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Next Year, For Sure
In this moving and enormously entertaining debut novel, longtime romantic partners Kathryn and Chris experiment with an open relationship and reconsider everything they thought they knew about love.
After nine years together, Kathryn and Chris have the sort of relationship most would envy. They speak in the shorthand they have invented, complete one another’s sentences, and help each other through every daily and existential dilemma. When Chris tells Kathryn about his feelings for Emily, a vivacious young woman he sees often at the Laundromat, Kathryn encourages her boyfriend to pursue this other woman—certain that her bond with Chris is strong enough to weather a little side dalliance.
As Kathryn and Chris stumble into polyamory, Next Year, For Sure tracks the tumultuous, revelatory, and often very funny year that follows. When Chris’s romance with Emily grows beyond what anyone anticipated, both Chris and Kathryn are invited into Emily’s communal home, where Kathryn will discover new romantic possibilities of her own. In the confusions, passions, and upheavals of their new lives, both Kathryn and Chris will be forced to reconsider their past and what they thought they knew about love.
Offering a luminous portrait of a relationship from two perspectives, Zoey L. Paterson has written an empathic, beautiful, and tremendously honest novel about a great love pushed to the edge. Deeply poignant and hugely entertaining, Next Year, For Sure shows us what lies at the mysterious heart of relationships, and what true openness and transformation require.
After nine years together, Kathryn and Chris have the sort of relationship most would envy. They speak in the shorthand they have invented, complete one another’s sentences, and help each other through every daily and existential dilemma. When Chris tells Kathryn about his feelings for Emily, a vivacious young woman he sees often at the Laundromat, Kathryn encourages her boyfriend to pursue this other woman—certain that her bond with Chris is strong enough to weather a little side dalliance.
As Kathryn and Chris stumble into polyamory, Next Year, For Sure tracks the tumultuous, revelatory, and often very funny year that follows. When Chris’s romance with Emily grows beyond what anyone anticipated, both Chris and Kathryn are invited into Emily’s communal home, where Kathryn will discover new romantic possibilities of her own. In the confusions, passions, and upheavals of their new lives, both Kathryn and Chris will be forced to reconsider their past and what they thought they knew about love.
Offering a luminous portrait of a relationship from two perspectives, Zoey L. Paterson has written an empathic, beautiful, and tremendously honest novel about a great love pushed to the edge. Deeply poignant and hugely entertaining, Next Year, For Sure shows us what lies at the mysterious heart of relationships, and what true openness and transformation require.
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2017
76 people are currently reading
5011 people want to read
About the author
Zoey Leigh Peterson
2 books97 followersZoey Leigh Peterson was born in England, grew up all over the United States, and now lives in Canada. Her fiction has appeared in The Walrus, EVENT, Grain, PRISM international, and has been anthologized in The Journey Prize Stories and Best Canadian Stories. She is the recipient of the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction (The Malahat Review) and the Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Award (The New Quarterly). Her first novel, Next Year, For Sure, is forthcoming from Scribner and Doubleday Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 545 reviews
November 9, 2022
my friend told me this is "better conversations with friends" so i immediately read this due to a physical and existential need to prove them wrong.
and it wasn't. obviously.
i don't LIKE the characters in conversations with friends, and i'm not supposed to...but i do love them. i do find them interesting and real.
but these bozos...oh boy.
we have four main characters here: kathryn and chris, who have been dating for 100 years; emily, a girl chris suddenly needs to romantically possess; and another guy who just happens to be there later, as much an innocent bystander undeserving of witnessing these fools mope around as we, the reader(s).
i thought i liked kathryn (and exclusively kathryn) for a while, and then i realized that actually i only pity her.
then i hated her more than anyone or anything in the world, up to and including buttered popcorn jellybeans and the buzzfeed lexicon.
nothing could be further from genuine interest than pity.
i did find this compulsively readable, though, so do with that what you will.
bottom line: sally rooney supremacy.
and it wasn't. obviously.
i don't LIKE the characters in conversations with friends, and i'm not supposed to...but i do love them. i do find them interesting and real.
but these bozos...oh boy.
we have four main characters here: kathryn and chris, who have been dating for 100 years; emily, a girl chris suddenly needs to romantically possess; and another guy who just happens to be there later, as much an innocent bystander undeserving of witnessing these fools mope around as we, the reader(s).
i thought i liked kathryn (and exclusively kathryn) for a while, and then i realized that actually i only pity her.
then i hated her more than anyone or anything in the world, up to and including buttered popcorn jellybeans and the buzzfeed lexicon.
nothing could be further from genuine interest than pity.
i did find this compulsively readable, though, so do with that what you will.
bottom line: sally rooney supremacy.
December 20, 2016
So I'm giving Next Year, For Sure 4 stars because of the writing. It's simple and straightforward, but I loved how Peterson was able to get me into her characters' heads, with occasional clever creative flourishes. This kept me reading compulsively, which is quite a feat given that in some ways the main characters and their struggles were really not my cup of tea. Chris and Kathryn have been a couple for nine years. Chris becomes interested in Emily. Kathryn suggests to Chris that he should go on a date with Emily. And a tangled web of emotions and relationships is spun. The story spans a year, and the chapters alternate between Chris's view point and Kathryn's view point. I'm not condemning Chris and Kathryn and their open relationship when I say that their struggles are not my cup of tea. I simply mean that I can't relate to the emotions that drive them to make the choices they make, and I certainly couldn't see myself making those choices. But Peterson does an excellent job of exploring Chris and Kathryn's starting point and where their choices take them. There's no preaching for or against polyamory -- rather Peterson's story is in the nature of a carefully crafted hypothetical -- what would happen if two seemingly content and kind people chose to have a poly amorous relationship. Again, I loved the writing. I also love the setting on the west coast of British Columbia. And I found that the story was interesting enough to keep me reading -- although it did make me feel a bit old... Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
December 9, 2016
In "Next Year, for Sure", we are invited to take a look at how one couple,
Kathryn and Chris step into an arena - not widely conventional. They seem to love each other. Their communication is open and honest. They aren't afraid to tell each other anything.
Couples in love have little crushes with other people -but not all take 'action'.
When Chris tells Kathryn he has a crush on Emily... it's Kathryn that takes the next lead. She gives Chris her permission and blessing to see Emily. Kathryn encourages Chris to ask her out on a date.
Part of their deal is that Chris will share everything 'back' and be honest with Kathryn.
Kathryn believes their love is strong enough to handle a little dalliance.
Kathryn sends Chris out on a date - a "non-date", with Emily. He leaves at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Says he will be back by 11:00pm.
One of the first thoughts Kathryn has is...."what could they possibly do for almost nine hours on this "non-date"? And......"can he even stay awake past ten anymore?"
By early evening....we see Kathryn pacing around her apartment- she's already watched the toxic sitcoms..(many episodes about dating).
We can see Kathryn's mind begin to split. She gave Chris permission to go out with Emily. She wants to want this for him - you can see her logically justifying her reasons....at the same time we 'feel' her begin to squirm.
She does what any normal American female might do....call her close girlfriend.
"She calls Sharon on the phone."
"Chris is on a date, Kathryn says."
"A what?"
"With Emily.
"There is a deadness on the line."
"That fucking asshole, Sharon says.
"No, I told him to".
"Right, says Sharon. Told him how?"
"I told him to ask her out".
"Jesus, Kathryn. Why the hell?
"Kathryn doesn't answer. She is wondering if she might vomit. The smell of the pasta is filling the kitchen. She listens to the line.
"Do you want me to come over?, Sharon says at last"
"I'm fine, Kathryn says".
"I'm coming over".
"Don't"
"Twenty minutes".
"Bring wine, Kathryn says".
Interested to see what happens next?
I was! .....take a journey - a years journey - with an open mind and find out.
For me, the above dialogue between Kathryn and her friend Sharon on the phone felt very authentic to the situation at hand.
When the characters were in 'their' experience sharing what was working and what was not working for them, things felt most real to me.
There were some parts that fell flat. Some of the descriptions were a little too mechanical.... lacking emotion.
Yet,
Overall...I applaud the author for writing a novel on this topic. I think she challenges people thinking. Zoey L. Paterson writes with humor, while asking big questions about long term relationships. If readers are uncomfortable or judgemental about what other couples do or don't do - a good question to ask oneself is why? Why be uncomfortable about what others choose to do?
Adults have rights - couples have choices.
I remember - not that many years ago - when people were bitching about gay marriage. I remember thinking...."how would a gay marriage interfere with happiness of my marriage"?
I'm not the least bit uncomfortable with adult relationship choices or sexual exchanging of partners. What my adult friends choose to do in their bedroom with their partner is up to them. Their choices don't hurt my marriage in the least. I don't think an ounce less of people who walk on the wild side....
It's lies and cheating I want nothing to do with.
Kudos to Zoey Leigh Peterson. To me... this entire topic is no different than any other
injustice, prejudice, or civil right issue. If family and friends turn away from people they know who have poly relationships, it's no different than turning away from people who are black, gay, Jew, or a registered republican. ( you can laugh now)
But seriously..... think we might lighten up about sex- love and what OTHERS do?/!
