Modern Lovers
by Emma Straub
Buy on AmazonBack in their band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn. But nothing has aged them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring. As secrets and revelations are finally let loose-- about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them-- the stability of their lives can never be reclaimed.
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"The subject matter of Modern Lovers — love, friendship, the SATs and New York real estate — may sound lightweight, but this book is as clever as it is charming. Three middle-aged friends and former bandmates learn that a movie is being made about a fourth bandmate, who achieved solo fame, but died tragically at 27. The news launches the characters into various midlife crises and tailspins. The result is a comedy of family and errors — just think: Jane Austen in contemporary Brooklyn."
NPR Books We Love — 2016 · apps.npr.org