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Summary
Summary
One of Kirkus ' Best Books of 2016: Crisis is looming for three generations of the Olyphant family.
In less than a year, Henrietta has lost her husband and nearly all of her money, and is about to lose her hard-won anonymity. After a lifetime spent trying to outrun the humiliation her own book caused her, Henrietta has reluctantly agreed to a reissue of The Inseparables , the salaciously filthy and critically despised bestseller she wrote decades earlier.
At the same time, her daughter, Oona, has moved back home to the house that Henrietta needs to sell. Oona is in the middle of a divorce from her husband, Spencer, a corporate-law refugee, stay-at-home dad, and unapologetic stoner. And Oona's teenage daughter, Lydia, away at boarding school, is facing an onslaught of scrutiny and shame when a nude photo of her goes viral.
The trouble only gets worse: Henrietta makes an upsetting discovery about her late husband; Oona embarks on a disastrous affair; and Lydia must deal with an ex-boyfriend who is determined to wreak havoc. Over the course of a few tumultuous days, the Olyphant women must come to terms with their past and try to reimagine their future.
Incisive, moving, and wickedly funny, The Inseparables examines what happens when our most carefully constructed ideas about our lives unravel, and we begin to reinvent ourselves -- and our family -- anew.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nadler's (Wise Men) perceptive novel of a modern family unraveling revolves around three generations of women. Henrietta Olyphant is a recently widowed women's studies professor, and the author of a decades-old trashy, sexy novel called The Inseparables, which is set to be reissued. Oona, Henrietta's daughter, is divorcing her husband. And Oona's daughter, Lydia, has suffered the misfortune of having a topless photo of her spread like wildfire around her private school. Without her husband, Henrietta struggles to keep up appearances and is forced to sell her home and possessions to pay the bills. Lydia worries that the boy who stole the photo from her phone will continue to release scandalous photos of her. Oona complicates her sad divorce-and her relationship with her daughter-by getting romantically involved with her couples counselor. Throughout each scene, Nadler captures the awkwardness of growing older during all phases of life. The characters share humiliations, yet also find the resilience to move on. This novel contains plenty of romance, tension, and tenderness to make for a rich and compelling read. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Three generations of smart, articulate women deal with challenging life passages.Henrietta, 70, lost her beloved husbanda famous chef11 months ago and cannot recover emotionally or financially. Her straits are such that she has grudgingly allowed the reissue of The Inseparables, an X-rated bestseller she wrote in her 20s. She's also started selling tchotchkes from around her house, but the most valuable of them, a weathervane, has gone missing. Meanwhile, her daughter, Oona, an orthopedic surgeon, is navigating the waters of a choppy divorce from her pothead ex-lawyer spouse, Spencer, and has embarked on a dubious relationship with their couples therapist. Oona and Spencer's 15-year-old daughter, Lydia, has been the victim of a terrible classmate at boarding school, Charlie, who made her think he was her boyfriend, gave her her first kiss, and then posted pictures of her breasts on the Internet. "Hartwell took students as young as six, taught them Mandarin, Shakespeare, and computer coding, and spat them back out in to the world as currency traders or diplomats or white-collar criminals." This Charlie kid is getting started early; he's ruined Lydia's life in a way not completely different than the overexposure that still torments her ex-sex-writer grandmother. Nadler (The Wise Men, 2013), a male writer in his 30s, truly dazzles with his understanding of womenthis is the kind of book that will cause female readers to fall in love with the author. The three parallel plots unfold very tautly for at least two-thirds of the duration, then things slow down with too many flashbacks and digressions in the climactic chapters. The resolutions of all the problems are a little flat, if unarguably realistic. But these things are more something for book groups to talk about than serious flaws.Love this writer. Love these characters. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The Inseparables is the title of one of America's most famously trashy books (think Fear of Flying with diagrams), which Henrietta Olyphant wrote in her younger days and has been trying to live down ever since. Now her publisher wants to bring out a new edition, and Henrietta agrees because she needs the money. She is still grieving for her recently deceased husband, Harold, an uncompromising chef whose upscale Boston restaurant drained the family coffers. Daughter Oona, a busy orthopedic trauma surgeon, is facing the dissolution of her 20-year marriage to Spencer. And Oona's daughter, 15-year-old Lydia, has been suspended from boarding school because of a nude selfie that has made it onto the Internet, an embarrassment allowing sly comparisons with Henrietta's novel, which now seems quaint in contrast to what is freely available online. The title The Inseparables refers not just to Henrietta's book but also to the bonds that underpin the lives of these women, whose shifting perspectives present events that unfold over a few days. Nadler (Wise Men, 2013) excels at setting and sustaining a scene, and he writes with confidence and compassion about people trying to navigate their way through disruption.--Quinn, Mary Ellen Copyright 2016 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
HOW EVERYTHING BECAME WAR AND THE MILITARY BECAME EVERYTHING: Tales From the Pentagon, by Rosa Brooks. (Simon & Schuster, $17.) As a former high-ranking Pentagon official, Brooks was, as she put it, "part of a vast bureaucratic death-dealing enterprise." In her book - equal parts memoir and history - she charts the United States' shift in military strategy, accompanied by an uncomfortable blurring of boundaries between peace and war. THE INSEPARABLES, by Stuart Nadler. (Back Bay/Little, Brown, $15.99.) In this wise and witty novel, three generations of women suffer indignities in a time of increased scrutiny: Henrietta, widowed and desperate to improve her finances, has approved the reissue of the book she wrote decades earlier (and has regretted ever since); her daughter, Oona; and her granddaughter, Lydia, reeling and humiliated after a nude photo of her circulated among her classmates. JACKSON, 1964: And Other Dispatches From Fifty Years of Reporting on Race in America, by Calvin Trillin. (Random House, $18.) As a reporter, first for Time and now The New Yorker, Trillin has covered over five decades of the civil rights movement and its aftermath. His book comprises essays and reporting from across the country, standing as a reminder of the progress that has, and has not, been made. THE SUNLIGHT PILGRIMS, by Jenni Fagan. (Hogarth, $16.) At the outset of Fagan's novel, it's 2020 and the residents of a fictional Scottish town are bracing for an unthinkably cold winter. The story centers on three characters: Dylan, a hapless Londoner; a woman, Constance; and her transgendered child, Stella, whose transition depends on getting the hormones she needs. Stella's inner turmoil matches the impending storm; our reviewer, Marisa Silver, praised how "ordinary, even banal, life dramas unfold while the existential noose is tightening." PINPOINT: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds, by Greg Milner. (Norton, $16.95.) Milner examines how the Global Positioning System, better known as GPS, soared from its military origins to become a staple of everyday life, with a focus on its success as an engineering and technical marvel. Along with history, Milner looks at practical considerations that spring from knowing our exact location. HEROES OF THE FRONTIER, by Dave Eggers. (Vintage, $16.95.) Fleeing suburban life, a woman brings along her two children on a road trip to Alaska. The children, Ana and Paul, soulful and intelligent, form the novel's emotional core; our reviewer, Barbara Kingsolver, called them "a dynamic duo who command us to pay attention to the objects we find in our path, and stop pretending we already know the drill."