Thank You Scribner, NetGalley, and Zoey Leigh Peterson
Kathryn and Chris step into an arena - not widely conventional. They seem to love each other. Their communication is open and honest. They aren't afraid to tell each other anything.
Couples in love have little crushes with other people -but not all take 'action'.
When Chris tells Kathryn he has a crush on Emily... it's Kathryn that takes the next lead. She gives Chris her permission and blessing to see Emily. Kathryn encourages Chris to ask her out on a date.
Part of their deal is that Chris will share everything 'back' and be honest with Kathryn.
Kathryn believes their love is strong enough to handle a little dalliance.
Kathryn sends Chris out on a date - a "non-date", with Emily. He leaves at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Says he will be back by 11:00pm.
One of the first thoughts Kathryn has is...."what could they possibly do for almost nine hours on this "non-date"? And......"can he even stay awake past ten anymore?"
By early evening....we see Kathryn pacing around her apartment- she's already watched the toxic sitcoms..(many episodes about dating).
We can see Kathryn's mind begin to split. She gave Chris permission to go out with Emily. She wants to want this for him - you can see her logically justifying her reasons....at the same time we 'feel' her begin to squirm.
She does what any normal American female might do....call her close girlfriend.
"She calls Sharon on the phone."
"Chris is on a date, Kathryn says."
"A what?"
"With Emily.
"There is a deadness on the line."
"That fucking asshole, Sharon says.
"No, I told him to".
"Right, says Sharon. Told him how?"
"I told him to ask her out".
"Jesus, Kathryn. Why the hell?
"Kathryn doesn't answer. She is wondering if she might vomit. The smell of the pasta is filling the kitchen. She listens to the line.
"Do you want me to come over?, Sharon says at last"
"I'm fine, Kathryn says".
"I'm coming over".
"Don't"
"Twenty minutes".
"Bring wine, Kathryn says".
Interested to see what happens next?
I was! .....take a journey - a years journey - with an open mind and find out.
For me, the above dialogue between Kathryn and her friend Sharon on the phone felt very authentic to the situation at hand.
When the characters were in 'their' experience sharing what was working and what was not working for them, things felt most real to me.
There were some parts that fell flat. Some of the descriptions were a little too mechanical.... lacking emotion.
Yet,
Overall...I applaud the author for writing a novel on this topic. I think she challenges people thinking. Zoey L. Paterson writes with humor, while asking big questions about long term relationships. If readers are uncomfortable or judgemental about what other couples do or don't do - a good question to ask oneself is why? Why be uncomfortable about what others choose to do?
Adults have rights - couples have choices.
I remember - not that many years ago - when people were bitching about gay marriage. I remember thinking...."how would a gay marriage interfere with happiness of my marriage"?
I'm not the least bit uncomfortable with adult relationship choices or sexual exchanging of partners. What my adult friends choose to do in their bedroom with their partner is up to them. Their choices don't hurt my marriage in the least. I don't think an ounce less of people who walk on the wild side....
It's lies and cheating I want nothing to do with.
Kudos to Zoey Leigh Peterson. To me... this entire topic is no different than any other
injustice, prejudice, or civil right issue. If family and friends turn away from people they know who have poly relationships, it's no different than turning away from people who are black, gay, Jew, or a registered republican. ( you can laugh now)
But seriously..... think we might lighten up about sex- love and what OTHERS do?/!
Thank You Scribner, NetGalley, and Zoey Leigh Peterson
November 3, 2016
"...part of being in love with someone is not falling in love with someone else."
Kathryn and Chris have been together for nine years. They finish each other's sentences, they have code names and nicknames and shorthand for nearly every situation, and they know just how to solve the other's crises. They challenge each other but yet there is always the comfort and security of familiarity, of having someone to cuddle with, someone who knows just what you want to eat at all times of the day and night, and someone to rub your feet after a hard day.
And then one day, Chris starts talking about Emily. Emily is a free-spirited, incredibly friendly woman that he sees often at the laundromat. Before he knows it, he discovers he has a crush on Emily. It doesn't change how he feels about Kathryn, but he wants to get to know Emily better. Since they tell each other everything, Chris tells Kathryn about his crush. She wants to show how supportive of Chris she is, and prove as much to herself as anything that she believes their relationship can withstand anything, so she encourages him to date Emily. At least for a while.
"He doesn't want to kiss her. He wants what comes after. After the kissing and the undressing and the confiding. After the discovery and the familiarity and the gradual absence of kissing. He wants the intimacy of friends who used to be lovers."
Can a longstanding relationship withstand the decision to open it up after many years? Can the person who is left behind handle not only the disapproval and pity and curiosity of others, but the fear and uncertainty that accompanies watching your mate pursue a relationship with someone else? How far are you willing to let things go?
Next Year, For Sure follows Kathryn, Chris, and Emily through a tumultuous year, one filled with unexpected excitement and spontaneity, romance, insecurity, depression, surprise, and, of course, happiness. Although the characters at times seem a little too good to be true, and you wonder why everyone is so willing to go along with the situation as it unfolds, you wonder what will happen, and whether someone will be the odd man (or woman) out.
I thought this book was a really easy and enjoyable read. Zoey Leigh Peterson writes in a very approachable, conversational style, which made you feel as if you were eavesdropping on everyone's conversations and watching things unfold firsthand.
As with many books about relationships, you wish that the characters would say the things they're thinking and feeling rather than hope someone will figure it out. I'll admit I could never have this type of relationship, but clearly polyamory works for some, so if you have problems believing this type of relationship would succeed, you may have to put aside your own feelings about the concept when reading this book. I'm also curious to know what came next for the characters.
NetGalley and Scribner provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
Kathryn and Chris have been together for nine years. They finish each other's sentences, they have code names and nicknames and shorthand for nearly every situation, and they know just how to solve the other's crises. They challenge each other but yet there is always the comfort and security of familiarity, of having someone to cuddle with, someone who knows just what you want to eat at all times of the day and night, and someone to rub your feet after a hard day.
And then one day, Chris starts talking about Emily. Emily is a free-spirited, incredibly friendly woman that he sees often at the laundromat. Before he knows it, he discovers he has a crush on Emily. It doesn't change how he feels about Kathryn, but he wants to get to know Emily better. Since they tell each other everything, Chris tells Kathryn about his crush. She wants to show how supportive of Chris she is, and prove as much to herself as anything that she believes their relationship can withstand anything, so she encourages him to date Emily. At least for a while.
"He doesn't want to kiss her. He wants what comes after. After the kissing and the undressing and the confiding. After the discovery and the familiarity and the gradual absence of kissing. He wants the intimacy of friends who used to be lovers."
Can a longstanding relationship withstand the decision to open it up after many years? Can the person who is left behind handle not only the disapproval and pity and curiosity of others, but the fear and uncertainty that accompanies watching your mate pursue a relationship with someone else? How far are you willing to let things go?
Next Year, For Sure follows Kathryn, Chris, and Emily through a tumultuous year, one filled with unexpected excitement and spontaneity, romance, insecurity, depression, surprise, and, of course, happiness. Although the characters at times seem a little too good to be true, and you wonder why everyone is so willing to go along with the situation as it unfolds, you wonder what will happen, and whether someone will be the odd man (or woman) out.
I thought this book was a really easy and enjoyable read. Zoey Leigh Peterson writes in a very approachable, conversational style, which made you feel as if you were eavesdropping on everyone's conversations and watching things unfold firsthand.
As with many books about relationships, you wish that the characters would say the things they're thinking and feeling rather than hope someone will figure it out. I'll admit I could never have this type of relationship, but clearly polyamory works for some, so if you have problems believing this type of relationship would succeed, you may have to put aside your own feelings about the concept when reading this book. I'm also curious to know what came next for the characters.
NetGalley and Scribner provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
February 23, 2017
2.5 stars
I'm too old for this book. Or too old fashioned. The book’s premise was difficult for me to swallow. Chris and Kathryn love each other but she's okay with him getting “crushes” on other women. I'm not sure I can really buy into that. I get that you can have a crush on someone else, it's the acting on it I struggled with. And giving your significant other permission to act on it? So, from the get go, I was having trouble with the two main characters. Kathryn believes she's acting like a Joni Mitchell song, all independent and strong. But the Joni Mitchell songs I remember all involved heartbreak. The book poses some interesting questions about what love means and what it means to be in a committed relationship. It's just that I didn't agree with Kathryn’s conclusions and that impacted my ability to like the book. And I didn't care for Chris, but I did like his mom (probably because we're the same generation). The book also deals with what it means to be a good friend and accepting what our friends do. I actually found the parts that dealt with the friendship between Sharon and Kathryn more believable than the relationship between Chris and Kathryn. I won't go into where the book goes, but you can see certain things coming from far away.
I give Peterson credit for her writing style. It's straightforward and appealing. The book moves along at a good pace.
My thanks to netgalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book.
