedies, Casey has such a sad American story of debt and promise unfulfilled. But she also, somewhat reluctantly, sees hope in every new situation. Men have let her down, but she gives Silas and Oscar a chance. She pushes friends away, but treasures Muriel and Harry. Work both beats her down and gives her release. No one is ever truly alone that has love.The Boston setting was interesting for this Texan. I've visited once which was barely enough to capture the weight of posterity permeating the old city. The scenes of Casey enjoying the luxury of a car stood out to me, coming from an anti-public transportation state as I do.The depictions of anxiety really snuck up on me, similar to how they do Casey. I kept waiting for a substance dependency or new traumatic childhood event. This author was clever enough to make Casey special but not extraordinary.Some people will say this is a feminist book. It focuses on a woman competing in a male dominated field without the culturally-enforced confidence of a man. Often all Casey has is her hope of her novel, and trying to find her own path, not filling someone else's ideal.Romance is a big part of this book, obvious from the title, but it's also just another part of Casey's hectic life. She has so many thoughts and problems and worries that romance often takes a back seat. There are humorous moments, but this is more dramatic--without being over the top.Now I want to go write.

I’m glad I was reading this for a book club. Left to myself, I probably would have persevered for fifty or a hundred pages based on the generally very nice descriptive writing. But in the early chapters, Casey is “like a bag of panic held in by a thin sac of skin,” as she says later. At least initially, the things she’s panicked about are pretty mundane, so following her through repeated clenchings (a favorite word … Casey clenched fourteen times in the book, and King’s editor let it ride) and mental pushups gets old. At some point, the reader has to like or at least respect the protagonist to continue. Casey’s lugubriousness is amplified by the first-person voice; we can’t get away from her world seen through unhappy eyes.Fortunately for me, I kept on reading. A smart, widely-read Casey slowly emerges. She goes from having finished and rewritten twelve angst-soaked pages to having completed the book. That happens quite suddenly, with no transition, but at least it happens. The sun begins to shine more often.The writing was generally wonderful. Places and people painted in vivid detail. On the subject of editing, she occasionally leaned toward excessively literary usage, but probably a justifiable risk when you write a description like “a lone seagull, the only one in the sky, flies low along the beach, close to our heads, then out to sea again, tilting hard left, one wing tipped toward the water, like a plane doing a trick.” Her editor allowed her the bring/take error often, though.The interleaving of restaurant scenes was good bones on which to weave a story. King gets away with cringe-worthy generalizations like “ … the type of person my mother loved: quick, outspoken, a thin but charming layer of femininity covering a masculine confidence and drive.” Female readers would clench (I can reuse it if she can) if a male writer wrote that generalization. I am a male writer, and I am jealous.I realized about two-thirds of the way through the book that my conflict over the first third was at least partly structural and logical: King chose first person voice to tell the story, so the same person who was complaining and clenching (sorry) about only being able to write a page or two, and getting nothing written during her fancy residency, was the same person putting clear, lucid, finely-detailed prose on the pages I was reading.

Camila ‘Casey’ Peabody, a 31-year-old waitress with overwhelming student debt, is grieving the recent death of her mother while living with the anxiety of being an unpublished writer. While grappling with these issues (and more), Casey dates two very different men and has personal experiences that enable her to confront and cope with her past and present.Initially I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book, because first, it wasn’t what I had expected, and second, there was an element of King’s writing style that I couldn’t warm up to. This was her overuse of repetitious sentence structures, for example:1. “Lunch is amateur hour. Lunch is for...”2. “Maybe it was just spring. Maybe that’s...”3. “She loved a story. She loved...”(and so on in this manner, primarily in the first third of the book).But once I got over these humps, I grew to really like this story. It has great character development with clear introspection and doesn’t shy away from depicting our flawed human interactions.Further, King eloquently portrays significance in the routine of life and how circumstances and our outlook can drastically change with just minor shifts in our experiences. Feelings of melancholy, nostalgia, and happiness are all wrapped up into one in this story. And at the end, King offers a hopeful and happy new beginning for Casey.This is a beautifully written story. I’m glad I kept reading it and gave it the opportunity it deserved.

Maybe it should be 5 stars. Elizabeth George refuses to put stars.on her re views of a book. Maybe I should do that. I really truly liked, maybe loved, this book. Adored all the people , from our plucky, bordering on mental, heroine to the injured but lovable 5 and 7 year old boys, Nadler and John, sons of Oscer, one of the plethora of suitors of Casey, the anxious protagonist. As her shrink points out, she has plenty to be nervous about: will the novel she has been writing for six years sell, which guy should she choose, will she ever get out from under her massive student debt, is she going to be fired while on Animal House--double probation. ... And on and on. The journey through the minefields and the energy pushing that process are a great, one just must let go and let it happen. Read it in one session. It felt much shorter than it is. For a novel that is very much an interior book about loss and love and the messyactivity of creating a novel, the book surprises you and reads at an astonish hyper-pace of a serial killer page turner.

