REVIEW: Grown Ups (Marie Aubert)

Book: Grown Ups

Author: Marie Aubert

Premise: Ida is a forty-year-old architect, single and starting to panic. All she sees are other people's children, everywhere. On a family holiday, she's rapidly regressing, picking fights with her sister Marthe and flirting with Marthe's husband. But when some supposedly wonderful news from Marthe sends tensions rocketing, Ida is forced to finally recognise that there's more than one way to grow up.

[⚠️TW: infertility]

This book is very character focused and draws on their imperfections. Ida is jealous of her sister, who she feels gets all of the attention. In a way, her relationship with her sister hasn't changed since childhood. Ida thinks she's better than everyone but there's a great sadness in her. She feels the weight of society's and her own expectations, making her even more insecure.

There were points when I wanted to shake Ida as she starts being mean and hurting people. However, the rest of the family were mean, petty and insufferable too! But they all felt real (I've known some Marthes!). While their flaws were exaggerated, I did find myself relating to different characters at times.

Throughout, there's this constant question of what does it mean to be grown up and what are the markers of that. An interesting read.

P.S. I now want to a cabin by a Norwegian fjord!