Writers and Lovers by Lily King

Sometime last night I finished Lily King's "Writers and Lovers" and smiled with joy. The finale was exactly what I had hoped for and we know that doesn't happen too often in this surreal covid life. 

When we first meet Casey Peabody she's a mess. She's been working on a novel for six years now, is massively in debt from her education, and has watched all her friends, who used to be as idealistic as she, give up their dreams for

corporate jobs with health insurance and financial security. Sometimes she envies them, more often she scoffs. Casey is mourning the very unexpected death of her mom, waiting tables at Iris in Harvard Square, and living in a one room former potting shed where she walks the landlord's dog for a break in the rent.

And then, a once in a lifetime opportunity comes along, a spot at the prestigious Red Barn Writers' Workshop, where she can finally put her heart and soul into her book. But, in an act of self-sabotage, Casey puts her heart into a new relationship with a poet named Luke, losing her focus even as his output is prodigious. And here, I realize now, is one of the themes of this novel, men and women and the uneven balance of power. 

Having been in the restaurant business for several years and waited many a table, I found King's chapters set at the pretentious Iris particularly apt. King perfectly captures the conversations that go on behind the scenes, the veiled disdain for the servers from the well-heeled customers, and the toxic hierarchy in the kitchen which tends to be male dominated.

King is also sly, sarcastic, and quite funny when describing the outsized ego of the author Oscar Kolton signing his books at a reading attended by Casey and her only other writer friend and confidant Muriel. At this event Casey falls into conversation with aspiring author Silas as they bond over taking snarky, envious jabs at Kolton. And from this arises another theme of this entertaining novel, professional jealousy among writers and lovers. 

There are people in our lives who will always want nothing more than to see us succeed. And if those people happen to share the same profession, in this case writers, their character will be revealed by how they react to their partner's talent or recognition. Watching Casey maneuver the shoals of the publishing world while juggling two new men in her life, her precarious financial situation, a dead end job, and the loss of her mother, is gut wrenching and exhilarating. Though this is a quick, entertaining read, it's full of wisdom about the strength of friends and family to lift us up when we most need it.