I'm too old for this book. Or too old fashioned. The book’s premise was difficult for me to swallow. Chris and Kathryn love each other but she's okay with him getting “crushes” on other women. I'm not sure I can really buy into that. I get that you can have a crush on someone else, it's the acting on it I struggled with. And giving your significant other permission to act on it? So, from the get go, I was having trouble with the two main characters. Kathryn believes she's acting like a Joni Mitchell song, all independent and strong. But the Joni Mitchell songs I remember all involved heartbreak. The book poses some interesting questions about what love means and what it means to be in a committed relationship. It's just that I didn't agree with Kathryn’s conclusions and that impacted my ability to like the book. And I didn't care for Chris, but I did like his mom (probably because we're the same generation). The book also deals with what it means to be a good friend and accepting what our friends do. I actually found the parts that dealt with the friendship between Sharon and Kathryn more believable than the relationship between Chris and Kathryn. I won't go into where the book goes, but you can see certain things coming from far away.
I give Peterson credit for her writing style. It's straightforward and appealing. The book moves along at a good pace.
My thanks to netgalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book.
March 6, 2017
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
I admit, I thought I was in for trouble when reading the first chapter of short-story veteran Zoey Leigh Peterson's debut novel, Next Year, For Sure, as we get introduced to a cutesy-wootsy-patoosie perfect little twentysomething hipster couple, and witness the cutesy-wootsy-patoosie perfect little twentysomething hipster things that constitute their relationship; but then in the very next chapter we get a complicated blow-by-blow look at the boyfriend's checkered dating history, why all his relationships have ended with the women in his life despising him, and why this genial, shy young man with intimacy issues can't understand why all his ex-girlfriends end up despising him, and I suddenly realized, "Oh, okay, there's actually something really special going on here in this book, I get it now."
That special something turns out to be an extra probing, extra complex character study of two noble yet deeply flawed human beings, as they accidentally stumble ass-backwards into the perpetual minefield known as polyamory and open relationships, an Olympic-pool-deep dive into what motivates these two engaging yet terrible yet engaging yet terrible people into getting in the kind of emotionally tangled mess they end up finding themselves in by the halfway point of this book. Set in an unnamed hippie-friendly town but one that clearly feels like a Pacific Northwest destination like Portland, the clear standout in this relationship is actually the woman Kathryn, a former childhood member of a religious cult who is now a fairly normal grown-up but prone to occasional bizarre, self-destructive behavior; she's been in a seemingly perfect if not boring-as-hell relationship for nine years now with the meek, genteel, sexually confused Chris, one based on such a bedrock of honesty that one of their favorite activities is admitting to each other when they get a crush on someone else. But when one of these crushes on the part of Chris turns into a more ongoing fascination he's finding hard to let go of, Kathryn for some reason encourages him to actually ask her out on a date and then go out on that date; and essentially the rest of the book is a powerful and poetic look at why she would do such a thing and what the fallout of that date is, a story that sometimes goes in expected directions but often in unexpected ones, and certainly with the main point being to get a deep inside-out look at the people involved and what makes them tick, and not necessarily for the slow-moving plot or to make a moral pronouncement either pro or con about the subject of polyamory itself (sorry, poly fans who were hoping this book would be a manifesto for your lifestyle).
As a guy who loves dense character studies but who rarely comes across books of that type that are truly impressive, this book was addictive like crack for me, which is why I'm giving it a nearly perfect score for readers like me who are into this kind of delicately stylish writing; but I'm also the first to admit that this isn't nearly going to be everyone's cup of tea (in fact, I suspect this book will garner as much intense hatred as it does intense love), which is why I'm giving it an only okay score for general audience members. (Also, by making the main villain of this book Kathryn's former best friend, a bland suburban middle-class housewife who loves Matthew McConaughey movies and who reacts to the entire situation with, "That's gross and you're gross and this whole thing is gross," Peterson is by definition alienating the biggest single demographic of people who will be picking up this book in the first place [publisher Scribner is unwisely marketing this as a book for fans of rom-coms]; and I'm willing to bet money that six months from now, this book's Goodreads page is going to be filled with horrified rants from suburban middle-class housewives about how terrible and immoral all these people are, and how best friend Sharon was completely right and Kathryn was a fool not to listen to her.) Don't let this, though, stop you from taking a chance on this beautifully written, sometimes transgressively thought-provoking book, a nearly perfect debut that makes me excited to see what Peterson has in store for us next.
Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.9 for fans of deep character studies
I admit, I thought I was in for trouble when reading the first chapter of short-story veteran Zoey Leigh Peterson's debut novel, Next Year, For Sure, as we get introduced to a cutesy-wootsy-patoosie perfect little twentysomething hipster couple, and witness the cutesy-wootsy-patoosie perfect little twentysomething hipster things that constitute their relationship; but then in the very next chapter we get a complicated blow-by-blow look at the boyfriend's checkered dating history, why all his relationships have ended with the women in his life despising him, and why this genial, shy young man with intimacy issues can't understand why all his ex-girlfriends end up despising him, and I suddenly realized, "Oh, okay, there's actually something really special going on here in this book, I get it now."
That special something turns out to be an extra probing, extra complex character study of two noble yet deeply flawed human beings, as they accidentally stumble ass-backwards into the perpetual minefield known as polyamory and open relationships, an Olympic-pool-deep dive into what motivates these two engaging yet terrible yet engaging yet terrible people into getting in the kind of emotionally tangled mess they end up finding themselves in by the halfway point of this book. Set in an unnamed hippie-friendly town but one that clearly feels like a Pacific Northwest destination like Portland, the clear standout in this relationship is actually the woman Kathryn, a former childhood member of a religious cult who is now a fairly normal grown-up but prone to occasional bizarre, self-destructive behavior; she's been in a seemingly perfect if not boring-as-hell relationship for nine years now with the meek, genteel, sexually confused Chris, one based on such a bedrock of honesty that one of their favorite activities is admitting to each other when they get a crush on someone else. But when one of these crushes on the part of Chris turns into a more ongoing fascination he's finding hard to let go of, Kathryn for some reason encourages him to actually ask her out on a date and then go out on that date; and essentially the rest of the book is a powerful and poetic look at why she would do such a thing and what the fallout of that date is, a story that sometimes goes in expected directions but often in unexpected ones, and certainly with the main point being to get a deep inside-out look at the people involved and what makes them tick, and not necessarily for the slow-moving plot or to make a moral pronouncement either pro or con about the subject of polyamory itself (sorry, poly fans who were hoping this book would be a manifesto for your lifestyle).
As a guy who loves dense character studies but who rarely comes across books of that type that are truly impressive, this book was addictive like crack for me, which is why I'm giving it a nearly perfect score for readers like me who are into this kind of delicately stylish writing; but I'm also the first to admit that this isn't nearly going to be everyone's cup of tea (in fact, I suspect this book will garner as much intense hatred as it does intense love), which is why I'm giving it an only okay score for general audience members. (Also, by making the main villain of this book Kathryn's former best friend, a bland suburban middle-class housewife who loves Matthew McConaughey movies and who reacts to the entire situation with, "That's gross and you're gross and this whole thing is gross," Peterson is by definition alienating the biggest single demographic of people who will be picking up this book in the first place [publisher Scribner is unwisely marketing this as a book for fans of rom-coms]; and I'm willing to bet money that six months from now, this book's Goodreads page is going to be filled with horrified rants from suburban middle-class housewives about how terrible and immoral all these people are, and how best friend Sharon was completely right and Kathryn was a fool not to listen to her.) Don't let this, though, stop you from taking a chance on this beautifully written, sometimes transgressively thought-provoking book, a nearly perfect debut that makes me excited to see what Peterson has in store for us next.
Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.9 for fans of deep character studies
February 28, 2017
Thanks to Scribner for sending me a copy of this book!
Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was interested in this book because I think relationships are interesting and when a couple explores an open relationship, I find that topic fascinating to read about, but this book is anything but fascinating. (And I was once again fooled by a gorgeous book cover.)
This book follows Chris and Kathryn who have been together for 9 years when he gets a crush on this girl named Emily that he sees from time to time at the laundromat. He tells Kathryn about his crush and instead of getting mad like any rationally person, she tells him he should pursue her, and see if she will go out with him. The premise of this story isn't terrible, and I was mostly curious going into it, but the writing style. Good lord. It made this book absolutely unbearable for me to read. I know this might be a it's not you it's me situation because I personally can't stand this type of "artistic" writing style. There's no quotation marks when the characters speak and the dialogue is so choppy and annoying and all the characters have no personalities and I don't really know anything about them other than the fact that they are in a relationship. I didn't feel a single thing for any of the characters ever because it was impossible to get attached with the pace this novel moves at. We don't even get properly introduced to this couple before BAM on the FIRST PAGE, he's mentioning Emily and how he thinks she's the coolest and he wants to date her and it's like what?? It's the very first conversation we see between Chris and Katheryn.
