#allison larkin

[antimony-ore]

"It's easy to fall in love with someone when you need them, but that doesn't make it real or right. I don't think how we were in our time together is how we'd always be. There's a way you hold yourself in when love and need get tangled. It's hard to know what would last, and what would wear too thin to keep."

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

[professionalintrovert]

📍Ithaca, NY

“It’s a mayflower,” she tells me. “It’s the good stuff that comes after too many storms.”

Allison Larkin, The People We Keep 🌊🌳🚗📚

A few weeks ago, I did something impulsive and took a solo road trip to a place I’d been wanting to go: Ithaca, New York, the setting of one of my all-time favorite books, The People We Keep. I’d just accepted an offer for a full-time job and really needed to get away for a few days. It was just as magical a place as the book made it out to be.

IG: jeffreyreads

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The People We Keep | Author: Allison Larkin | Publisher: Gallery Books (2020)

[razreads]

Kids don't need a life where nothing bad ever happens. What they need is someone who's there for them when the bad stuff happens.

Allison Larkin, Home of the American Circus

[lesserjoke]

Book #116 of 2025:

Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin

This is a slow-paced and largely plot-free example of slice-of-life storytelling — sort of the literary fiction equivalent of the cozy fantasy genre, I suppose. Usually in tales with this type of premise, where a protagonist returns to their estranged family, I’d expect there to be dark secrets waiting to be dramatically uncovered, a recent tragedy hanging over the cast, and/or shocking violence looming on the horizon. Instead, the vibe here is more akin to something like Gilmore Girls or Six Feet Under, as the 30-year-old heroine reconciles and reintegrates into the community fairly smoothly. She’s still on the outs with a few key individuals, but the focus isn’t even on those particular relationships.

That’s not to say that everything’s sunny in Somers, NY (apparently the real hometown of author Allison Larkin as well as the site of the country’s first circus, hence the curious title). Our narrator is broke, evicted, and recovering from abdominal surgery, which is the only reason she falls back on the house that her parents left her when they died in a car crash six months ago. It’s the first time she’s come home since leaving a decade before, which we eventually learn was because her creep of a brother-in-law kept getting her alone and forcibly kissing her, while everyone she tried telling about it just accused her of leading him on. Her biggest regret over cutting off all contact and fleeing then was having to lose touch with her young niece, and one major thread in the novel concerns the woman rebuilding trust with the now fifteen-year-old, to whom she becomes a de facto guardian.

(One quote that really stuck with me, as a parent: “Kids don’t need a life where nothing bad ever happens; what they need is someone who’s there for them when the bad stuff happens.”)

It’s a lovely tale with well-drawn characters, but there’s not much in the way of any traditional narrative scaffolding events. At any point, the main concern is simply how these folks will make it through the day and the current crisis, which isn’t always the most exciting experience to follow along with. I’ve enjoyed this regardless, but it may not be to every reader’s preference.

[Content warning for drug abuse, domestic abuse, and rape.]

★★★★☆

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[bookstothrivecom]

Home of the American Circus Summary – A Heartfelt Tale of Redemption and Family

Introduction: Why Home of the American Circus Summary Matters If you’re seeking a story with layered characters, genuine emotional depth, and the resilience of human connection, this Home of the American Circus Summary delivers it with tenderness and truth. In an age where generational trauma, estrangement, and personal redemption are resonating themes for many readers, Home of the American…

Home of the American Circus Summary – A Heartfelt Tale of Redemption and Family

[vampireduckk]

I wonder if maybe all you do is meet people and lose them and your smile fades the further you go because you have to carry the space they leave.

- The People We Keep

Allison Larkin

[eleven-fiftynine]

It’s easy to fall in love with someone when you need them, but that doesn’t make it real or right.

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin