Grown Ups

Reviews / Votes

Frequently heartbreaking, occasionally caustic, always searingly honest, Grown Ups is one of the best novels about singleness, siblings and approaching middle age I've ever read -- Jan Carson, author of THE FIRE STARTERS A thoroughly enjoyable family character study set in the most perfect Norwegian lakeside cabin: pure escapism! An endearing, moving novel about family, fertility and finding your feet -- Emma Gannon, author of OLIVE An excoriating exploration into the psyche of [an] aspiring mother -- Susannah Dickey, author of TENNIS LESSONS This is cringe-comedy at its finest, with Aubert's wry observations cranking things up well beyond eleven. Venomous. Bitchy. Brilliant * Independent Ireland * Drily funny and emotionally gripping, it's the perfect summer read -- The Absolute Best Summer Reads for 2021 * Vogue * Grown Ups is a beautiful, slim but powerful look at the complicated process of deciding whether to start a family, while navigating your existing family. The portrayal of the sister relationship is one of the best and most resonant I've ever read -- Nell Frizzell, author of THE PANIC YEARS A really sensitive and thoughtful evocation of a sibling relationship, a family relationship, and an experience that women go through regardless of what walk of life they're living -- Hannah Westland * Radio 4 Open Book * GROWN UPS take a sharp, cool, and funny look at ageing, fertility, and family in all its forms. A perfect novel for a time when we're all wondering who we are and what comes next. -- Jean Hannah Edelstein, author of THIS REALLY ISN'T ABOUT YOU Sharp, funny, very poignant, and full of smart observations about family dynamics -- MIRANDA WARD, author of ADRIFT Exploring the modern themes of dating apps and egg freezing, this is a real page turner with the impressive ability to be both hilarious and devastating * Independent * [A] comic, painfully human story about what it means to be an adult when you don't have a family of your own * Vogue * An enchantingly funny novella which will ring uncomfortably true to anyone with a sibling or a tricky parental relationship -- Kat Brown * Independent * A succinct and thought-provoking exploration of the family unit and how it shapes individual lives * Irish Times * This novel from Norwegian rising star Aubert stands out thanks to its sharp observations and distinctive characters * iPaper * Grown Ups tackles big themes with aplomb, weaving together blistering comedy, searing disappointment and close-to-the-bone commentary on family dysfunction, sibling rivalry and modern motherhood * The Herald * Don't be fooled by its size - this is a sharp, timely novel with characters who linger * Business Post * This book is a little firecracker that, with its nimble gearshifts, will make you laugh, think and feel. I've no doubt it will stamp Aubert's name on Anglophone literary horizons, and I'm itching to see what she comes up with next * European Literature Network * Aubert [has a] singular aptitude for presenting the difficulties of being human with grace and sensitivity, and [an] unerring ability to find humour in the darkest corners * Lunate * A quiet, almost thrillerish, family story that Aubert lightly and elegantly steers towards disaster' * Johanna Frid, Dagens Nyheter, Sweden * A sharp and intimate sibling drama of love, pain and growing up. Very Norwegian, and astonishingly good * Boras Tidning, Sweden (critics' favourite) * Marie Aubert's punch-in-the-stomach debut is an intense and utterly absorbing chamber play about the longing to have children and sibling jealousy, where the fury of each line tears into you like a nail against a chalkboard * M Magasin, Sweden * A perfect little gem of 110 pages. With elegance and almost merciless clearsightedness, Aubert dissects a family and its internal relationships within the space of a few summer days * Aftonbladet, Sweden * Without ever getting pretentious or abstract, Aubert identifies the most acute details, the razor sharp cruelties that may be dressed up as friendliness or small-talk * Nya Wermlandstidningen, Sweden * That's the wonderful thing about Grown-ups, that it tightly, sensitively and without a lot of gesticulating, deals with the difficulties of being a human being * Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden * Aubert's devilish, entertaining humour... is all the more comic in contrast with the fundamental melancholy of these works * Information, Denmark * An outstanding novel ... One of those books that take up little physical space, but still manages to tell a big, involving story * Litteratursiden.dk * Classic, slightly nasty and elegant... A wonderful little chamber drama with a punch * Turid Larsen, Dagsavisen, Books of the Year * I gulped this one down like a delicious summer cocktail. Cringe TV in the form of a novel, and quite simply a devastatingly good novel' * Katrine Judit Urke, Dagbladet, Books of the Year 2019 * Aubert's book is a small, pioneering work about being a single woman in our modern age * Klassekampen * Impressive, efficient and elegant * Dag og Tid *