By chapter three I was so annoyed with the writing style I almost gave up on the book entirely. In chapter three, there's this annoying ass scene where he's trying to reach her on the phone several times, and each time one of her room mates picks up the phone and there's this terribly awkward writing style of Chris asking himself all these questions about Emily's life and I just hated the way this was written. I don't even know how to explain why I disliked it so much, It just felt so choppy and obnoxious and at that point I didn't give two fucks about Chris or Katheryn or Emily or anyone.
Bleh, this is my second one star book this month and I hate when I have to give books a one star rating, but I couldn't think of one positive thing to say about this book, so I'm sorry but it doesn't deserve higher than one star.
Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was interested in this book because I think relationships are interesting and when a couple explores an open relationship, I find that topic fascinating to read about, but this book is anything but fascinating. (And I was once again fooled by a gorgeous book cover.)
This book follows Chris and Kathryn who have been together for 9 years when he gets a crush on this girl named Emily that he sees from time to time at the laundromat. He tells Kathryn about his crush and instead of getting mad like any rationally person, she tells him he should pursue her, and see if she will go out with him. The premise of this story isn't terrible, and I was mostly curious going into it, but the writing style. Good lord. It made this book absolutely unbearable for me to read. I know this might be a it's not you it's me situation because I personally can't stand this type of "artistic" writing style. There's no quotation marks when the characters speak and the dialogue is so choppy and annoying and all the characters have no personalities and I don't really know anything about them other than the fact that they are in a relationship. I didn't feel a single thing for any of the characters ever because it was impossible to get attached with the pace this novel moves at. We don't even get properly introduced to this couple before BAM on the FIRST PAGE, he's mentioning Emily and how he thinks she's the coolest and he wants to date her and it's like what?? It's the very first conversation we see between Chris and Katheryn.
By chapter three I was so annoyed with the writing style I almost gave up on the book entirely. In chapter three, there's this annoying ass scene where he's trying to reach her on the phone several times, and each time one of her room mates picks up the phone and there's this terribly awkward writing style of Chris asking himself all these questions about Emily's life and I just hated the way this was written. I don't even know how to explain why I disliked it so much, It just felt so choppy and obnoxious and at that point I didn't give two fucks about Chris or Katheryn or Emily or anyone.
Bleh, this is my second one star book this month and I hate when I have to give books a one star rating, but I couldn't think of one positive thing to say about this book, so I'm sorry but it doesn't deserve higher than one star.
December 9, 2017
Next Year For Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson was one of those books that I devoured, unwilling to leave the world of the novel for the “real” one unless I absolutely had to, and resentful at the daily existence of life like making food and going to work that interrupted my ability to read non-stop. For that, and that alone even though this novel has many other great qualities, I have to give debut novelist Zoey Leigh Peterson mad props. It’s been a while since a book has really made me feel that way, and I like to think I read a lot of really great books. (Plus, look at that fucking gorgeous cover, featuring a painting by Jarek Puczel. It’s definitely my favourite cover this year so far)...
See my full review here.
See my full review here.
January 28, 2018
I loved this book about an unconventional relationship. Chris and Kathryn have been together for nine years. They have a wonderful relationship, filled with kindness and love and respect and comfort and inside jokes.
Then one day Chris meets Emily and decides that he thinks he might want to date her. Kathryn, to his surprise, encourages him to do so, genuinely wanting him to be happy.
What follows is so much more beautiful and complex than what you might expect from a novel about a couple experimenting with an open relationship. I'll admit that the choices they made made me very uncomfortable at times and felt so foreign to me, and yet I still felt like I could relate to many of their ideas about love and companionship. There's a universality here in that anyone in any kind of relationship makes sacrifices and compromises for the ones they love.
Peterson writes with such emotional honesty and insight. Are Chris and Kathryn slowly drifting apart as a romantic couple, or will an open relationship turn out to be their new normal? There's something so melancholy about the reality of discovering that the person you love more than anything may not be enough for you.
Chris and Kathryn are both so complicated and likable for different reasons. I especially enjoyed reading about Chris, as it's rare to find an introverted character written so perfectly.
I just really loved this book and how wistful and sincere and empathetic it was. I would've read another 200 pages.
Then one day Chris meets Emily and decides that he thinks he might want to date her. Kathryn, to his surprise, encourages him to do so, genuinely wanting him to be happy.
What follows is so much more beautiful and complex than what you might expect from a novel about a couple experimenting with an open relationship. I'll admit that the choices they made made me very uncomfortable at times and felt so foreign to me, and yet I still felt like I could relate to many of their ideas about love and companionship. There's a universality here in that anyone in any kind of relationship makes sacrifices and compromises for the ones they love.
Peterson writes with such emotional honesty and insight. Are Chris and Kathryn slowly drifting apart as a romantic couple, or will an open relationship turn out to be their new normal? There's something so melancholy about the reality of discovering that the person you love more than anything may not be enough for you.
Chris and Kathryn are both so complicated and likable for different reasons. I especially enjoyed reading about Chris, as it's rare to find an introverted character written so perfectly.
I just really loved this book and how wistful and sincere and empathetic it was. I would've read another 200 pages.
July 3, 2018
3.75 stars
I think this novel was SUPPOSED to be about a couple who tries (and fails) polyamory, but it's really about a couple that has no outside friends, is co-dependent and rarely spends time without each other. Those qualities characteristics of Kathryn and Chris's relationship were supposed to be romantic and evidence that they were soulmates, but it ultimately led to the collapse of their relationship.
If anything, this novel was a good character study and shows what happens when you realize there's more to life than your long-term romantic relationship.
I think this novel was SUPPOSED to be about a couple who tries (and fails) polyamory, but it's really about a couple that has no outside friends, is co-dependent and rarely spends time without each other. Those qualities characteristics of Kathryn and Chris's relationship were supposed to be romantic and evidence that they were soulmates, but it ultimately led to the collapse of their relationship.
If anything, this novel was a good character study and shows what happens when you realize there's more to life than your long-term romantic relationship.
January 1, 2019
Dnf @ 47%
I’m not the right public for this story. I am not into open relationships. I thought I could read about it but I can’t. I just kept thinking that it was a disaster waiting to happen...
I’m not the right public for this story. I am not into open relationships. I thought I could read about it but I can’t. I just kept thinking that it was a disaster waiting to happen...
December 13, 2017
What a delightfully human novel.
January 4, 2021
My dear friend Marty Fink has been trying to get me to read this book for years. They even mailed me a copy, urging me to read it. I told myself I would get to it and then dutifully put it on my shelf and forgot about it (I am willful and capricious). For whatever reason, it took me three years to get around to and now I feel a bit silly for having waited! Next Year, For Sure, by Zoey Leigh Peterson is a spectacularly written book about the most irritating people I've read in an age.
Chris is a serial relationship hopper and after nine years with Kathryn, he's suddenly found the next vessel for his seemingly boundless loving energy. Unlike the women who preceded her, Kathryn reacts by encouraging his feelings, pushing him to date Emily. Together, and apart, the two explore what a poly relationship could be for them. Will it show them new ways to be together as partners or are they pulling the loose thread of a relationship that has been worn too long?
A lot can be said about this as a "poly novel," but I think there's a subtext here - which perhaps I'm reading into it based on the author - but this is what I would call one of the preeminent examples of an egg novel that I've ever read. A novel about a trans woman who has not yet put the pieces together. Chris, oblivious to sex and spending his life buoyed between a succession of women he endlessly admires with not a male friend in sight, is such a pitch perfect portrait of a very particular type of pre-trans person that it's hard for me not to read it into the text.
Despite being ostensibly a book about a bunch of str8 people, Next Year, For Sure will make any reader questions what they believe about love and relationships - even their own current relationships - and for this it is immensely valuable. Perhaps even a little dangerous.
Chris is a serial relationship hopper and after nine years with Kathryn, he's suddenly found the next vessel for his seemingly boundless loving energy. Unlike the women who preceded her, Kathryn reacts by encouraging his feelings, pushing him to date Emily. Together, and apart, the two explore what a poly relationship could be for them. Will it show them new ways to be together as partners or are they pulling the loose thread of a relationship that has been worn too long?
A lot can be said about this as a "poly novel," but I think there's a subtext here - which perhaps I'm reading into it based on the author - but this is what I would call one of the preeminent examples of an egg novel that I've ever read. A novel about a trans woman who has not yet put the pieces together. Chris, oblivious to sex and spending his life buoyed between a succession of women he endlessly admires with not a male friend in sight, is such a pitch perfect portrait of a very particular type of pre-trans person that it's hard for me not to read it into the text.
Despite being ostensibly a book about a bunch of str8 people, Next Year, For Sure will make any reader questions what they believe about love and relationships - even their own current relationships - and for this it is immensely valuable. Perhaps even a little dangerous.
November 17, 2017
I think I have a crush on Emily, he tells Kathryn in the shower. This is where they confide crushes.
A heart crush or a boner crush? Kathryn says.
He doesn’t know how to choose. It’s not particularly sexual, his crush. He hasn’t thought about Emily that way. And Chris would never say boner. But it’s not just his heart, either. It’s his molecules.
