Worry - Alexandra Tanner

I have been sidelined by my annual bout of January pneumonia and needed something lighthearted to read while I was laying about. The New York Times described “Worry” as “a fabulous comic novel of young adult angst that puts a humorous spin on the fixations, disappointments, aversions and maladjustments of adulthood.” It sounded undemanding so I dove in.

Jules and Poppy are adult sisters who don’t like each other very much. Jules has a boring job and an apartment in New York City. Poppy arrives on her doorstep and moves in with her temporarily though both have strong misgivings about the arrangement. Poppy has terrible skin allergies and an attempted suicide in her past. They have a deeply dysfunctional relationship with each other and with their mother who has become a doomsday prepper and is involved in some sort of shady pyramid scheme. 

Jules spends most of her time scrolling through the social media accounts of very odd right-wing, anti-vax, Jesus worshipping mothers. Poppy scratches her hives. They fight a lot, they are, without exception, shallow and unlikeable. 

I waited for something to happen but nada. There was a lot of snappy patter that kept me working my way through to the totally unexpected and disturbing ending.