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People We Meet on Vacation

Originally Published: 2021

Pages: 400

Available on: Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook

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A New York Times best-seller, People We Meet On Vacation is punchy, romantic, sarcastic, and maybe a little predictable, but all-around highly enjoyable. What makes this book stand out among others like it is that it has unexpected moments of depth and beautiful truthfulness on just… life and human nature. The book is silly and relevant and accessible to any readability level, but the author Emily Henry impresses her audience with lines that strike home.

Henry has a sharp mind and tongue and conveys these readily through the main character, Poppy. The book becomes more meaningful as it goes on, exploring what it means and what it takes for a person to grow and change. It begins very lighthearted, but deepens as Poppy’s identity crisis comes more and more to the forefront of her narrative. 

Poppy seems to have it made. She escaped what she had set out to escape: her past of Midwestern, small-town, middle-class contentment; she has made a name for herself at a well-known travel magazine, jets off on fabulous vacations and work trips, and has her travel articles published. She floats around New York with other famous friends, marveling at her fine place in life, and yet, discontented with it all.

She has all the amenities and luxuries she could ask for, but lately, the only thing that seems to truly make her happy is her longtime best friend, Alex. Despite their conflicting personalities, they became fast friends in college and have continued their long-lasting friendship into their late 20s through annual trips to random destinations over the world. These annual trips have meant everything to Poppy, and though their friendship never crossed the line, the prolonged eye contact and double-edged words were obviously (well, obvious to the reader) hiding their strong feelings under the surface all along.

Alex is a high school teacher who moved back to their hometown after college, bought a house, and is petrified and devastatingly certain that his stable and predictable lifestyle could never be compatible with the life that Poppy seems to seek—one of novel places, people, and experiences. Poppy is living the high New York life and seems to have everything but a home.

The plot of People We Meet On Vacation flips back and forth in time, from their past annual vacations, to the present. We get to know the history of Poppy and Alex, their strong (attempt at) platonic friendship, until a single moment two years prior, where they shared a moment that changed their friendship. They go two years without speaking after this event, and finally, Poppy reaches out to restore their old friendship. They go to Palm Springs, California, and all the years of having known one another—all the trials, the miscommunication, the un-communication—comes to a boiling point under the hot California sun. Poppy and Alex stare at what they have wanted for so long, and whether they can be brave enough to find a way to reconcile their differences is… written in the book—so go read it!

People We Meet On Vacation becomes a truthful reflection on the millennial generation—or maybe, more accurately—just the younger generation of 20-somethings who continuously strive toward goals that they have set for themselves, goals that come wound up with their identity.

Isn’t that a funny and horrible sensation? To set high, impressive goals; to go out after them relentlessly and boldly; to finally achieve them after an abundance of hard work; and to then hear a hollow ring within yourself—that what you had so long fought for isn’t fulfilling; that you had misplaced your hope and life purpose in something that can’t actually provide real happiness; that you had built up your life on false assumptions and escapisms. What comes after that stunning unveiling?

Poppy spirals after her realization that a single person can take precedence over everything she has ever fought to achieve and that adventure and novelty and travel escapism are the sad, inferior replacements for what she really had been craving all along: a home.

Is that just sappy and predictable? Maybe, but Emily Henry tells this story well enough that Poppy’s struggles are honest and true and touching. 

Emily Henry is a New York Times best-selling author who has written many other popular novels, including Beach Read. I recommend this easy novel to anyone who loves a good rom-com and anyone who wants to swap out denser, darker reading for something summery, humorous, and well-written. You will be snickering throughout the novel at Henry’s burns and witticisms over pop culture, and turning page after page for the next charming bit.