The Vacationers

Families are the people who bring out the best and worst in you. They are the ones you cannot wait to see but also cannot wait to leave. Similarly, family vacations are something to be anticipated and dreaded. Any vacation is always worth some excitement, but even the happiest of families become somewhat fraught with tension after a period of time together. So, when The Vacationers opens up with the Post family in the throes of preparing for their two-week Mallorca vacation, one knows that the next two weeks are going to be anything but idyllic.

However, the troubles during the trip lie not in spending time together but rather the issues they brought with them onto the island. Old jealousies arise between spouses and best friends. show more Sibling rivalry heats up even after years apart. Lingering doubts about compromises and other promises become prominent. Then there are the issues behind Jim’s sudden retirement. Without the distractions of everyday life, all of the little ills and hurts that the Posts ignore throughout the year suddenly come to the fore and require action that no one is quite willing to take.

Ms. Straub presents the highs and lows of families and vacations with uncanny accuracy. While the setting may be more luxurious than what most readers may experience, all readers will recognize the functional dysfunction of the Post family. Everything is there within the microcosm of the Posts: the desire for children to find their own place outside of their parents’ shadow competing with the children’s need for parental approval no matter what their age, the jealousy that comes from a best friend who is not a spouse, the hurts and harm one selfish action can have on the family proper, and more. She also showcases the love that binds them and keeps them together. Ms. Straub reminds readers that in even the most fractured relationships, love still finds a way to take its place alongside the hurt feelings.

Yet, at no point in time does Ms. Straub ever present family relationships as easy and foregone conclusions. Everyone on the Post family trip must work towards maintaining their relationship’s happiness. Some are willing to try more than others, and some make the decision to try not at all. In this way, what occurs during the vacation is very natural and normal and quite atypical for a novel. There is a universal quality to the narrative that belies the fictional elements of the story. While a reader does not necessarily become an unobserved member of the Post family, it is all too easy for readers to substitute their own family members into the narrative, making it less fictional and a bit more uncomfortably true to life.

When not discussing the Post family issues, Ms. Straub brings to life in exacting detail the beauty of Mallorca. The house in which the Posts stay is exquisitely described, as are each excursion around the island. The food Franny serves makes a reader’s mouth water, while everything from the breeze to the heat of the sun to the sound of the pool makes a reader desperately crave his or her own Mallorca vacation. It is a truly idyllic backdrop against which the Posts’ issues are that much more mundane.

The Vacationers is all about the trials and tribulations faced by families the world over. It is about the difficulties of marriage and whether couples are willing to stick it out through the tough times. It is about the changing nature of relationships and the willingness of each partner to compromise to make the other happy. Ms. Straub perfectly captures the frustrations and joys that come with being part of a family. show less

Annnnnd another one where I am bewildered by the overabundance of good reviews.

The Post family goes on a two-week trip to Mallorca, sadly leaving me with the near certain conviction that now, I will never want to visit that area of Spain, or maybe Spain as a whole. Because if I do, I will think of them. And I DID NOT LIKE THEM.

Mom Franny is upset because Dad Jim has cheated on her and lost his job, all in one big disaster. Son Brian has issues with his (gasp) older girlfriend. So does the rest of the family, primarily because she is (gasp) older and also wears makeup (gasp) every day. Daughter Sylvia is upset over her own jerk of an ex-boyfriend. Friend Charles and his husband are trying to adopt a baby.

And that's about all that show more happens. Unless you enjoy reading about a family actually playing Scrabble. It got to the point where I was actually feeling sort of panicky, as if I myself were also stuck on this vacation with them. Playing Scrabble.

I just don't know. I did not like any of the characters, there was very little going on, and even though all of the plot lines did get wrapped up in the end - that's just it, they were wrapped up. Sigh. show less

Screwed up Manhattan family of four goes on summer vacation to a villa in Mallorca, Spain for two weeks. They are joined by the son's way older personal trainer girlfriend and the mom's best friend and his husband. What could possibly go right? Not much for most of the time, but in a sublimely amusing way. Magazine editor Dad, sixty, gets fired for tumbling into an abortive affair with a board member's seductive twentysomething daughter. Mom finds out when he crawls home jobless and in shock. Daughter, headed to freshman year at Brown U. in the fall, has a crush on her Mallorcan Spanish tutor. Son is in debilitating debt due to a dumb business decision and has to humbly beg for a bailout. Everyone in the vacation party resents son's show more overly critical, super-fit girlfriend. The married male couple are stressed out, awaiting news on the decision of a birth mother in their pursuit of fatherhood. Mallorca casts its spell.

