Off Target and Off the Rails

 The Adults

Let me start this month’s book of the month by being completely honest because pretending helps no one.

I did not enjoy this book.
Not in a “this was a little slow” way. The writing is great, the premise is solid, but the characters… they hit me in a “why are these people like this” way 🤦‍♀️. This book actually gave me anxiety 😵‍💫. The emotional tension, the denial, the terrible decisions, it stirred up a level of frustration I do not think I have ever felt toward fictional people before.

The Adults by Caroline Hulse follows a group of exes who decide to spend Christmas together with their new partners, their daughter, and an imaginary giant purple rabbit named Posey 🐇💜. And listen, I wish I could tell you that Posey was the oddest part of the story. He was not. Posey was the only one who seemed emotionally stable, which feels like something none of us should think too hard about.

The human characters
Exhausting 😮‍💨
Chaotic 🎢
Performative 🎭
A walking reminder of how adults often act like they are fine while quietly unraveling behind their eyes 👀.

And while I did not connect with the book the way I hoped to, I did find myself constantly thinking
“Oh. This is exactly how the holidays feel for so many people.”

Everyone smiling way too hard 😬.
Everyone pretending they are above pettiness.
Everyone convinced they are handling things better than the person across the room.
Meanwhile emotional landmines are everywhere 🎯💥.

At its core, The Adults is about people trying so hard to act mature that they end up doing the exact opposite. Not because it is comforting. Not because it gives you hope. But because it captures the uncomfortable truth that holidays bring out the unprocessed parts of people, even the ones with matching pajamas and coordinated family photos 🎄📸.

The tension 😖
The swallowed feelings 😐
The things you pretend do not bother you until they absolutely do 😤
The moments where someone says something that hits you in the gut and you force a smile anyway 🙂

This book is all of that.
A slow moving emotional trainwreck 🚂💣 filled with people who desperately need to talk about their feelings and absolutely refuse to do so.

And maybe that is the point.
Maybe the takeaway is not “these characters should do better”
but rather
“Wow, this feels uncomfortably familiar.”

If nothing else, The Adults is a reminder that emotional maturity is not about keeping it together until you snap. It is about noticing what is happening inside you before you accidentally explode on someone over buffet etiquette 🍽️🔥.

Would I read it again
No 🙅‍♀️
Did I relate to parts of it
More than I wanted to 😑

By the last page, the only character I trusted was the imaginary rabbit, and I am choosing not to unpack that right now 🐇😬. But the messy, uncomfortable, nobody knows what they are doing energy of this book feels a lot like the holidays themselves.

It is chaotic 🌪️
It is dysfunctional 🧩
It is painfully relatable in moments you wish it was not 😬

And maybe that is enough.
Maybe the value is not in loving the book, but in recognizing the parts of yourself that show up when you read it. The frustration, the discomfort, the urge to intervene in a fictional argument like you are part of the cast 🍷👀.

If you finish this book thinking, “Wow, these people are unwell,” congratulations. You are already doing better than you think 🎉. I was not even sure who needed therapy more, the adults, the child, or the imaginary rabbit. Probably all of them. Preferably in separate rooms 🛋️🛋️🛋️.

But honestly, there was something comforting about watching other people completely fall apart on the page. It is like reality TV for your emotional life 📺😂. You do not enjoy it, you do not admire it, but you absolutely cannot look away.

Content note: This book includes frequent swearing, drug and alcohol use, and some questionable adult choices 🚫🍷. If those themes are tough for you right now, feel free to skip this month’s pick or pace yourself while reading 💛.