The Vacationers

My Review (Spoiler Free)

The Vacationers is an ambitious story about several members of the Post family on a two week vacation together in Mallorca, Spain. Franny and Jim, the middle-aged parents of two who find themselves facing a crisis in their relationship on the eve of their 35th anniversary. There's Bobby, the son of Franny and Jim, and his girlfriend Carmen who live in Florida and have not spent more than a few days in the company of the family. Sylvia is the eighteen-year-old daughter who just graduated high school and can't wait to be away from her parents at college. Finally, Franny's best friend Charles and his husband Lawrence round out the vacationers and are anxiously waiting to hear from an adoption agency regarding a child of their own. When these family members meet in Mallorca in their vacation house, tensions are lying just under the surface for all of them. Each of them know some part of the puzzle and are trying to figure out how much to share and how to behave around each other for the fourteen days they have in a foreign country.

Emma Straub lays out a sophisticated story that interweaves through the lives of all of these family members. They all leave the island changed in some way. Straub chooses to label each of the chapters according to the day that it takes place on their vacation, which I found interesting and immersive in the story. The Posts are a complicated lot. They fight, and bicker, and don't know how to act or be comfortable around each other for such a long time period. Straub deftly introduces us to each character and the reader understands and commiserates with each of the characters as well. Each chapter swaps between several characters' points-of-view so that the reader is there for every event, each day of vacation. This book, to me, is a little more complicated and involved than I would like for a beach read. Instead, I would definitely pick this book up in the winter months and use it to occupy my time and dream of the summer islands. There were no major complaints, but the 3 stars stems from the writing style of the book. There were points where scenes dragged on and I found myself skimming paragraphs, especially at the beginning of the book. Another choice that was kind of annoying was that there was not a clear delineation when the point-of-view changed within a paragraph. There were times when I had to go back and reread in order to understand which character I was reading at that point. Overall, this book was a great look at family dynamics and relationships and goes to show that even families that don't talk often can reunite and overcome obstacles.