Book Club Recap: Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Hey Lovers, Haters, and Nit-Pickers!
Our September Book Club pick seems to have gotten a standing ovation. Even before the meeting, a lot of our members hopped on our Facebook page to comment on how much they loved the book. But, as every writer knows, no emotion—not even love—is one-dimensional and simple, so here’s what our discussion about this book yielded.
Gorgeous prose
There weren’t really Haters (aka members who didn’t like the book) this time around and mainly that’s because the writing in Writers & Lovers is so gorgeous. To only say it was gorgeous would be a disservice to our members; after all “gorgeous” is a judgement, not a description, so I’ll try to elaborate on this a bit more.
— The writing is specific; the Author doesn’t just say the protagonist misses her mom, and that her heart hurts because of it. She goes to describe what specifically she misses—down to the scent of her mother’s gardening gloves).
— The writing is intentional; every sentence is spot on, it doesn’t meander, there are no superfluous words.
— The writing is melodious; it has an amazing cadence to it.
— The voice is consistent— whether she’s talking about being in love or serving food in a restaurant. What I see in many Upmarket and even Commercial books out there, there can be incredibly deep and lyrical paragraphs and sentences, but it takes a special skill to keep up with that sort of writing throughout.
Emotions were handled beautifully
One of the elements of gorgeous prose is how the Author handled emotions. But it’s so well done that it deserves a bullet point of its own.
— The main emotion in the book is grief
… and it affected all the layers of this novel—the scenes the Author chose to show, the pacing, the narrative drive, character development. The grief was the story itself in this book, but more on that later on.
— Handling emotions on a sentence and paragraph level was original, lyrical, and rang true
For instance, here’s how the Author conveys:
Attraction: “When Luke stood behind me, I became an animal myself: alert, cautious, curious.
Enthrallment: “It was strong, whatever was between us, thick, like the wet air and the smell of every green thing ready to bloom.”
It’s anything but a cliche—no heart squeezing, no warmth washing over her, no stomach clenching.
— The author used setting to evoke emotions
She used the restaurant setting to create and increase the rising anxiety in the protagonist. The confrontational staff, the long hours, the workload… it created a claustrophobic backdrop that exacerbated the panic attacks the protagonist was having.
— Anxiety was handled beautifully
The way it’s triggered, the way it rises and increases over time, the way you feel it. Those of us who experienced anxiety have agreed that this was really believable. But more importantly, (especially in the second half of the book where the anxiety kicks in full blast) the Author used it to build tension, creating a sense of necessity that kept us turning pages.
The whole book is an homage to overcoming grief
The way the Author handled grief resonated with many of the members. It was a point of debate, but most of us agreed that some of the ‘issues’ with the plot might have been an intentional depiction of grief. A state of such deep grief will make a person inconsistent in her behavior, blind to other people’s flaws, hasty with her decisions, lacking in agency, careening from one issue in her life that doesn’t work to another.
Grief was the theme of the novel, but also a means of narrative drive, and decisive element of character development. Everything in this book was related to grief, one way or another. Men in Casey’s life were her mirroring characters—they showed different ways of handling grief, and grieving in different stages. The lack of character agency could be attributed to grieving too—Casey wasn’t in a place where she could really take her life into her own hands. She struggled to keep afloat, and that came across as being passive. The takeaway here is: it’s okay for the protagonist to be passive if you’ve given them a good enough reason to be passive, and if you’ve executed it well.
The whole book is an homage to writing, literature, and love of books
And it’s not done in a cheesy or clichéd way. The love for books drips from these pages. The act of creative writing is particularly well done, as it depicts something we can all relate to as writers—getting lost inside our own novel’s world. For this alone, this book is a must-read for every struggling writer out there.
Here’s how Lily King describes the creative process: “The hardest thing about writing is getting in every day, breaking through the membrane. The second hardest thing is getting out. Sometimes I sink down too deep and come up too fast. Afterward, I feel wide open and skinless.”
To contrast that, most of the members agreed that the publishing path thread in the novel didn’t seem realistic. It’s probably not something an average reader would pick up on, but getting multiple offers of representation on your (barely) second draft, followed by an auction ending in an offer big enough to make all your debts go away… it made some of us want to gouge our eyes out :) Some even added that it’s devastating for the non-writing people to read this, because it makes writing seem so intuitive and easy, when it’s actually brutally hard. This book would make you believe that it’s pretty straightforward: you finish a novel, send it out, get an agent, and get published… so why are “you still working on that book of yours?” It makes those of us who struggle to get published for years on end seem like untalented procrastinators. We know the truth, Lily King! You can’t fool us! :)
The narrative drive was a point of debate
In the first half of the novel, the plot seems to be jumping from one issue in Casey’s life to another (her mother’s death, her unsatisfying work, her failed relationship with Luke, her medical issues). The narrative drive is puzzled together out of these different issues. Some of us had issues latching onto that one golden thread that should be propelling the reader from the beginning to the end. Others thought it was a perfect description of how grief operates. It makes you lose focus, and careen from one thing to the next without the ability to steer yourself in any way.
The Author used a “PROJECT” to kick off the novel
A ‘project’ is a writing device where the author gives the protagonist a project to grapple with in the beginning of the novel, which won’t ultimately be what the book is about. Through dealing with the project, the reader gets to know the protagonist and their world without it being too expositional or boring for the reader.
Luke is the ‘project’ in this sense—he is there not because the book will revolve around his relationship with Casey or Casey getting over him, but because it gives Casey something to deal with as the reader is getting acquainted with Casey’s world.
Writers & Lovers is a fine example of Literary Fiction
We discussed what Literary (as opposed to Upmarket and Commercial) means, and why most of us would dub Writers & Lovers Literary, whereas we’d dub True Places Upmarket. Some of the traits that were mentioned were: quality of writing, bending writing rules, not adhering to any particular genre requirements…
In the book, there’s a quote saying: “Kay Boyle said once that a good story is both an allegory, and a slice of life.” This is particularly true for Literary Fiction. On top of the grief layer, there’s also a discussion throughout the book about how women and men perceive success, how they act when they have it, and when they don’t.
We also noticed that the first part of the book adhered to ‘genre’ conventions less than the second part. A lot of members found the ending to be tied in a red bow; as the grief recedes, Casey gets all she really wanted—a job, her book published, the boy she wanted. The novel lost some of its Literary appeal due to the ending being very genre-like.
The setting—Boston—is a character in and off itself
There is just a handful of cities in the world that get casted as characters in books or series; New York, London, Paris. Most other places are just a stage for the plot to unfold in. Boston was front-and-center in this book, all the way down to the T, a footbridge, and geese. Those of us who’ve been there have attested that it made them feel like they’ve gone back. Those of us who’ve always had a special penchant for Boston, but didn’t have the chance to visit in person, got to experience it on a visceral level.
I hope you enjoyed the recap. Until next time, keep safe and writing!
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Did you read this book? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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