Worth a Read Meh
Length 368
Quick Review The holidays can be full of drama but nothing compared to the drama of The Adults. A novel about exes coming together for a child with a bit of an oopsies.
So I fell behind with my reading over the holidays, so this is the second to the last book before my holiday reading list is done. The Adults by Caroline Hulse is kind of a holiday nightmare come to life. It is vastly different from the other Christmas-themed novels I read all last month. It was breath of fresh air. I’m not sure if I totally love it, but it definitely made an impression and had me turning the pages.
The Adults starts off with a 999 (911 equivalent) call about an accident on Christmas Eve. The story jumps to a little bit before Christmas. Alex and Matt are together. Matt is the father of Scarlett a little girl whose mother is Claire. Scarlett has an imaginary purple bunny named Posey. Claire is with Patrick – he has his own minor family drama in the background. Other than divorced Claire and Matt, they don’t really know each other very well. They all want to spend Christmas with Scarlett, so they decide to go to Happy Forest, a resort, for Christmas as blended family. Also someone gets shot with a bow and arrow.
The only characters I like are Scarlett and Claire. Alex is judgy and a pain in the ass. Patrick is super judgy and thinks he is better than everyone else. Matt is irresponsible. They all have an honesty issue. None of them seem to be trying to enjoy the time very much. It’s kind of a strange family dynamic, but they all harp on it instead of working on getting along. In a world where divorce is common, I think families celebrating holidays together should become common as well. So in one vain, I like it. But I don’t like how the people are portrayed. They’re irritating. Claire is my favorite. She’s fun and responsible and truly means well. Scarlett is a little kid; you can’t blame her for anything she does because it is all beyond reasonable. It’s title The Adults, but they don’t really act like adults.
I don’t know if I love how the book was narrated, but it was an interesting take. It may be a little confusing at first. The book is told from three perspectives: Alex, Patrick, and Scarlett. It doesn’t follow a pattern of perspectives shifting every chapter; sometimes, it does, but sometimes, the same character will narrate for several chapters in a row. The book is also split up by days. So every new day there is a new section with a little excerpt from the Happy Forest brochure. Throughout, there are also interviews with various characters by the police giving a little more information about the bow and arrow incident.
As far as a Christmas book, I think The Adults is fun. The holidays can be chock full of weird family relationships and dynamics, so it’s fun to dive into another family’s drama. Like the vast majority of Christmas books, this does have a happy ending. I was pleased with it.
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Memorable Quotes
“All men want to be dads, really, Ruby had once said to her. None of them would want to be a mum. But everyone wants to be a dad. It’s parenthood, but semi-skimmed and pasteurized.”
Title: The Adults
Author: Caroline Hulse
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780525511748
