Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction
My Review - 5 Stars
An exploration of grief and family dynamics, The Last Romantics follows Fiona Skinner and her siblings across decades as they deal with their father’s death and what they refer to as The Pause, when their mother lost herself in her grief. The story is told as a retrospective from the future; renowned poet Fiona is asked to share about the origin of her most famous poem and she takes us back in time to her childhood. Gorgeous writing and an incredibly engaging story.
It’s one of my favorite novels of the year, made more memorable in part because I was facing a loss in my own family at the time. It helped to see how the Skinners handled their grief (or didn’t) and think through my own grief patterns.
CW: grief, death of a parent, drug use, addiction, death of a loved one
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author of The House Girl explores the lives of four siblings in this ambitious and absorbing novel in the vein of Commonwealth and The Interestings.
“The greatest works of poetry, what makes each of us a poet, are the stories we tell about ourselves. We create them out of family and blood and friends and love and hate and what we’ve read and watched and witnessed. Longing and regret, illness, broken bones, broken hearts, achievements, money won and lost, palm readings and visions. We tell these stories until we believe them.”
When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time.
It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, sensitive Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona—emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the siblings find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and ask what, exactly, they will do for love.
A sweeping yet intimate epic about one American family, The Last Romantics is an unforgettable exploration of the ties that bind us together, the responsibilities we embrace and the duties we resent, and how we can lose—and sometimes rescue—the ones we love. A novel that pierces the heart and lingers in the mind, it is also a beautiful meditation on the power of stories—how they navigate us through difficult times, help us understand the past, and point the way toward our future.
Buy The Book:
Amazon (affiliate link) | Barnes & Noble