On the surface, Next Year for Sure is a breezy, quirky read – when Kathryn's boyfriend of nine years tells her that he can't stop thinking about an acquaintance from the Laundromat, she encourages him to ask the woman out, beginning an exploration of polyamory which looks like a “Whatever happens between consenting adults is their business”-type story – but this is actually quite a sad and introspective book. By making the main characters so hip and unconventional, author Zoey Leigh Peterson pulls off the literary bait-and-switch of making the reader believe what they are telling the world: We're fine with this and don't care what you think. Meanwhile, by slowly doling out information from Kathryn and Chris' childhoods, we are quietly led to realise that they may be a bit broken, acting on motivations that even they are not aware of. On the surface, this might look like a strange novel to have been longlisted for the Giller Prize, but there is something special happening here; I'm pleased to have been led to read it.
Next Year for Sure is separated into chapters that follow twelve months, from September to September, and switches back and forth between Kathryn's and Chris' perspectives, using some offbeat literary devices along the way: there's nothing straightforward about the storytelling. After that opening conversation in the shower, the pair goes on their annual camping trip, and this is where the title comes from: Their best friend couple, Kyle and Sharon – who usually accompany them on this trip – find themselves too busy this year, but “next year, for sure”. And this is really significant: The two couples used to live across the alley from each other, did everything together, were as close as any foursome could be. But then Kyle and Sharon moved away, bought a condo, decided to get married – all that adult stuff – while Chris and Kathryn still rent a one bedroom, have an old futon in the living room, work at jobs instead of careers. When Sharon recoils at the idea of Kathryn encouraging Chris in his relationship with Emily, Kathryn has a mental rebuttal:
She and Chris are smart, caring people who love each other. They can try things out, and if those things don't work, they can try something else, or go back to how they were before. Kathryn could call Chris right now and tell him to come home, and he would, if he had a cell phone. Kathryn could say, I need you not to see Emily ever again, and Chris would do it. He would erase Emily from his very thoughts. But Kathryn's not going to ask that, because that's not what love is, Sharon. Love isn’t I love you so much that I need to possess you and control you and be the source of all your happiness. Love is I love you so much that I want you to have everything you need, even when it’s hard for me.
There are enough of these justifications that the reader could easily be led to believe that that's how Kathryn actually feels. But when you learn about her weird childhood and the abusive relationship that Chris had rescued her from, you might conclude differently. And when you learn about Chris' childhood and the string of romances he drifted in and out of before he met Kathryn, you might understand why even his mother doesn't approve of this new arrangement:
Emily is part of my life, he says on the way to the airport. His mother acts confused, as if she doesn't know who he's talking about, but Chris presses on. If you want to miss an important part of my life, he says, that's your choice, but.
His sentence simply runs out. He thought he had a but.
His mother studies her lap. She picks a fibre off her dress and lets it drop to the floor of the cab. Then you should break up with Kathryn, she says.
I told you, Kathryn is fine.
That's baloney, Chris. Can't you see how sad she is?
She's always sad, Mom. We're both always sad.
Chris wonders how long this has been true. How long they've been trapped in this sadness together.
You're not sad, his mother says. It's called being an adult.
The writing in this book feels light and breezy and conversational, and it kind of looks like it's saying that monogamy is so old fashioned, but at its heart, Next Year for Sure is actually a tragedy about two broken people who can't grow up. An easy but surprisingly deep read.
March 17, 2017
via my blog https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
"She meant to say that, yes, the thought of Emily eats at her. That she feels colonized by that letter, planted like a flag in her kitchen. That sometimes when Kathryn comes home and the letter has been moved slightly she wishes that Emily would disappear and have never existed, but that sometimes she wishes it was Chris who would disappear, or she herself, or that nobody had ever existed and the planet was still choked with algae and God was pleased."
Kathryn and Chris seem to have a beautiful relationship, as close and content as two people in this day and age can get. Yet there is something about Emily that fires Chris up, something alluring. Kathryn decides to let him explore his feelings for her, surely their sort of love is unsinkable, and it will pass. They can survive an open minded free love, she doesn’t need any sort of tit for tat existence. Then Emily gives them a chance to live in a communal home and suddenly, Kathryn herself is curious and changing, open to her own love explorations. Nothing goes quite as Chris had envisioned, and everything is a tangle. What changes when both partners have options, when someone isn’t going to wait like an empty house for you to come and go as you please?
What is it about other people that brings out a different person in us? Why are we more vivacious or tender with other people than those whom love and… suffer us most? The biggest jealousies are those different people we become in the presence of others. This novel is almost too honest, too raw with our emotional boundaries. It isn’t really about sex, is it? What kills us most is how easily our loved one naturally opens up for those they shouldn’t and ban parts of who they are from us.
What I thought would be all about lust and excitement was more of a unflinching look at the raw and honest side of love and all its complexities. Set out to give your beloved everything, to deny them no experience and even that selfless love will sour. “He seems good, actually. Adaptable. But also a little like a Chris that Kathryn doesn’t know.” There is the rub, who do we become when anyone is allowed inside our intimate bond? What happens to the creature two people create when a third enters the equation. Did Kathryn allow him this open exploration hoping he would discard Emily, rather than fall for her? Hearts have room bigger than an ocean, maybe all attractions could blossom into something, but should they? What love can survive it? Neither Kathryn nor Chris realize the cracks that are forming in their love.
It is brutal, a form of self-flagellation that Kathryn volunteers for. There are rules, ‘don’t tell her things about me.’ But rules can blur. It’s a strange experience, how Kathryn witnesses Chris with Emily. How he morphs into someone else, when he isn’t with her. How odd, to be a third wheel on your partner’s date. Kathryn pushes him into it, true… but he goes willingly. It’s what he wants. But how many women are going to just sit placidly until their man finishes eating his cake, even if she cut and served it to him? Can anyone really cut out their jealousies, is any love so strong that other people are only a ripple on the surface? Neither have any clue what they’re getting themselves into. Every choice changes our relationships. What happens if it’s too late to change your mind, why exactly does Kathryn want to give Chris such freedom?
In my mind, I’d be a lot less selfless, but that’s just me. It’s funny to imagine yourself in these stories. How big I’d be, how small. What the hell do we do to ourselves and each other in love? Interesting little story to discuss with friends, and maybe you’ll be surprised by the answers. I do know some people who claimed they were ‘open about love’ were the first to get furious and jealous when a third entered the scene. Things are so much easier conceptually. Reality is something altogether different. I liked it, but had a hard time with the laissez-faire attitude everyone had. Kathryn didn’t seem to react enough as a real person would, and at times Emily seemed so colorless that I wondered what the risk was worth for Chris. A conversation starter for a book club but I expected more passion, still it was interesting and an enjoyable read.
Available Now
Doubleday
"She meant to say that, yes, the thought of Emily eats at her. That she feels colonized by that letter, planted like a flag in her kitchen. That sometimes when Kathryn comes home and the letter has been moved slightly she wishes that Emily would disappear and have never existed, but that sometimes she wishes it was Chris who would disappear, or she herself, or that nobody had ever existed and the planet was still choked with algae and God was pleased."
Kathryn and Chris seem to have a beautiful relationship, as close and content as two people in this day and age can get. Yet there is something about Emily that fires Chris up, something alluring. Kathryn decides to let him explore his feelings for her, surely their sort of love is unsinkable, and it will pass. They can survive an open minded free love, she doesn’t need any sort of tit for tat existence. Then Emily gives them a chance to live in a communal home and suddenly, Kathryn herself is curious and changing, open to her own love explorations. Nothing goes quite as Chris had envisioned, and everything is a tangle. What changes when both partners have options, when someone isn’t going to wait like an empty house for you to come and go as you please?
What is it about other people that brings out a different person in us? Why are we more vivacious or tender with other people than those whom love and… suffer us most? The biggest jealousies are those different people we become in the presence of others. This novel is almost too honest, too raw with our emotional boundaries. It isn’t really about sex, is it? What kills us most is how easily our loved one naturally opens up for those they shouldn’t and ban parts of who they are from us.
What I thought would be all about lust and excitement was more of a unflinching look at the raw and honest side of love and all its complexities. Set out to give your beloved everything, to deny them no experience and even that selfless love will sour. “He seems good, actually. Adaptable. But also a little like a Chris that Kathryn doesn’t know.” There is the rub, who do we become when anyone is allowed inside our intimate bond? What happens to the creature two people create when a third enters the equation. Did Kathryn allow him this open exploration hoping he would discard Emily, rather than fall for her? Hearts have room bigger than an ocean, maybe all attractions could blossom into something, but should they? What love can survive it? Neither Kathryn nor Chris realize the cracks that are forming in their love.
