All Adults Here: A Novel, Emma Straub, author; Emily Rankin, narrator
The book immerses the reader into several serious areas of discussion, like parenting, single motherhood, sexual preference of many types, bullying, selfishness, loss, guilt, infidelity, and more. It does it very well with just the right amount of humor interjected at the appropriate time. The novel underscores the need for compassion and thoughtfulness at all times regardless of the situation. Patience and kindness, will solve problems rather than create them.
There are many characters in Astrid Strick’s extended family, all of whom, including Astrid, lead lives that are stifled and unfulfilled. None seem to have matured into fully developed adults. All have relationship problems that need to be worked out.
Astrid has three children who have not reached their potential. Each is going through a life crisis. Elliot is having issues with his twin boys who are incorrigibly wild, and he has unfulfilled dreams of being a developer. He over-questions all his decisions. Nicky is almost too affable. He is having trouble with his teen-aged daughter, Cecelia, who has had her own life crisis. Rather than take a stand to defend her innocence, he and his wife let her take the fall for the girl who betrayed her. Porter is lonely and wants to be fulfilled by having a child as a single mother. She uses a sperm bank to become pregnant. She has been involved in an illicit love affair and is very childish in her reactions to all her problems. Astrid, after witnessing the death of a quasi-friend, begins to question everything in her life including her secrets about her sexuality. August, a teenager and friend of Cecelia, believes that there is another person living inside of him that prefers a different sex. All in all, these are an odd mix of people, each with secrets, each in their own way trying to forge his or her own identity, often without thinking about the consequences of their actions upon others.
Although they are not always likable, the deft touch of the author makes them very acceptable and almost endears them to the reader, in the end. As the reader watches each character come of age, not as youngsters, but as adults, the punishments often do not fit the “crime”, and so the story becomes somewhat of a fairytale.
I really felt that I was kidnapped by a disingenuous advertising campaign, because nowhere did I read that there would be so many issues about sexual confusion or that there would be such foul language in this book. If a book has to be described falsely, without including so important a subject as sexual proclivity, in order to attract an unwitting audience, perhaps the themes being written about are merely being written about to promote the author’s personal, progressive agenda. I was not that comfortable reading about lesbian relationships, transgender teens or homosexual experimentation. It is disingenuous to snare a reader under false pretenses.
That said, the author did an admirable job describing the struggles of those who march to the beat of a different drummer, whether it is standing up to bullies or experimenting with sex or choosing a sexual lifestyle other than the one that was chosen for them. Each of the character’s personal struggles leads them to an epiphany of self-discovery. It takes them to a better place in which they can like themselves, be more honest with others, and disregard the judgment of cruel people around them. They do not want to judge and do not want to be judged. Every character feels somehow slighted by the world.
Once again, I was lured into reading about an author’s political agenda and her need to brainwash the public with nasty comments about President Trump. If she wants to promote her progressive leanings, she should warn the reader. Some of us do not agree with her positions.

Pretty good. Felt like the whole point of the story was for Astrid to regret everything she has ever done. A bit of a downer. But at least it makes you think.