60 pages • 2 hours read
All Adults Here
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Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Quick Death”
Astrid Strick’s life changes when her acquaintance Barbara Baker is struck by a speeding school bus and killed. Though Astrid knew Barbara for 40 years, she never liked her. Still, Barbara’s death is a shock. The day Barbara is killed, Astrid is prepping for the arrival of her granddaughter Cecelia. At around 11:00am, Astrid is in her car in the town center. She spots Barbara standing on the sidewalk outside her car, then stepping into the street. Astrid watches Barbara get hit by the bus. Astrid joins the other passers-by around Barbara’s dead body. Her hairdresser Birdie escorts her away. Astrid is thankful to hear that there were no children on the school bus. In the hairdresser’s, Astrid is in shock. Birdie takes her into the wax room to help her relax. They kiss. Astrid decides that at age 68 and as a widow, she must live her life to the fullest.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Taxi TV”
Cecelia is 13 years old and is on leave from school, a subtle type of unofficial expulsion. It was her idea to move in with her grandmother, though she had been joking. Even so, her parents decided it was a good idea and are accompanying her to the Amtrak. Astrid’s house in Clapham is big, but Cecelia doesn’t like the idea of leaving her family’s small apartment even for more space.
As they leave New York City, Astrid’s youngest son Nicholas (known as “Nicky”), Cecelia’s father, exults the “Big House” for its beauty. Nicky ran away from his parents when he was 17 years old and only occasionally returns to visit his mother. Nicky sells crystals online and was once in a movie. His wife, Cecelia’s mother Juliette, is a dancer. Cecelia feels betrayed because they’re not keeping her home and supporting her through her troubled time.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Eau de Goat”
Porter Strick always smells of the goats she takes care of. Porter bought a goat dairy farm off her friend Harriet; it’s a formidable and fulfilling job that has taught Porter that she can become a single mother on her own. Porter has had several relationships with men but has ultimately decided she can only rely on herself. She pursued her options at a sperm bank, and Porter is now pregnant with a girl. Porter hasn’t told anyone about the pregnancy yet, not even her mother. Porter wants to be a different kind of mother than Astrid: warmer and more affectionate.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Unaccompanied Minor”
Cecelia pulls into the Clapham stop. She’s been given a bracelet to wear that labels her as an unaccompanied minor. The train conductor announces Astrid Strick’s name at the station because Cecelia needs to be directly handed over to Astrid. Astrid is late but finally arrives. She tells Cecelia about Barbara’s death. In the car ride through Clapham, Cecelia is struck by how chatty Astrid is. Astrid recounts her two sons as teenagers, stories Cecelia hasn’t heard before.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Spiro’s Pancake House”
Astrid’s oldest son Elliot hears about Barbara’s death from Olympia, who runs the Spiro’s Pancake House. Olympia saw Astrid race over to help Barbara. Elliot is struck by the idea that the bus could very well have killed his mother instead of Barbara.
Elliot is particularly tired that day. His wife, Wendy, has more patience for their twin sons, Aidan and Zachary. Elliot struggles with feeling unfulfilled. He also feels stressed about a recent business acquisition: the purchase of a building in the center of town.
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Big House”
Astrid and Cecelia arrive at Astrid’s house. Astrid hopes that Cecelia will feel better with more space. Astrid knows that Nicky doesn’t trust her parenting, so him sending Cecelia to her indicates that Cecelia’s situation is severe.
Astrid calls Bo, Barbara’s husband, to give her condolences. He reveals that he’s used to living alone because Barbara left him shortly before her death. When she gets off the phone, Astrid laughs hard, laughter that turns into crying. She realizes the sad irony of Barbara finally living her life the way she wanted to, then being struck dead. Astrid yearns for Birdie.
Chapter 7 Summary: “August in Purgatory”
A young transgender girl, Robin, is picked up from camp by her parents; the novel presents her as August and refers to her as male until Cecilia learns Robin’s true identity. As the family drives towards Great Barrington, Robin won’t stop crying, though she doesn’t seem to notice that she is; her parents are concerned. Robin doesn’t have friends at junior high, but she loves her community at camp and is sad to leave. August’s parents own a secondhand shop, and she wishes they could also make her more desirable to other people. They go to Great Barrington for an estate sale, where the Sullivans search through the house of a recently deceased person to look for items they might be able to sell in their store.
Chapter 8 Summary: “A Funny Story”
Porter goes over to her mom’s house. She heard about Barbara but is surprised to find Astrid laughing over Barbara leaving Bo months before her death. Porter wants to tell her mother about her pregnancy, and Astrid wants to tell Porter about her relationship with Birdie. Porter blurts out the news of her pregnancy just as Astrid is proposing that they invite Birdie to lunch. Astrid worries about Porter as a single mother, but Porter insists it’s the right decision.
Chapters 1-8 Analysis
In the first chapters of All Adults Here, Straub begins the process of exposing family secrets and internal conflicts through a life-changing event that jumpstarts the narrative plot. Barbara Baker’s death is symbolic of many external conflicts. The suddenness of her death, as well as the randomness of it, symbolizes the tragic unpredictability of life. The bus could have hit anyone, but it just so happened to collide with Barbara as she was crossing the street. What’s more, Barbara’s death is an example of tragic irony. Barbara recently left her husband, which implies that she was trying to start a new chapter in her life—a surprising decision, given that she was at an age when many people have settled into their ways. Tragically, she never had the opportunity to enjoy the results of this decision; she died before she could really embrace her second chance. Her death therefore also symbolizes the importance of living a fulfilling life in the present. Barbara’s decision to leave her husband kicks off the theme of Embracing Your True Self, and she inspires other characters, like Astrid, to do the same.