It is brutal, a form of self-flagellation that Kathryn volunteers for. There are rules, ‘don’t tell her things about me.’ But rules can blur. It’s a strange experience, how Kathryn witnesses Chris with Emily. How he morphs into someone else, when he isn’t with her. How odd, to be a third wheel on your partner’s date. Kathryn pushes him into it, true… but he goes willingly. It’s what he wants. But how many women are going to just sit placidly until their man finishes eating his cake, even if she cut and served it to him? Can anyone really cut out their jealousies, is any love so strong that other people are only a ripple on the surface? Neither have any clue what they’re getting themselves into. Every choice changes our relationships. What happens if it’s too late to change your mind, why exactly does Kathryn want to give Chris such freedom?
In my mind, I’d be a lot less selfless, but that’s just me. It’s funny to imagine yourself in these stories. How big I’d be, how small. What the hell do we do to ourselves and each other in love? Interesting little story to discuss with friends, and maybe you’ll be surprised by the answers. I do know some people who claimed they were ‘open about love’ were the first to get furious and jealous when a third entered the scene. Things are so much easier conceptually. Reality is something altogether different. I liked it, but had a hard time with the laissez-faire attitude everyone had. Kathryn didn’t seem to react enough as a real person would, and at times Emily seemed so colorless that I wondered what the risk was worth for Chris. A conversation starter for a book club but I expected more passion, still it was interesting and an enjoyable read.
Available Now
Doubleday
July 29, 2017
Rambly, probably unhelpful review ahead:
A really insightful, sometimes funny/sometimes sad, look at polyamory, changing friendships, loneliness, and the oppressive expectations/judgments that come with adulthood if you don't follow a certain socially-prescribed path.
Bonus (for me, anyway): set in Vancouver!
I would share more intelligent, detailed reflections about this book if I could gather my thoughts, but it's just a really good character study in a way that's hard for me to describe. I feel like I've known these people in real life, and I can see where they're coming from as they navigate new feelings and changing relationships. This is also one of the best representations I've seen of the amount of emotional labor and communication that goes into managing multiple relationships (platonic or romantic or whatever). I do have some conflicting feelings about the ending, or at least some aspects of the ending, but still have to think about that. It's not enough to change my rating, in any case.
This probably isn't for readers who want more action than character development, but recommended for anyone else.
A really insightful, sometimes funny/sometimes sad, look at polyamory, changing friendships, loneliness, and the oppressive expectations/judgments that come with adulthood if you don't follow a certain socially-prescribed path.
Bonus (for me, anyway): set in Vancouver!
I would share more intelligent, detailed reflections about this book if I could gather my thoughts, but it's just a really good character study in a way that's hard for me to describe. I feel like I've known these people in real life, and I can see where they're coming from as they navigate new feelings and changing relationships. This is also one of the best representations I've seen of the amount of emotional labor and communication that goes into managing multiple relationships (platonic or romantic or whatever). I do have some conflicting feelings about the ending, or at least some aspects of the ending, but still have to think about that. It's not enough to change my rating, in any case.
This probably isn't for readers who want more action than character development, but recommended for anyone else.
March 1, 2017
I really loved this book. Lovely characters, complex emotions and relationships, also about trust and honesty, and small unintentional betrayals. Can't wait for Peterson's next book!
October 13, 2016
** A copy of Next Year, For Sure was provided by the author and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review **
RATING: 3.5 stars
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.
And even as I sit here, having finished it, having given it four stars I find myself wondering how I could have enjoyed this book and yet have found myself so annoyed by it at the same time.
The enjoyment comes from the fact that this was both an entertaining and interesting look into open relationships and polyamory. Following Chris and Kathryn, a couple who have been together exclusively for nine years. At the beginning of this book you can tell that these two have a high level of comfort, made even more apparent by the fact that they openly discuss topics like crushes they may have on other people. One day, Chris comes home to tell Kathryn that he has met a woman - Emily - who he'd like to get to know better. Kathryn allows him to date Emily and eventually they enter into an open relationship where they are both allowed to explore feelings for others. The reader watches as their relation with each other, and ultimately with the new people they bring into their lives, changes little by little until they find themselves on completely different ground.
While I can appreciate what this novel is trying to do (and it's probably why I rated it so high) and it's certainly opened me up to a host of questions - Could this actually work? Does attempting this, or even just entertaining the idea mean a couple is more balanced, more solid, more grounded? Or is it just absurd and a veiled excuse to cheat? - I had so many issues with it's telling that just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The characters set my teeth on edge. Chris came off as childish and naive from the beginning. The chapter about his past relationships was eye opening and it seemed like he wanted so hard to be 'the good guy these things just happen to'. Kathryn, I'll admit, showed a lot of growth by the end of the book but at the beginning was such pushover it was hard to read at times. All of them (from Chris and Kathryn to Emily and even Sharon) are so singly (and in my opinion, selfishly) attuned to their own needs that they don’t see or want to see the needs of those around them. Or, even more, how their actions are effecting those they supposedly love and care for. It's maddening.
I just found myself so exasperated with these characters throughout the whole book. Maybe it's old fashioned for me to think that way, but I just found so much of this hard to swallow.
RATING: 3.5 stars
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.
And even as I sit here, having finished it, having given it four stars I find myself wondering how I could have enjoyed this book and yet have found myself so annoyed by it at the same time.
The enjoyment comes from the fact that this was both an entertaining and interesting look into open relationships and polyamory. Following Chris and Kathryn, a couple who have been together exclusively for nine years. At the beginning of this book you can tell that these two have a high level of comfort, made even more apparent by the fact that they openly discuss topics like crushes they may have on other people. One day, Chris comes home to tell Kathryn that he has met a woman - Emily - who he'd like to get to know better. Kathryn allows him to date Emily and eventually they enter into an open relationship where they are both allowed to explore feelings for others. The reader watches as their relation with each other, and ultimately with the new people they bring into their lives, changes little by little until they find themselves on completely different ground.
While I can appreciate what this novel is trying to do (and it's probably why I rated it so high) and it's certainly opened me up to a host of questions - Could this actually work? Does attempting this, or even just entertaining the idea mean a couple is more balanced, more solid, more grounded? Or is it just absurd and a veiled excuse to cheat? - I had so many issues with it's telling that just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The characters set my teeth on edge. Chris came off as childish and naive from the beginning. The chapter about his past relationships was eye opening and it seemed like he wanted so hard to be 'the good guy these things just happen to'. Kathryn, I'll admit, showed a lot of growth by the end of the book but at the beginning was such pushover it was hard to read at times. All of them (from Chris and Kathryn to Emily and even Sharon) are so singly (and in my opinion, selfishly) attuned to their own needs that they don’t see or want to see the needs of those around them. Or, even more, how their actions are effecting those they supposedly love and care for. It's maddening.
I just found myself so exasperated with these characters throughout the whole book. Maybe it's old fashioned for me to think that way, but I just found so much of this hard to swallow.
June 17, 2017
I found this book totally fascinating. If you had told me I would enjoy reading a book about "open" relationships, I would have said "Not a chance". But as I am going to a moderated book club event and this is the book being discussed, well, I had to read it.
But I am so glad I did. I enjoyed the author's writing style- precise, fluid and melodic.
We meet Kathryn and Chris, who seem to be the complete package. They have been together 9 years. When Chris meets Emily, he starts to obsess about her, so Kathryn gives him permission to check it out. That is the whole premise of the story- how doing this affects them positively and negatively and how it is all resolved. Sounds simple, but honestly, I was captivated by it.
I wondered when I started reading it, if the author had a target audience in mind. I am definitely closer to being a senior than a gen x'er, so thought I might not get the book. But, no, I think the author just wanted to explore a possible option in relationships.
I found the book to be a very interesting read and am looking forward to the discussion this book will elicit.
But I am so glad I did. I enjoyed the author's writing style- precise, fluid and melodic.
We meet Kathryn and Chris, who seem to be the complete package. They have been together 9 years. When Chris meets Emily, he starts to obsess about her, so Kathryn gives him permission to check it out. That is the whole premise of the story- how doing this affects them positively and negatively and how it is all resolved. Sounds simple, but honestly, I was captivated by it.
I wondered when I started reading it, if the author had a target audience in mind. I am definitely closer to being a senior than a gen x'er, so thought I might not get the book. But, no, I think the author just wanted to explore a possible option in relationships.
I found the book to be a very interesting read and am looking forward to the discussion this book will elicit.
March 7, 2017
Rating: 5
Pairing: De Chanceny Cremant de Loire Rosé because it’s delicious and has so many interesting layers, just like the relationships in this book. Flavor wise you will get ripe red berries and a slice of citrus. Not too sweet and not to tart. It’s a lovely sparkling wine for any occasion.
Admittedly I didn’t go into this novel with a completely open mind, although I tried to. The story follows a couple, likely in their late twenties or early thirties, as the transition their relationship of 9 years to an open relationship. I know! Sounds crazy and unrealistic, right? Well, turns out not really. There are obviously going to be ups and downs and hurt feelings along the way, but I ended up really enjoying this story.
The main reason I loved this story was because of the clever and effortless character development of our main characters and acquired characters along the way. It felt very genuine and I would clearly imagine these people as real people. Seeing how they evolve over the course of this experiment in their relationship also felt genuine to me. Kathryn freaking out and walking across town in the rain the first night Chris and Emily plan to spend the night together for instance. And even the organic way a friendship evolves between Kathryn and Emily. Sounds to bizarre and uncharacteristic of most people, but it felt completely plausible in this story.
