You Can't Stay Here Forever
A Novel
-
-
3.2 • 40 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Named a must-read book of summer by: Good Morning America, People, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Philadelphia Inquirer and one of the best books of the year by the New York Post
Desperate to obliterate her past, a young widow flees California for the French Riviera in this compelling debut, a tale of loss, rebirth, modern friendship, and romance that blends Sally Rooney’s wryness and psychological insight with Emma Straub's gorgeous scene-setting and rich relationships.
Just days after her young, handsome husband dies in a car accident, Ellie Huang discovers that he had a mistress—one of her own colleagues at a prestigious San Francisco law firm. Acting on impulse—or is it grief? rage? Probably all three—Ellie cashes in Ian’s life insurance policy for an extended stay at the luxurious Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France. Accompanying her is her free-spirited best friend, Mable Chou.
Ellie hopes that the five-star resort on the French Riviera, with its stunning clientele and floral-scented cocktails, will be a heady escape from the real world. And at first it is. She and Mable meet an intriguing couple, Fauna and Robbie, and as their poolside chats roll into wine-soaked dinners, the four become increasingly intimate. But the sunlit getaway soon turns into a reckoning for Ellie, as long-simmering tensions and uncomfortable truths swirl to the surface.
Taking the reader from San Francisco to the gilded luxury of the south of France, You Can’t Stay Here Forever is a sharply funny and exciting debut that explores the slippery nature of marriage, the push and pull between friends, and the interplay of race and privilege, seen through the eyes of a young Asian American woman.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lin debuts with the thoughtful if uneven story of a 29-year-old lawyer's search for meaning after the death of her husband. Ellie Huang's seemingly perfect world is shattered after her husband, Ian, dies in a car accident. What's more, Ellie discovers during the funeral that Ian had been cheating on her. With an unexpectedly large life insurance payout in hand, Ellie flees to a posh hotel in the south of France, accompanied by longtime friend Mable Chou. The women spend their days swathed in luxury and befriend a couple, Fauna and Robbie. Ellie is particularly drawn to the latter—his "genuine warmth" makes her feel like she's talking to a therapist. Meanwhile, Ellie grapples with the "garden-variety racism" she's dealt with at her firm, where a senior partner repeatedly confuses her with another Asian woman, as well as microaggressions from others and conflicted feelings about her Asian immigrant mother. Some of Ellie's musings are insightful (worse than the racism, for Ellie, is that the partner doesn't know her), though others are a bit rote ("I like feeling as if other people are making my choices for me," she tells Fauna), and despite some drama from her attraction to Robbie, the plot fizzles. Nevertheless, Lin piles on the charm with Ellie and Mable's inside jokes and descriptions of the decadent setting. There's some fun to be had, but it's fleeting.
Customer Reviews
I couldn’t stop reading
It’s a novel that I wouldn’t normally see myself reading, but the way Katherine wrote Ellie’s most in depth thoughts and emotions, captivated me. Ellie is also the daughter of an Asian immigrant mother and their relationship in this story reminds me of my own relationship with my mother. It made me feel validated in ways I didn’t know I needed. It was a great read. Thank you Katherine Lin.