W27 – SPRING 2022
Four Books to Get You Excited For Summer By Haneen Elmeswari (AMC, ‘24) As the weather starts to get warm and the Best Angst leaves start to grow again, get back into Contemporary Novel the reading mood with the right book. Whether your summer plans include an “Writers and Lovers” adventurous vacation, or just lounging by Lily King around romanticizing life, these books will provide you with the perfect literary King returns to contemporary life with escape. “Writers and Lovers” after her previous novel “Euphoria,” in which she imagined Best Summer Romance anthropologist Margaret Mead in a romantic triangle during a 1933 field trip “People We Meet on Vacation” to New Guinea. “Writers and Lovers” by Emily Henry surrounds Casey Peabody, a 31-year-old aspiring writer, who bikes three miles to Following last year’s popular book, “Beach and from work as a waitress in Harvard Read,” “People We Meet On Vacation” Square, trying to pay off over $70,000 in is an absorbing and entertaining read. student debt. Her home is a former potBased on the film “When Harry Met Salting shed that still smells of “loam and ly,” this novel follows your classic ‘friends rotting leaves” attached to a friend of her to lovers’ trope. There’s plenty of romanbrother’s garage. Casey’s opening quotatic tension in this novel, which is offset tion is breezy and potent: “I have a pact by protagonist Poppy’s anxiety about her with myself not to think about money in future (career, location; ennui typical of the morning. I’m like a teenager trying millennials). not to think about sex. But I’m also trying The story is enriched by Henry’s vivid not to think about sex.” depiction of early-30s uncertainty and angst, which adds an interesting personalgrowth dimension. With sassy wordplay, Henry keeps the friends-to-lovers trope from feeling old. Plus, Poppy and love interest Alex’s connection feels genuine, like an old-fashioned romance. We can imagine ourselves in Poppy’s heels or Alex’s khakis, realizing we’re in love with our close friend but wary of the downside of committing.
illustration by Chloe Ruiz
ends meet with an exhausting restaurant job that has horrible hours and no benefits. King has created an irresistible heroine in Cast, equally vulnerable and tenacious, and upon picking up the book, you become immediately invested in her search for comfort, love, and success. photo by Liana Mikah on Unsplash
“Writers and Lovers” shows a funny look at grief, and, worse, it’s dangerously romantic, both bold enough and fearless enough to imagine the possibility of eternal happiness. The novel is a vision showcasing the economic hell that so many young people are living in today: serving extraordinary wealth, but apart from it at the same time. Casey has been writing her novel for six years, barely making photo by Ramon Kagie on Unsplash
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