Wow! Wow! That’s two “Wows, readers stand up and take notice. I can say with great confidence that I have found my favorite book of 2020. And that’s saying something.First a little editorial comment; the story is based on the trials and tribulations of a writer, a topic to which I can easily relate. Smooth, elegant prose I loved it. Thrillers and mysteries have much steeper story arcs that help hold the reader in the fictive dream. The arc in this book is all but nonexistent. The evolution of the character and the author’s wonderful prose hold the reader spellbound and help disguise the structure actually makes it disappear. This is difficult to accomplish, and this author makes it look easy.The prose, the voice, the characterization makes this book the kind that becomes a comfortable old friend and stays with you forever. I can’t say that about too many books. This, after the point of view character (and the author by proxy) disparages one my favorite books/author--All the Pretty Horses. Writers and Lovers is about a 31yr. woman trying to find her way in life while dealing with writing, work, her angst over the dead mother and her relationships. None of these things take center stage and all are balanced equally. Well done. The conflicts all come together at the end in a very satisfying conclusion.David Putnam Author of The Bruno Johnson Series.

“Writers and Lovers” (WL) by Lily King. Currently has 312 reader reviews and an average rating of 4.2 She’s written about six other books, the most popular was “Euphoria” with 1610 reviews and a 4.0. I find Amazon numbers like those rather interesting and a bit perplexing. 1600 reviews is quite high for general fiction, and 4.0 is a good rating but no where near a great one so what attracted so many readers to the book yet didn’t garner an enthused rating? Good promotion? Over-hype?Well, what of WL? A “4” I must admit a bit sheepishly. I’m not going to re-summarize the plot again (read the Amzn description) but an awful lot of is about a 30ish writer scraping by on waitress earnings, and having relationships with unappealing guys. Maybe “unappealing” guys is too harsh, after all one is a successful writer, another gets our Casey’s juices flowing just through incidental physical contact, and a third kind of evaporates early on. The author has two kids and a bit of a prickly personality, the other guy has to get away too often, and so we hear a lot about life as a waitress at a popular neighborhood restaurant and its associated characters. And watching five tables at once, some upstairs, some not, all the customers’ wanting checks at the same time etc etc. Interesting at times but it does go on for a bit too long. And she is writing a book. It’s been six years now.There are crises that pop now and then and a recent passing that haunts, but Casey finally finishes the book, and this book gets interesting. Very interesting. But not enough to offset the good but not great and occasionally boring first ¾.

Casey is working on her novel while fighting sadness and anxiety. She has much to be anxious about: she is living in poverty, not so much because of her vocation, but because she borrowed her way through 4 years of Duke University; her mother, whom she was very close to has died; she has no problem attracting men, but her relationships have not been ultimately supportive - most men do not come out looking good. There is much to admire about her, not as much to like as to admire, but she is certainly not unlikable. There are a number of positives to make this novel worth reading. King does a fine job describing Casey’s job as a waitress at an upscale restaurant, and while there are problems with some co-workers, there is comradery and the satisfaction that comes from competence; Casey can be fun, and has a great relationship with a boyfriend’s children; there is some sharp repartee; most of all, there is a lot to learn both about literary criticism and also the rewards that reading can offer, it can be “an immersive adventure”, which means more than that the reader is absorbed in the reading. King made more meaningful to me the process by which a novel is refined with the aid of readers and editors. The novel becomes easier reading as it progresses, less sad. Some sentences I liked: “When Luke stood behind me, I became animal myself: alert, cautious, curious.” “I curled up close, but even his skin felt plastic and closed off.” “It was so awful and weird. I could see all the things I had loved about him, I could see them, but I didn’t love them anymore.” “Real writers, not like my old friends who got over it like the flu.” “They justify everything their dicks make them do.” Some sentences of literary criticism: “a good story is both an allegory and a slice of life.” “She points out the places where I have described a character’s emotion instead of the reaction to the emotion.” “In the margins Muriel has written, ‘Linger here’ or ‘Let us feel this”. “She talks about the clever break in the narrative, the abrupt end of Clara’s childhood and, when it resumes, the subtle but clear shift in voice.” “He manages to simulate consciousness, and it’s contagious because while you’re reading it rubs off on you and your mind starts working like that for a while.” For a good work of literary criticism, Jane Smiley’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking At The Novel”. For a novel set in Cuba, in which running away to join the revolution plays some part, but less than it does in Casey’s novel: Rachel Kushner’s “Telex from Cuba”.