Who We Are Now

Who We Are Now is a coming-of-age, character-driven novel that follows the lives of four university friends after graduation as they find careers, experience love and heartbreak.

Through her main characters, Chamberlain incorporates many themes and issues that make great book club fodder. The story also has a strong nostalgic feel and took me back to my university/college days. Thankfully, my friends and I (one of whom I'm visiting this weekend) fared a much easier path than Rachel, Clarissa, Dev and Nate who each share their POV in this story that spans many years. It was interesting to get their takes, but with so many narrators, I didn't feel like I connected to any of them in a significant way. 

This slower paced, melancholic story shows the messy, complicated side of life and the evolution of the friendship of these four flawed characters. This book didn't quite tick all the emotional boxes for me, but I know it will find its audience and I look forward to reading what Chamberlain writes next.  

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for this complimentary digital copy that was provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Lauryn Chamberlain

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Dutton Group (Penguin Random House Canada)

First Published: August 8, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: Four friends. Fifteen years. Who We Are Now is a story of Sliding Doors moments, those seemingly small choices of early adulthood that determine the course of our lives.

It is 2006 and Rachel, Clarissa, Dev, and Nate are best friends, seniors on the eve of their college graduation. Their whole lives are before them, at once full of promise and anxiety. Bound to one another as they are, they imagine their closeness will last forever—but things change as they take their first steps away from one another and into adulthood.

Each year is told from one character’s point of view, and in that way, we stride swiftly through their lives. These four friends feel their twenties and thirties flying by, and suddenly small moments fast become regrets or unexpected boons, decisions they’ll spend years wishing they could undo and choices that come to define them. As the foursome endure professional setbacks, deep loss, and creative success, fortunes shift and friendships strain—and it will take a tragic turn of events to bring them together again.

Who We Are Now is a poignant story of epic friendship that jumps boldly through the years, moving at the same unforgiving pace as does that precious, confusing time between college and real life. This novel is perfect for readers who adore tales of friendship, explorations of the second coming of age moment that arrives in our thirties, and fans of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings or Dolly Alderton’s Ghosts.