A poignant, hilarious, and wholly original love story, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light and . . . disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly . . . will he ever return? Jesse knew they were longing for something, both feeling stuck. But had Norman been so stuck that his only option was to leave Jesse behind?
As Jesse struggles to understand Norman’s disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life. Should he return to the classroom? Put in a pool? Get a dog? Call his estranged mother? What does it mean to be alone when you’ve always been one half of a whole?
When Norman’s sister Lally lands on Jesse’s doorstep with an urgent request, Norman’s absence becomes even more profound. Add to Jesse’s grief and confusion a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that he may have had a hand in Norman’s disappearance, and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure. With his husband missing and the world closing in, all eyes are on Jesse. Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay.
In Take Me With You, Steven Rowley brings his resonant wit and emotional insight to an epic love story – an exploration of the forces that draw two people into the same orbit and the gravity that threatens to pull them apart.
College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light and . . . disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly . . . will he ever return? Jesse knew they were longing for something, both feeling stuck. But had Norman been so stuck that his only option was to leave Jesse behind?
As Jesse struggles to understand Norman’s disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life. Should he return to the classroom? Put in a pool? Get a dog? Call his estranged mother? What does it mean to be alone when you’ve always been one half of a whole?
When Norman’s sister Lally lands on Jesse’s doorstep with an urgent request, Norman’s absence becomes even more profound. Add to Jesse’s grief and confusion a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that he may have had a hand in Norman’s disappearance, and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure. With his husband missing and the world closing in, all eyes are on Jesse. Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay.
In Take Me With You, Steven Rowley brings his resonant wit and emotional insight to an epic love story – an exploration of the forces that draw two people into the same orbit and the gravity that threatens to pull them apart.
Title: Take Me With You
Author: Steven Rowley
Publisher: G.P. Putman's Sons
Expected Publication Date: May 19, 2026
Review:
Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I have so far adored everything I've read from Rowley. He has such a knack for fun and entertaining story telling, I was really excited to jump into this one. I didn't even read the blurb because he's just an auto-read author for me.
This story was a bit slower than Rowley's previous titles that I've read. At least at the beginning. There is a lot of build up for the story. A lot of heart ache, emotional turmoil, grief, and anxiety to be had. Heavily laid background so we can get to know the characters and watch them change and grow. I loved that Rowley chose to write each section from a different point of view. I'm always happy to get the POV of various characters. It makes me feel more drawn to them and helps me understand them more. And I loved the relationships Rowley chose to build. Family, yes, but also found family which I feel like can be even more important than blood relatives because the characters choose those people.
Jesse and Norman have been together for 30 years. Their meet cute is nothing short of fun. I enjoyed that Rowely chose to show us this particular scene in the beginning and then came back to it later in the book. But something has been brewing within their marriage. A rift that neither man seems to know how to fix. When Norman disappears, Jesse finds himself lost. What Rowley chooses to show is that one must find and understand oneself prior to being able to give themselves to someone else.
Lally, Norman's sister, has her own chapters in the book. I will say I was not expecting to hear from her. But those chapters really made me love her. Her struggle with her age, wanting children, and worrying about her brother jumped off the page for me.
The mystery surrounding Norman's disappearance really had me invested in the story and kept me turning pages to find out.. I needed to know what happened and how. Rowley weaves a bit of science fiction into the story a la Area 51 and the potential for life beyond our stars. We never truly find out where Norman went but we have an idea through how Rowely presents Jesse's final chapters.
What I love about Rowely is he knows when to use humor to help you understand a scene and when to use more emotional writing to keep your investment in the characters throughout the story. This helps keep a great pace throughout his story and also moves the plot along well.
I will admit, some parts of this book were a bit slow for me. I still pushed through because I wanted to see what would happen with all the characters, but I felt like some parts were longer than they needed to be. For the first half of the book, I was sure I was going to have to really push to get to the good parts. But at about the 50% mark, the book really picked up for me. The ending felt just a bit rushed for me, given how much time we had spent with Jesse. I wish I could have seen Norman's struggle with what Jesse went through, but the book just skips over that and goes straight to the resolution.
And I truly loved the setting Rowley chose for this book: Joshua Tree. I have never been but I have seen pictures and also have seen shows/movies that were filmed in that area. It is a vast desert where one could get truly lost. Rowley's descriptions really help me visualize where Jesse and Norman chose to live.
Overall I laughed, cried, and truly understood the struggles of the characters. Rowely touches on relationships and the need to be individual within them; to hold on to who you are while building something with someone else. To accept others as they are but also realize change can happen and we must adjust and grow with those changes. Rowley will remain an auto-read author for me for sure!
Author:
Steven Rowley is the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus, a Washington Post Notable Book of 2016, The Editor, named by NPR and Esquire Magazine as one of the Best Books of 2019, and The Guncle, a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for 2021 Novel of the Year and semi-finalist for The Thurber Prize in American Humor. His fiction has been published in twenty languages. Rowley lives in Palm Springs, CA with his husband, the writer Byron Lane.
No comments:
Post a Comment