Book Review: The Vacationers by Emma Straub

The Vacationers by Emma Straub
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: May 29, 2014
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is the perfect summer read. And by that, I don’t mean that it’s fluffy or mindless. I mean that it’s so utterly absorbing that you won’t be able to put it down. You’ll finish it off in an afternoon by the pool easily and be basking in the afterglow on the way home. Is that too gushy? This book deserves it!

The Vacationers could have easily been a standard “family forced to go on vacation together” beach read – either the kind with zany, madcap humor or the kind with so.much.drama. However, Emma Straub’s novel is neither. In the beginning, the characters seem like stock characters, both to the reader and even to each other – the petulant teenager, the controlling mother with high hopes for family bonding on the trip, the clueless dad, the gay best friends, etc. As the story progresses, more and more layers are revealed for each character. Even the oldest son’s girlfriend, who could have easily been a throw away character used simply to show what an ass the oldest son is, is richly developed.

I loved the way the events that happened before the vacation were revealed in little bits and pieces, intertwined with the narrative of was actually happening on the vacation. I wouldn’t call this book a comedy but there was dry wit was in abundance. Franny and Sylvia’s inner thoughts were especially funny. Remarkably, I liked every character, even though some had some major flaws. And the ending was perfection – I don’t know if I’ve ever been more satisfied at the end of a novel.

Even though summer has just started, I know that The Vacationers will be THE book I recommend to people who ask me for summer reading suggestions.

Also written by Emma Straub and reviewed by me:

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures

(I received The Vacationers courtesy of the publisher.)