When Astrid witnesses Barbara’s death, her life changes. She realizes how close mortality and tragedy are to her and acknowledges the importance of living a happy life in the present. Astrid is 68 years old and has only recently started to live a truly authentic life. Her relationship with Birdie is a secret because Astrid wants to keep their intimacy for herself. What’s more, the world knows Astrid as a straight woman. But Astrid’s husband has long been dead, her children long gone from her home. Barbara’s death inspires her to commit to living the life she’s always wanted. Mortality is an important motif that ties into this theme; Astrid is haunted by the idea of her mortality and realizes that she may not have a lot of time left in her life to be happy.
Like Barbara, Astrid wants a second chance to live while embracing her true self. Before this point, Astrid played a certain role: a wife and a mother, which carried certain responsibilities and expectations. Notably, Astrid’s children try to raise themselves and their own children differently from how they were raised, since Astrid was an unaffectionate mother. This indicates that Astrid was performing the role of a mother in a certain way, emphasizing the idea that Astrid couldn’t be her authentic self while raising her children. Now, Astrid doesn’t have to live for social approval or act as a role model for her children. Now, Astrid can have a chance at real happiness.
Even though Astrid’s job raising her kids is essentially done, she is still connected with her family. Her preteen granddaughter Cecelia moves in with her after getting into trouble at school in New York City, introducing the theme of The Power of Family Support. This, too, ties into the theme of embracing the self; Astrid has the opportunity to be a warmer, more maternal figure, the sort of person she felt she couldn’t be with her own children. As a grandmother, Astrid has more time to devote to Cecelia. She doesn’t know exactly what happened with Cecelia; Straub keeps this a secret from the reader as well in these chapters. This gives Cecelia a mysterious air; she’s close with her grandmother and doesn’t seem to be a teenager with an attitude. Through Astrid, Straub encourages readers to wonder what Cecelia could have done that was so bad that she had to be sent away. Like Astrid, Cecelia is also looking for a second chance: to be a kid, to fix her mistakes, and to experience character development.
These chapters also introduce the theme of New Beginnings. Notably, these second chances are tied up with secrets and loneliness, as though second chances can only happen when the individual is focused on keeping their conflicts and their development internal. Porter is starting her own new chapter by getting pregnant via artificial insemination. Her life is already unique; she runs a goat dairy farm and actively decides to be a single mother. Porter is radically herself because she chooses to be happy in the present, not in the distant and unknowable future. But Porter is also lonely; she works alone and plans to mother alone, and most of her friends live outside of Clapham with their own families. Porter also keeps her pregnancy a secret from her family for a while; she doesn’t want to deal with their opinions or their judgment. Porter’s construction of her next, happy chapter in life is therefore necessarily entwined with a certain loneliness.
Elliot is also going through a similar transition. He is unfulfilled by the family life he thought would always give him purpose. He loves his wife and twins, but he still feels like something is missing. He has recently, and secretly, purchased one of the buildings in the center of town. For Elliot, the revelation of this secret will give him great pride. He is not the type of person who wants to get away from his hometown to be seen as a success—he wants his success to be witnessed by the people he grew up with. This also highlights his dissatisfaction because it implies that Elliot needs admiration for fulfillment. Elliot is not unhappy in his life, but he’s also not completely engaged in it. Like Porter, Elliot is lonely in his dissatisfaction; his family doesn’t know that he is feeling this way. He is alone with his thoughts, with the town’s local diner as a safe space for him to decompress alone.
Cecelia and Robin (still presenting as August) are also lonely, a loneliness compounded by their identities as young teenagers and Robin’s concealed gender identity. During the preteen and early teenage years, children become more independent but don’t have the autonomy to practice that independence. Changing bodies, changing hormones, and heightened social pressures make this time period a difficult rite of passage. Cecelia and Robin are both struggling with this experience, and they feel isolated even though their experiences are normal among adolescents.
Cecelia, for reasons not yet disclosed, has had to leave her school. The severity of her situation is escalated by her parents sending her to live with Astrid. Cecelia feels that her parents have failed her, another internal conflict to add to the ones she’s already had to endure. Cecelia has also lost her friends. Robin, in contrast, has mostly always lacked friends at school. Robin openly cries when she leaves summer camp, the only place where she has been able to form connections, as she knows that returning to school will mean returning to a life where she must conceal her gender identity. She is in clear emotional turmoil, and she feels helpless. This parallels Cecelia, who is open to the idea of staying with Astrid but doesn’t believe that moving away from her home in New York City will solve her problems.
In this novel, every character has a secret. Porter has her pregnancy, Elliot has his dissatisfaction and his new building, Astrid has her relationship with another woman, and Cecelia has the secret of whatever she did back in New York. The Stricks get along well and live close to one another, yet they don’t confide in each other. Straub implies that secrets keep people apart from their loved ones but foreshadows that the revelation of secrets can bring family closer together.
