The Vacationers

By: Emma Straub

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

An irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca.

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

This is a story of the sides of ourselves that we choose to show and those we try to conceal, of the ways we tear each other down and build each other up again, and the bonds that ultimately hold us together. With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole.

Good performance!

Not much point here. As others have said, whiny, entitled characters. I kept waiting for a twist.

Engaging beginning, but interest declines

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I am not an editor, but I wish the initial narrative lived up to the rest of the book. I did not finish this book. I read too much to ask for a return credit. I kept hoping it would pick up and develop, but it only got more boring as it went along.

Would you be willing to try another book from Emma Straub? Why or why not?

I probably would, as I liked the descriptive prose of Majorca and travel in general. I just wish the main character had sustained the initial interest.

What aspect of Kristen Sieh’s performance would you have changed?

The reader was okay enough, given the lameness of the last half of the book. I wish it could have concentrated more on the main character's career and food, etc.

Could you see The Vacationers being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not relevant. I do not watch movies.

Any additional comments?

I had very high hopes for this novel. I love novels that take place in other countries. I just fel that about halfway through, the author gave up or something and did not follow through with the character developments. Such good characters, too! It just was not adequately completed. I would have liked more about the gay couple, for example. It was hard to see why the older gay man even liked the married woman so much s she was pretty boring and unlikeable.

Just ok

The performance was good to listen to but the story was just ok. Nothing special and I was not wowed.

It's OK. Typical privileged story.

Another whining tail of privileged vacationers' selfish encounters, inconsequential and banal. Fortunately it's a quick read.

interesting family

Any additional comments?

an interesting family drama, full of lies, love and hope. It is one that I enjoyed, I would also like to see this in movie form.