Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A National Bestseller
"I read it twice, laughing, cringing, and even tearing up." -- Judy Blume, New York Times
"Powerful . . . All Grown Up is so intimately and] sharply observed." -- Vogue
"Bravo to Attenberg, who, with hilarity and honesty, tells the story of an adult woman who wants what she wants, not what she's supposed to want." -- Marie Claire
Who is Andrea Bern? When her dippy therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she's a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it's what she leaves unsaid--she's alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh--that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have a different idea of what it means to be an adult, though. But when Andrea's niece finally arrives, born with a heartbreaking ailment, the Bern family is forced to reexamine what really matters. Will this drive them together or tear them apart? Told in gut-wrenchingly honest, mordantly comic vignettes, All Grown Up is a breathtaking display of Jami Attenberg's powers as a storyteller and a whip-smart examination of one woman's life, lived entirely on her own terms.
Synopsis
A national bestseller from the New York Times best-selling author of The Middlesteins, All Grown Up is a wickedly funny novel about a thirty-nine-year-old single, childfree woman who defies convention as she seeks connection.
Who is Andrea Bern? When her therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she's a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it's what she leaves unsaid -- she's alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh -- that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have an entirely different idea of what it means to be an adult: her best friend, Indigo, is getting married; her brother -- who miraculously seems unscathed by their shared tumultuous childhood -- and sister-in-law are having a hoped-for baby; and her friend Matthew continues to wholly devote himself to making dark paintings at the cost of being flat broke.
But when Andrea's niece finally arrives, born with a heartbreaking ailment, the Bern family is forced to reexamine what really matters. Will this drive them together or tear them apart? Told in gut-wrenchingly honest, mordantly comic vignettes, All Grown Up is a breathtaking display of Jami Attenberg's power as a storyteller, a whip-smart examination of one woman's life, lived entirely on her own terms.