Casey is in her early 30s, living in a converted garage, struggling to write a novel. Her mother has recently died and she’s found herself devastated in the wake of a whirlwind romance. Waitressing pays her bills and while she’s watched so many of her artist friends fade into suburban life, Casey holds on to her dream of creating great art. She’s at the brink of something and it might be creative genius and it might be a total breakdown.
The blurb for this book highlights that Casey falls for two very different men at the same time and while that’s an important part of the book it’s not really the book. Casey is the story here and this moment in her life of coming through a complicated loss while also making a choice about what kind of life she wants to live. And, yes, part of that life includes the options of two men but that choice is neither the main problem or the main solution.
Casey is a great character, likeable and easy to root for. She’s struggling but she’s not a mess. She’s dissatisfied in her job at a local restaurant but she’s also quite good at it. (It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when the conflict of a novel centres around the protagonist simply being bad at stuff.) Casey is a good waitress and she’s a good writer. She’s also deeply depressed over the mother’s death, with whom she had a complicated relationship. She’s struggling at a crossroads of what she should be doing with her life, as so many people are when they reach their 30s and haven’t hit the milestones they expected.
I suspect readers who enjoy Sally Rooney will find a lot to appreciate here and I’ll be looking for more from Lily King.
Karissa Reads Books 
I remember when I read this I felt bad for her being a waitress. Then again, I read this book in 2020 when we were all so focused on waitstaff losing money because of covid. Now, looking back, a lot of people who work in restaurants don’t want to make minimum wage because they actually make fat cash from tips. I’ve read so many stories about people who used to be teachers in public schools who had to quit and become waiters because they made more money that way.
I’ve never been a waitress like this but when I worked in a coffee shop I saved all my tips for a year in a shoebox and by the end of that year, took them to the bank and that’s how Peter and I paid for two tickets to Europe. So I could believe that the best cash in serving comes from tips! I know lots of teachers who wait tables during summers but at least here, the benefits that come with teaching would make it more financially worthwhile longterm.
I think I’d like this book, because I generally enjoy Sally Rooney (haven’t read her latest one yet though). This whole hitting your 30s, but not your milestones is a really interesting topic that I think people are seeking out right now, and we are in that generation Karissa! We have kids, but for women our age who haven’t met the right guy, haven’t had kids (even though they want them), I think this is a very big topic for them.
I think you would like this, Anne! You’re right, I see this amongst my peers who haven’t hit whatever milestones they/society think they should have. I mean, I have kids but I’m turning 40 this year and it’s hard not to think about what I thought that would look like vs my actual life!
[…] Writers & Lovers – Lily King (Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, 2020) […]
[…] read only one other book by Lily King (see my review of Writers & Lovers here) and I really enjoyed the realism and honesty of King’s writing. Her characters were […]