Love Will Tear Us Apart

Alex: Now a New Yorker with a burgeoning career in fashion and a raging coke habit, this bridesmaid has more skeletons in her closet than shoes...

Shawn: Alex’s best friend, a fresh out-of-the-closet "musician” (read: waiter) is singing at the ceremony...if the best man doesn't kill him first.

Cort: After spending her post-high-school years following Phish and opting out of life, she feels more out of place than ever sporting dreadlocks and a bridesmaid dress . . . .

Ben: Though he masks his insecurity with bravado, the best man is none too pleased about being stuck in his hometown and living in his best friend's shadow, same as always.

High school sweethearts, Lea and Dan are finally getting married—and no one's surprised. After all, they’re both perfect, so perfect that their “friends” can’t help but be reminded how f*&ked up they are in comparison. As an awkward night wears on, and getting bombed is the only way to make it through, a killer soundtrack takes us back in time to the first cracks in their friendship, the shaky transitions into adulthood, and the few moments of love and connection that define every generation.

"Rainone's fun and poignant debut novel centers on a group of longtime friends who reunite for a wedding in their small Rhode Island hometown. As Dan and Lea's wedding day approaches, four of their friends share narration duties, reminiscing on collective youth, lost innocence and wasted potential. There's brash burnout best man Ben, who once had promise as a ball player but now tends bar; hippie college dropout Cort, whose dislike of her mother has been softened by her mother's illness; cokehead bridesmaid Alex, who still holds a torch for Dan; and Shawn, whose would-be musical career has devolved into a singing waiter gig at a theme restaurant. Missing from the reunion is Jason, whose death is often mentioned as the characters recall their schooldays and youths while the nuptial events unfold. Rainone does a stellar job of capturing the personalities and quirks of each protagonist, and the contrast between their bright memories and dim current realities is nicely handled. It may seem gimmicky at first (chapter headings, for instance, are song titles), but the vivid storytelling and mix of hope and heartbreak is an addictive formula." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

High school sweethearts Lea and Dan are finally getting married--and no one's surprised. After all, they're both perfect--so perfect that their "friends" can't help but be reminded how screwed up they are in comparison, in this novel of growing up and moving on.

A bittersweet, darkly comic novel from a lyrical new voice, Love Will Tear Us Apart tells the story of six childhood friends reunited at a wedding where secrets are revealed, hearts are broken, and new meaning is given to the phrase “You cant go home again.”

High school sweethearts Lea and Dan are getting married–and no ones surprised. After all, theyre both perfect–so perfect that their “friends” cant help but be reminded how screwed up they are in comparison. As an awkward night wears on, and getting wasted is the only way to make it through, a killer soundtrack–from Madonna to Nirvana, the Geto Boys to the Grateful Dead–takes us back to the first cracks in their friendships, their shaky transitions into adulthood, and the few moments of love and connection that have defined them through the years.

By turns a Nick Hornby–esque ode to the way music shapes our memories and an elegy to lost youth in the manner of Bret Easton Ellis, Love Will Tear Us Apart doesnt aim to capture some supposed “voice of a new generation” but rather tells the story of a generation more comfortable with letting music speak on its behalf.

SARAH RAINONE is an editor at HarperCollins.