Writers & Lovers

A Novel

By: Lily King

Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.

Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she has been writing for six years. At 31, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink. 

Writers & Lovers follows Casey - a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist - in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.

©2020 Lily King (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

An absorbing listen

I listened to the audible production of “Writers and Lovers” by Lily King, narrated by Stacey Glemboski. I love listening to stories when the narrator’s voice adds another dimension to the tale. Glemboski did that for me. She brought the main character, Casey, to life.

Saying that, King’s prose provides the depth of Casey’s soul. Casey is 31 years old, carrying monstrous college debt ($71,000), trying to write her novel all while waitressing and making a pauper’s salary. All of Casey’s friends are “adulting”: high paying employment, homes, married, children, savings. But Casey’s passion is writing. She must write or she feels soul crushed. Oh, and her mom recently died, and she is smothered in grief.

It sounds depressing, and it is and it’s not. Casey’s waitressing job alone is fodder for readers. The sexual harassment by patrons, the insane chefs, the unreliable wait-staff, adding humor and dimension to the story. King writes Casey so realistically that you are her, living through all the crazy moments of a waitress.

And dating…yes, Casey has issues there as well. She has two suiters, each appealing for different reasons. King has the reader invested in Casey: who’s the best for her?

This is a story about the struggles of following your passion when the road is rocky and difficult. This is the first novel I’ve read by Lily King. She is an amazing writer.

BORING!!

Girl goes to work, work sucks. Girl meets boy, not sure if she likes boy. Girl writes book, conflicted about book. Girl goes to work, work sucks. Girl has complicated family life. Girl meets man, not sure if she likes man. And on and on and on.
This book reads the story of every mediocre white bread thirty something woman. And it leaves you with hardly a whisp of any feeling, as it trudges on and then ends with a slight turn of conclusion. What a waste of time.

Don’t pay full price!

The book was ok, started out great, but declined as it ended. If you can get it cheap, worth listening. But don’t waste a precious credit on this one.

Could not finish

A somewhat boring, ordinary young woman tells us about her rather boring ordinary life, her mild obsession with an ex- boyfriend, her boring job as a waitress, and the struggles to write a book. Nothing happens and no character changes or grows. I finally gave up. The Narrator is very good.

Wonderful novel

Beautifully written, beautifully performed! Selves into grief and creativity and real life problems in a way few books do. Highly recommend you read.

not much of a story line

i did not feel as though there was enough going on in this book. i kept listening and waiting for the real story to begin but nothing ever happened. Then, suddenly, it was over.

Underwhelming

I was mostly bored the whole time reading this. I wasn’t invested in any path the main character might take.

Review

This was a very depressing book. The main character, Casey, was pathetic. Not even an inkling of growth in her character. I had to listen until the end because I thought it would get better. I’m sure the author has better works. I downloaded because Elin Hildebrand suggested. Very surprised she did.

A refreshing heartfelt story

This book was a refreshing change. Author made me feel like we all have our own unique problems.The problems we have may not always work out the way we think but in some way they just may work out better than we thought they would. we all are aa little crazy

Meandering through the novel

Although the writing is excellent, the story is almost nonexistent. The character is worth following, but it just goes nowhere. Maybe if the main character was something other than a struggling writer...which begs the question of whether that is the only world known to the author. Still, a great writer.