I wouldn’t say that I am now bought into the idea of an open relationship, but I am more open minded towards it if that works for other people. There is a cultural stigma around this type of relationship, but who are we to stand in the way of other people’s happiness? I know that there will be people who are outraged by this type of story, but I encourage you to give it a shot. It was a welcome breath of fresh air. It’s about the people and their relationship with lovers and friends, as well as growing as a person and really figuring out what it is you want.
Thank you to Scribner to sending me this book in exchange for an honest review and expanding my horizons!
Pairing: De Chanceny Cremant de Loire Rosé because it’s delicious and has so many interesting layers, just like the relationships in this book. Flavor wise you will get ripe red berries and a slice of citrus. Not too sweet and not to tart. It’s a lovely sparkling wine for any occasion.
Admittedly I didn’t go into this novel with a completely open mind, although I tried to. The story follows a couple, likely in their late twenties or early thirties, as the transition their relationship of 9 years to an open relationship. I know! Sounds crazy and unrealistic, right? Well, turns out not really. There are obviously going to be ups and downs and hurt feelings along the way, but I ended up really enjoying this story.
The main reason I loved this story was because of the clever and effortless character development of our main characters and acquired characters along the way. It felt very genuine and I would clearly imagine these people as real people. Seeing how they evolve over the course of this experiment in their relationship also felt genuine to me. Kathryn freaking out and walking across town in the rain the first night Chris and Emily plan to spend the night together for instance. And even the organic way a friendship evolves between Kathryn and Emily. Sounds to bizarre and uncharacteristic of most people, but it felt completely plausible in this story.
I wouldn’t say that I am now bought into the idea of an open relationship, but I am more open minded towards it if that works for other people. There is a cultural stigma around this type of relationship, but who are we to stand in the way of other people’s happiness? I know that there will be people who are outraged by this type of story, but I encourage you to give it a shot. It was a welcome breath of fresh air. It’s about the people and their relationship with lovers and friends, as well as growing as a person and really figuring out what it is you want.
Thank you to Scribner to sending me this book in exchange for an honest review and expanding my horizons!
January 11, 2018
I thought this book was really good as contemporary literary fiction but kind of disappointing as a representation of non-monogamous relationships.
It's kind of just a book about sad, stuck people. That works as compelling literary fiction. But in the scarcity of stories about non-monogamy, it also reinforces the bias that non-monogamous relationships are unhealthy and can't work.
It's also a story about three people that's told from the perspectives of only two of them - the couple that's established at the start of the story. This works as a story, as an intentional and valid choice. But it also reinforces a damaging sense that the couple is the primary actor in non-monogamy - rather than individuals or groups of people.
And the story kind of ends with characters coupling off, an ambiguous sort of affirmation of monogamy as a neutral/good/resolution.
On the plus side, though, there are some really good moments around navigating negative responses from friends and family, and a nice bit around this idea that you can create relationships that fit what you need that don't need to look a particular way.
It's kind of just a book about sad, stuck people. That works as compelling literary fiction. But in the scarcity of stories about non-monogamy, it also reinforces the bias that non-monogamous relationships are unhealthy and can't work.
It's also a story about three people that's told from the perspectives of only two of them - the couple that's established at the start of the story. This works as a story, as an intentional and valid choice. But it also reinforces a damaging sense that the couple is the primary actor in non-monogamy - rather than individuals or groups of people.
And the story kind of ends with characters coupling off, an ambiguous sort of affirmation of monogamy as a neutral/good/resolution.
On the plus side, though, there are some really good moments around navigating negative responses from friends and family, and a nice bit around this idea that you can create relationships that fit what you need that don't need to look a particular way.
July 1, 2017
I must admit I found the subject matter a little difficult at first but I just could not put it down. It was an absolutely brilliant character study about relationships in general, not just polyamory.
January 7, 2019
"Kathryn loved these people, loved living on this futon island with them, and it was at this moment - as the movie rounded into the third act - that she began to think about the four of them falling asleep here in front of the TV, and the four of them waking up in the morning and making breakfast together and deciding what to do with their Sunday, the four of them. ...Then the credits were rolling and Sharon was squeezing her hand, then letting it go. She was reaching for Kyle's shoulder, rubbing him slowly awake.
You guys can stay, Kathryn had said. You should stay.
Sharon smiled, and kept rousing Kyle, who made a low, assenting rumble.
You should stay, Kathryn said again. It felt strangely urgent."
How is it possible that a novel that is so much about the unavoidable complications of intimacy and the profound loneliness that can exist even in a life full of love, can feel so gentle and soothing to read? How is it that there are so many lines that hit me like a brick wall ("She's always sad, Mom. We're both always sad. Chris wonders how long this has been true. How long they've been trapped in this sadness together. You're not sad, his mother says. It's called being an adult."), how is it that every single character broke my heart, but I'm sitting here feeling so full and nourished?
Zoey Leigh Peterson's writing takes the reader by the hand. She's brilliant. I took this out of the library, and I wonder if it is too soon to run down the street and buy my own copy. I wonder if it's too soon to open up my clean, smart new copy and start re-reading it today.
You guys can stay, Kathryn had said. You should stay.
Sharon smiled, and kept rousing Kyle, who made a low, assenting rumble.
You should stay, Kathryn said again. It felt strangely urgent."
How is it possible that a novel that is so much about the unavoidable complications of intimacy and the profound loneliness that can exist even in a life full of love, can feel so gentle and soothing to read? How is it that there are so many lines that hit me like a brick wall ("She's always sad, Mom. We're both always sad. Chris wonders how long this has been true. How long they've been trapped in this sadness together. You're not sad, his mother says. It's called being an adult."), how is it that every single character broke my heart, but I'm sitting here feeling so full and nourished?
Zoey Leigh Peterson's writing takes the reader by the hand. She's brilliant. I took this out of the library, and I wonder if it is too soon to run down the street and buy my own copy. I wonder if it's too soon to open up my clean, smart new copy and start re-reading it today.
April 24, 2017
'Part of being in love with somebody is not falling in love with somebody else.' I read this book with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Kathryn and Chris have an adorable relationship and this book works hard to completely unravel it. I couldn't help resenting it for that. Chris is an excellent portrait of an introvert. Kathryn's dissolving relationship with her best friend felt incredibly real and relatable. But having Chris fall in love with Emily felt cruel. It's also the section of the book where Peterson resorts to telling rather than showing. Apparently Emily brings out a new side to Chris. She asks excellent questions. Really, then use dialogue to show me this and maybe I will like her more. I freaking hated Emily and she fell so flat on the page. I hated Chris as well for putting Kathryn in the situations he does. But what was unexpected and excellent is Kathryn's transformation! Hell yes! The girl finally gets some good sex and I almost cheered.
February 22, 2023
“You’re not sad. It’s called being an adult.”
My thoughts exactly… why is everyone in this book so annoying?
My thoughts exactly… why is everyone in this book so annoying?
September 28, 2017
I have all manner of feelings about this book. I loved the writing style and couldn't put it down. I almost turned down a hiking date in order to keep reading, which is really saying something. Zoey Leigh Peterson's characters are so clever and witty, but believably so. In one scene, while baking gingerbread, two characters try to strike the right balance "between edibility and load-bearing integrity." I just adored the way these characters spoke and thought.
I also didn't have a problem with the theme of polyamory, although I know that a lot of people will. I'm sure those in polyamorous relationships will be disappointed for a variety of reasons. And I'm sure that a lot of others will be uncomfortable with the themes explored in this book. My mother, for one, would hate this book. I'm sure my sister would, too. I found the exploration of open relationships interesting and wasn't bothered by it.
The character of Chris, however, really irked me. Once his relationship history was revealed, I just couldn't go back to liking him, no matter how many times Kathryn assured the reader that he is the "best person" and so kind and loving and thoughtful. And the character of Emily struck me as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG). For those unfamiliar with the term, a MPDG is usually a flighty, free-spirited, beautiful girl who has no real goals or inner life of her own, she exists solely to guide a main male character in his own journey of personal growth. (See Natalie Portman in Garden State for example). In the case of Emily, she definitely fit the bill but seemed to exist in the story in order to guide both Kathryn and Chris (rather than just Chris) in their journeys. She still didn't seem to have many motivations (or even much of a personality) of her own.
This is a minor criticism, and overall, I really did enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more of Zoey Leigh Peterson's work.
I also didn't have a problem with the theme of polyamory, although I know that a lot of people will. I'm sure those in polyamorous relationships will be disappointed for a variety of reasons. And I'm sure that a lot of others will be uncomfortable with the themes explored in this book. My mother, for one, would hate this book. I'm sure my sister would, too. I found the exploration of open relationships interesting and wasn't bothered by it.
