So Old, So Young by Grant Ginder
In his newest novel, Grant Ginder gives the perfect read for 20-somethings, 30-somethings and beyond, and proves to us that friendships may come and go, but the memories never will.
So Old, So Young follows a group of six friends over 20 years, as the real world intervenes, adulthood beckons and they struggle to maintain their relationships with one another. The story follows Mia, Sasha, Adam, Marco, Richie and Theo as they get together every once in a while to catch up, and find that so much about who they are has changed.
The Tensions of Growing Older
This book truly deals with every aspect of growing up and getting older. From going out on the town with your friends to getting in a serious relationship. That period of time where your life feels comprised or wedding after wedding. The tension of a get-together between friends who have settled down and have babies and friends still living in the city who have chosen to focus on their career.
Dealing with break ups, affairs, falling outs and even deaths, there is something that we can all relate to about this story. It is hard when you notice yourself growing up and changing. It’s even harder when your friends notice it too.
The Joys of Being Young
In many ways, So Old, So Young felt like a sad story, but it was also one that made me appreciate the ways my own friendships have developed. While many of the themes focused on the difficulties of growing older, like the title implies, there was also a great focus on the joys of being young.
Plus, the addition of acutely placed pop culture and political timestamps casually mentioned throughout the book will make you feel both so young and so old. While reading, I kept asking myself, how was it so long ago that we had Cardi B blaring in our speakers and were discussing the ethicality of Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad over dinner? These little ‘if you know, you know’ moments felt refreshingly relatable. The entire story felt a little too relatable.
An Interactive and Reflective Story
Ginder structures the novel in a way that makes you feel that unrecognizability when you get together less and less with the people who once meant everything to you. The story follows each of the six friends at five parties throughout the years. We get a snippet from each character’s point of view throughout the event, be it a party, a wedding, a birthday or a funeral.
It is a fun and interactive read as you piece together what each character has been doing, how their lives and dynamics have changed, and the drama that unfolds as each character finds out different information.
There is an intensely reflective tone that makes So Old, So Young a nostalgic masterpiece capable of capturing the bittersweetness when growing into yourself means growing apart from those you once felt closest to. It feels like each character already knows what it will be like to look back on each moment and wish things had been different. The reflective tone heightens the nostalgia we all feel for our past friendships. Throughout the story, there seems to be a tension between following that nostalgia, grasping to get the past back in any way that you can and letting it go.
#Relatable
Read this book if you pride yourself on being someone who has never gotten over anything in your entire life. If, on that rare occasion when you get to catch up with your college friends, you find yourselves rehashing all of the drama like it happaned yesterday. Beating that dead horse like nobody’s business.
This book captures how friendships change. At some point, it isn’t how similar your lives look, how often you see each other, or how close you are that bonds you, instead it becomes the memories that keep you together and help you to hold on to the people that shaped who you are. So Old, So Young teaches us that, no matter what your relationship is today, there will always be those bonds that can never be broken
About Grant Ginder:
Grant Ginder is the author of five novels, including Let’s Not Do That Again and The People We Hate at the Wedding, now a major motion picture starring Allison Janney, Kristen Bell, and Ben Platt. Originally from Southern California, Ginder received his MFA from New York University, where he teaches writing.
