ADULTS Hardcover – February 20, 2020

Fascinating to read a book about what social media can do to a person. Yeah, it's fiction, but people resembling this protagonist are out there. Also, if you're a person who needs to like the protagonist (the narrator in Adults), this book might be hard to read. And if you haven't read Animals or Hungry the Stars and Everything, you must. Emma Jane Unsworth is hilarious and heartbreaking simultaneously.

Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth is an unusually modern book, mostly a stream of consciousness book, proving to me yet again how little I enjoy that type of fiction. Our heroine is young and very in to social media. In fact it consumes her, a fact of which I am aware in real life. It's probably a function of my age that I find that attitude to be shallow and unappealing. Which is what I found this book. It was not my cup of tea. I would not recommend it as others will feel as I do, and the one that don't need no encouragement.I received a free ARC of Grown Ups from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #grownups

Outrageous. Over the top. A warning to everyone with a social media presence to NOT LET THINGS GET OUT OF HAND. Or rather, TO at least get that phone out of hand and out of reach for a good part of the day.

As a forty-something teacher from the countryside I wasn’t sure how interesting I’d find this book and struggled to get into it for the first few pages. Initially it’s very ‘London based’ for the career minded and hyper-cool. However before long I was completely sucked into Jenny’s dysfunctional and hilarious life and couldn’t put it down. On some level I think Jenny’s issues are universal and I could relate to her personality so much, particularly from when I was younger. The feelings of never being good enough and terrified of not pleasing everybody all the time made my younger years an anxiety ridden nightmare just like hers. I think that’s why I enjoyed this book so very much - because I can look back now and laugh from a far different perspective. A brilliant, superbly observed, intelligent and hilarious book. I can’t rave about it much more. I’m off to buy the author’s other books!

”Adults” sounded promising but it totally missed the mark for me. As a peer of the protagonist, I expected to have some level of common ground, but instead found myself swept into a world of neuroticism, self obsession, and narcissism that I didn’t know existed! The book had a tone of superiority about it and I felt it tried so hard to be a commentary on the social media culture of today that it almost descended into farce. One to miss, sadly.

At the beginning of Adults, Jenny is a wonderfully unlikeable character. Thoroughly self-absorbed, she cares more about her online persona than her real friends, carefully curating her profile and obsessing about every comment and like.As we get to know her and her story, it becomes easier to empathise with her and she becomes more likeable. By turns she is witty, infuriating and tragic as she struggles to get her life back on track after splitting up with her long term partner.There's also a great supporting cast, in particular her eccentric mother who also oscillates between being highly sympathetic and utterly maddening.It's a wry look at modern life, an exaggerated view of how social media can warp our sense of self and make our normal, less than perfect lives seem wholly inadequate.

As a woman in her mid thirties, who grew up in London and works in the media I thought I would relate to this book and find it enjoyable. However, thankfully I find myself sharing nothing in common with the moronic, humourless protagonist. I like an avocado as much as the next millennial but the entitled tone of this book, especially when describing certain areas of London is pretty offensive. Nice one that your mum bought you a house, that doesn't mean you need to clutch a key when walking around Streatham. I am shook that this got published.

I really had to motivate myself to power through this one and was really disappointed. I found the character incredibly difficult to relate to and all of her surroundings - work, home, etc. - were far too cliche for me. I also found her Instagram addiction a little far fetched. Given that the author's previous book 'Animals' was such a hit, 'Adults' left me frustrated.