Quotes: "It was the classic Euro look - shiny and well-groomed to the point of New Jersey."

"Jim didn't know it was possible to see actual wavy lines of anger around someone's head, like a cartoon come to life, but there they were, clear as day." show less

The backstory: I've previously enjoyed Emma Straub's short story collection, Other People We Married, which apparently I never reviewed, but the story "Fly Over State" remains one of my all-time favorites. Her debut novel, Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, was a delightful audio experience, and I was eager to see what she would do next. Once again, it's something quite different from her previously published work.

The basics: The Post family are off to spend two weeks in Mallorca. Franny and Jim are celebrating thirty-five years of marriage, but it may be coming to an end. Jim has also lost his job. Their daughter Sylvia is off to Brown in the fall. Their son, Bobby, and his older girlfriend, Carmen, live in Miami. Franny's best friend, show more Charles, and his husband, Lawrence, also join them.

My thoughts: The Vacationers is one of those books that enchanted me from its opening pages. It's the perfect combination of so many factors, and reading it gave me that feeling that this book is one that will remain with me because it's so special. There's a lot of drama within its pages, but it never veers to the melodramatic, largely due to Straub's smart and witty writing. In some ways, the plot itself is rather ordinary, and perhaps that's why I was so impressed when this novel turned out to be something extraordinary, and a much richer reading experience than I anticipated.

I read The Vacationers compulsively. I loved living in the heads of each narrator. Some characters I more easily identified with, but as each took a turn telling the story from his or her point of view, none appeared stronger or weaker than the other. There are so many things I loved about The Vacationers, but they all circle back to the combination of smart, observant writing and realistically flawed, well-developed characters.

The verdict: The Vacationers is perfect summer reading for smart people. It offers an exotic location, family drama, humor and plenty of wise observations about contemporary life. In short: it's smart, funny and fun. show less

The Vacationers is a fluff read. It is a mediocre daytime soap opera that should only be read after a long, intense, and interesting book. I clearly didn’t have high hopes for The Vacationers, and rightfully so, but it was what I needed it to be, something short and easy. The focus is on the Post family going to Spain, the son is bringing his girlfriend, and the wife is bringing her best friend and his partner. Jim, the father, is a cheat. He cheated on his wife Franny with a much younger woman and there is tension that is affecting everyone on the trip because of what he did. It’s drama and cheap entertainment, every man is a cheater and/or a piece of shit in The Vacationers, it becomes comical. So read it if you want to do some show more light, flowy reading, just don’t go in expecting a masterpiece. show less

"The Posts were masters of self-delusion, all of them." When this family of 4 (Franny, Jim, Sylvia and Bobby) head to Majorca to vacation at a time of major transition in their lives, humorous things happen and the reader is in on the joke. Franny and Jim are at a crisis point in their marriage -- Jim has recently cheated on Franny with an intern at work and was forced into early retirement at age 60. Sylvia is starting college at Brown in a month and longs to leave high school social dynamics behind. Bobby, at age 30 is in debt and has been working at a gym with his cougar gym-rat girlfriend Carmen, rather than the real estate business in Miami that his parents think he does. To round out the crew, Franny's best friend, Charles and his show more husband Lawrence join them. They are on the short list to adopt a baby. All this tension and intrigue and humor swirls around during the 2 week stay and finally hits the fan on Day 10. The author has a very detached tone toward the Posts, often making them the butt of an inside joke with the reader. But there is some sympathy and poignancy too as love in its various forms works its magic. "Families were nothing more than hope cast out in a wide net." and the Posts all seem to be hoping for the best outcome. The audio narrator had a snarky voice which grated sometimes, but overall, this was a funny, light vacation read. More like 3.5 stars show less

Delightful. Straub writes about people I know, and does so with grace and love while also exposing all the warts. There is an Austen-feel to her books too. She writes about human relationships and celebrates the bonds of familial love (even when your family drives you crazy), things modern publishers would relegate to "women's literature," while commenting slyly on issues of class, imperialism, societal strictures stemming from age, gender, sexual orientation, beauty, money, ethnicity, and other semi-immutable characteristics.

The book is not perfect, many of the characters required a bit more fleshing out for them to seem like more than plot devices, but I left this read refreshed and satisfied and happy. That is a win!