The character of Chris, however, really irked me. Once his relationship history was revealed, I just couldn't go back to liking him, no matter how many times Kathryn assured the reader that he is the "best person" and so kind and loving and thoughtful. And the character of Emily struck me as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG). For those unfamiliar with the term, a MPDG is usually a flighty, free-spirited, beautiful girl who has no real goals or inner life of her own, she exists solely to guide a main male character in his own journey of personal growth. (See Natalie Portman in Garden State for example). In the case of Emily, she definitely fit the bill but seemed to exist in the story in order to guide both Kathryn and Chris (rather than just Chris) in their journeys. She still didn't seem to have many motivations (or even much of a personality) of her own.
This is a minor criticism, and overall, I really did enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more of Zoey Leigh Peterson's work.
January 11, 2018
“You’re not sad, his mother says. It’s called being an adult.”
This book is beautifully written. It’s one of the most readable books I’ve had my hands on in a long time. The language is perfect. The sentences are smooth and clear. It was a pleasure.
The story was less easily digested, though masterfully told. It’s about a long term couple exploring opening up their relationship. It’s not sensationalized or gratuitous in any way. It’s an exploration of the evolution of relationships (various relationships throughout the book: family, friends, romantic, etc.) What is so good about this author is she helps the reader see that even completely foreign/baffling actions taken by the characters seemed appropriate and natural for them.
I didn’t love or even like the story, TBH but I can definitely appreciate this author’s talent!
This book is beautifully written. It’s one of the most readable books I’ve had my hands on in a long time. The language is perfect. The sentences are smooth and clear. It was a pleasure.
The story was less easily digested, though masterfully told. It’s about a long term couple exploring opening up their relationship. It’s not sensationalized or gratuitous in any way. It’s an exploration of the evolution of relationships (various relationships throughout the book: family, friends, romantic, etc.) What is so good about this author is she helps the reader see that even completely foreign/baffling actions taken by the characters seemed appropriate and natural for them.
I didn’t love or even like the story, TBH but I can definitely appreciate this author’s talent!
July 26, 2019
The biggest complaint I've seen about this book is that people hated the ending. I frigging LOVED the ending. I like Paterson's writing. She makes very real characters. Chris is kind of awful, but not completely, but really, the ending was perfect for him. He's not ready for anything else. He's one of those people who wants things until he gets them. Emily, who I should hate, I liked. Kathryn, who I start out hating, I cheer for in the end, her passiveness a thing of the past. Sharon is THE WORST. There are a few sentences in here that just made my brain wrinkle with pleasure. This is going to get publicity for being about an open marriage, but it felt more like a novel about loneliness. It captured that feeling of being lonely in a relationship.
December 4, 2016
I devoured this book and it has attached itself to me like a favourite sweater. Peterson's portrayal of the complexity of relationships - with others and with ourselves - is nuanced and powerful. I found myself holding my breath at times and then pausing to inhale the words to allow them to permeate my body with simultaneous joy, pain, self-reflection, and curiosity. This book will be reread, given as a gift, and will sit on my shelf as a reminder that the story I tell myself about who I am is not necessarily simple but it is mine.
October 1, 2024
Chris is a nice guy who has spent his entire life letting other people make his decisions for him. Unable to detect what he might want until it his happening to him, the whims of others have determined the course of his life. Lucky for him, he has put himself in good hands up until this point, and he's mostly happy.
Kathryn is Chris's partner of nine years. He calls her Kathryn the Great, though I'm not really sure why besides the fact that she built a dish rack out of wood once, and she escaped a cult as a child. What Katherine wants more than anything is to have her friend Sharon and Sharon's husband Kyle living back across the street from them, so that they can be fully integrated in each other's lives, the four of them a team.
Emily is the manic pixie dream girl that Chris finds himself falling for at the beginning of the book. This isn't the first time that Chris has fallen in love with someone while dating someone else; in fact, he is a serial monogamist who has been floated from relationship to relationship since he was a freshman in high school. When Chris tells Kathryn about his feelings for Emily, Kathryn suggests that he ask Emily on a date.
OH MAN I have so much to say about this book. The prose was Rooneyesque, the thoughts and themes communed with me on a soul level. I read it exactly when I needed to, and I wrote like crazy thinking about these characters and this story. I don't think everyone would read this and feel the same way I do because nonmonogamy is pretty polarizing, and even I have some problems with this text that I am going to discuss in my next paragraphs. If you don't want the whole plot to be spoiled, stop reading now.
I think the main problem that I have with this book is that I wanted it to end in poly utopia where all of the characters were happier after setting off on this journey, but instead all the characters just ended up different and maybe even worse off than they were before (excepting Moss). I don't think that Peterson was wrong in not giving me the ending that I desired, I just think that it could've been a little closer to the ending of Detransition, Baby, and thus closer to a reimagining of what is possible in ways of living.
Chris is absolutely a person who is capable of loving two people at the same time. He wants a cozy home six days of the week with the love of his life, Kathryn, and one night of being the social version of himself, aglow with Emily. I think there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't be able to have that, except the fact that Kathryn is not a person who is capable of loving two people at the same time. She is a person who needs a close community of friends. Instead of being reflective of that, she tries to mimic Chris's polyamorous behavior to achieve "fairness." But, what ends up happening is that as soon as she starts feeling insecure in her relationship with him (due to an unexpectedly long absence in a time of need,) she essentially replaces her love for him with love for another man (mountain man Moss.) THIS DID NOT NEED TO HAPPEN. THIS COULD'VE BEEN A BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP. IT WAS SO CLOSE TO BEING A BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP.
Emily, understandably, never wanted the kind of long term, homebody relationship that Chris needs, so when Kathryn and Chris break up, she's put into this terrible position of having to be like, "No, I'm not going to be your new everything."
It just sucks because despite Chris kind of being a blank slate, I really liked him, and I wanted things to work out for him. I wanted things to work out for Kathryn, too, but I think that she had many potential happy endings, and I'm a bit bummed that the one we got was so bad for Chris.
I just want to know what Peterson's goal was in writing this. Am I supposed to think, "Well, life is complicated. It doesn't always work out the way you hope," which is obviously true? Am I supposed to think that polyamory can never work? That Chris was a bad guy and deserved what he got in the end, for wanting too much? That's a bummer.
Kathryn is Chris's partner of nine years. He calls her Kathryn the Great, though I'm not really sure why besides the fact that she built a dish rack out of wood once, and she escaped a cult as a child. What Katherine wants more than anything is to have her friend Sharon and Sharon's husband Kyle living back across the street from them, so that they can be fully integrated in each other's lives, the four of them a team.
Emily is the manic pixie dream girl that Chris finds himself falling for at the beginning of the book. This isn't the first time that Chris has fallen in love with someone while dating someone else; in fact, he is a serial monogamist who has been floated from relationship to relationship since he was a freshman in high school. When Chris tells Kathryn about his feelings for Emily, Kathryn suggests that he ask Emily on a date.
OH MAN I have so much to say about this book. The prose was Rooneyesque, the thoughts and themes communed with me on a soul level. I read it exactly when I needed to, and I wrote like crazy thinking about these characters and this story. I don't think everyone would read this and feel the same way I do because nonmonogamy is pretty polarizing, and even I have some problems with this text that I am going to discuss in my next paragraphs. If you don't want the whole plot to be spoiled, stop reading now.
I think the main problem that I have with this book is that I wanted it to end in poly utopia where all of the characters were happier after setting off on this journey, but instead all the characters just ended up different and maybe even worse off than they were before (excepting Moss). I don't think that Peterson was wrong in not giving me the ending that I desired, I just think that it could've been a little closer to the ending of Detransition, Baby, and thus closer to a reimagining of what is possible in ways of living.
Chris is absolutely a person who is capable of loving two people at the same time. He wants a cozy home six days of the week with the love of his life, Kathryn, and one night of being the social version of himself, aglow with Emily. I think there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't be able to have that, except the fact that Kathryn is not a person who is capable of loving two people at the same time. She is a person who needs a close community of friends. Instead of being reflective of that, she tries to mimic Chris's polyamorous behavior to achieve "fairness." But, what ends up happening is that as soon as she starts feeling insecure in her relationship with him (due to an unexpectedly long absence in a time of need,) she essentially replaces her love for him with love for another man (mountain man Moss.) THIS DID NOT NEED TO HAPPEN. THIS COULD'VE BEEN A BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP. IT WAS SO CLOSE TO BEING A BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP.
Emily, understandably, never wanted the kind of long term, homebody relationship that Chris needs, so when Kathryn and Chris break up, she's put into this terrible position of having to be like, "No, I'm not going to be your new everything."
It just sucks because despite Chris kind of being a blank slate, I really liked him, and I wanted things to work out for him. I wanted things to work out for Kathryn, too, but I think that she had many potential happy endings, and I'm a bit bummed that the one we got was so bad for Chris.
I just want to know what Peterson's goal was in writing this. Am I supposed to think, "Well, life is complicated. It doesn't always work out the way you hope," which is obviously true? Am I supposed to think that polyamory can never work? That Chris was a bad guy and deserved what he got in the end, for wanting too much? That's a bummer.
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