Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2016
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Crisis is looming for three generations of the Olyphant family.
In less than a year, Henrietta has lost her husband and nearly all of her money, and is about to lose her hard-won anonymity. After a lifetime spent trying to outrun the humiliation her own book caused her, Henrietta has reluctantly agreed to a reissue of The Inseparables, the salaciously filthy and critically despised bestseller she wrote decades earlier.
At the same time, her daughter, Oona, has moved back home to the house that Henrietta needs to sell. Oona is in the middle of a divorce from her husband, Spencer, a corporate-law refugee, stay-at-home dad, and unapologetic stoner. And Oona's teenage daughter, Lydia, away at boarding school, is facing an onslaught of scrutiny and shame when a nude photo of her goes viral.
The trouble only gets worse: Henrietta makes an upsetting discovery about her late husband; Oona embarks on a disastrous affair; and Lydia must deal with an ex-boyfriend who is determined to wreak havoc. Over the course of a few tumultuous days, the Olyphant women must come to terms with their past and try to reimagine their future.
Incisive, moving, and wickedly funny, The Inseparables examines what happens when our most carefully constructed ideas about our lives unravel, and we begin to reinvent ourselves - and our family - anew.
BookBrowse Review
The Inseparables has an intriguing premise of examining female perspectives on love and sexuality through the point of view of three generations within a family. However, I was disappointed to find the peripheral men in the story were given more complex emotional and psychological journeys than three female main characters. The character development of the women felt superficial and simplified.
Other Reviews
"Starred Review. Love this writer. Love these characters." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. Nadler (Wise Men, 2013) excels at setting and sustaining a scene, and he writes with confidence and compassion about people trying to navigate their way through disruption." - Booklist
"This novel contains plenty of romance, tension, and tenderness to make for a rich and compelling read." - Publishers Weekly
"The Inseparables is funny and sad and so wise about so many things - sex in the modern age, feminism, food, ambition, animals, marriage, mothers and daughters. Fathers and daughters too, for that matter. Weeks after finishing this gorgeous novel, I'm still thinking about the wonderful Olyphant women in all their complexity." - J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Maine and The Engagements
"It's a testament to Stuart Nadler's powers of empathy that I identified with all three generations of women in this witty and wise tale of female trouble and family mayhem." - Lucinda Rosenfeld, author of I'm So Happy for You and The Pretty One
"The Inseparables accomplishes the rare feat of being both timely - this is an incisive commentary on our culture in the digital age - and completely timeless." - Elliott Holt, author of You Are One of Them
"The Inseparables reminded me of vintage Michael Chabon in all the right ways: keenly observed, raucously funny, and poignantly painful. The masterful prose sparkles and shines. But what makes The Inseparables so damn good are the perfectly realized characters, all popping off the page in 3-D. A great, great book." - Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Beneath the Bonfire
"The Inseparables is a mature, sophisticated, self-assured, deeply entertaining piece of fiction. As I read it I couldn't stop saying to myself: now this is exactly how a book should work." - Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and Saint Mazie
"At turns funny, thoughtful, and heart wrenching, The Inseparables is a deeply satisfying sage of mothers and daughters, sure to be a hit with book clubs. Stuart Nadler writes with clear-eyed confidence, keen insight, and great empathy for his characters." - Jonathan Evison, author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and West of Here
"Nadler writes with all the wit of Bellow and the psychological depth of Ozick. An extraordinary new novel by a writer with endless talent." - Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans
This information about The Inseparables was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stuart Nadler is a recipient of the 5 Under 35 award from the National Book Foundation and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the author of the novel Wise Men and the story collection The Book of Life.
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