Posted on 20 June 2018

The "Younger" Book Charles' Wife Wrote Is Real And I Actually Read It

Everything you need to know about Charles and Pauline's marriage breakdown.

by Jenna Guillaume

Editor-at-Large, BuzzFeed Australia

Karl hasn’t joined her because of a work emergency (at Paradigm, the stand-in for Empirical), and Kate’s low-key pissed about it.

Unlike Kate, who gave up writing after she got married and had kids. Because even with a live-in nanny, she was far too busy redecorating her and Karl’s THREE properties to devote any time to writing.

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Look. Intellectually, I appreciate the idea that this book is pushing – both within Younger and in the real world – that there’s a double standard when it comes to men and women leaving their families. And I also think it’s important to see narratives in which women have complicated feelings around having kids, and in which they push back against old-fashioned standards and place value on their work and their creativity.

But it’s still hard to swallow the idea that this privileged white woman is so hard done by because she hasn’t made time to write in 10 years, despite having a live-in carer for her kids. Like, women without that benefit have successful writing careers all the time. You don’t need to leave your family for a year in order to finish a damn novel.

The last thing she remembers is skinny dipping in the ocean, which provides the opportunity for the first ~sexy~ scene of the book – not in the present day, but a flashback to when her and Karl were more sexually adventurous.

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She doesn’t get through to Karl, so off she goes to Thailand. Yep, what started as a weekend away for a friend’s wedding has spiralled into a spontaneous trip to another country, without letting her family know first. Of course, she only plans to stay for a week. But we all know how this ends.

I should note that one of the reasons Kate is particularly frustrated at this moment is that one of Karl’s authors sexually harassed her at a dinner she was hosting, which adds another layer to the whole thing – or it would, if it didn’t feel kind of shoe-horned in and then was subsequently never mentioned again.

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In another unsent letter to Karl, Kate explains how things haven't been the same in their relationship since she had a miscarriage in between their two daughters being born. This is why she feels such a connection to one of the refugees in the camp, who recently had a miscarriage herself. It's quite a revelation, but it feels kinda cheap – it's another pretty heavy plot point that's never really addressed again.

I mean, Kate doesn't mention any of this when she tells Karl on the phone that she won't be home for Christmas.

He's all, "I don't understand any of this, Kate. I wanted you to have your time, but this is too much". He then tells her that it's too painful to talk to her anymore.

And Kate is actually SHOOK that, after months away from home, and cancelling on her family at Christmas, her husband doesn't really want to speak to her. Okay, Kate.

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You see, these two characters are Australian. I am also Australian. And there is nothing more annoying to an Australian than seeing their nationality misrepresented in pop culture (well, except for that one The Simpsons episode, which we've weirdly embraced).

Often, Australian characters written by Americans can veer into over-the-top stereotype territory. That's not the problem here. Quite the opposite, in fact. Because Mia and Derek sound EXACTLY like Americans. They say "mom", mention their "freshman" and "sophomore" years at "college", and, worst of all, call Australia "Aussie". As in, "when we get back to Aussie". FYI, Americans: This is something people from New Zealand would say, but NEVER Australians. "Aussie" is only used to describe people/things, not the country itself.

Okay, now that I've got that off my chest, I'll stop ranting about these terribly-written Australian characters (for now, at least).

Meanwhile, on the writing front, Kate sends off some short stories to a literary magazine using her maiden name, and they agree to publish one after some extensive editing, which makes Kate pretty happy.

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As I said earlier, there's only a few passing references to the Younger characters beyond Pauline and Charles. FYI: Kelsey/Kasey is described as a "rising star at Paradigm" who wears skirts so short they give "the entire room a glimpse of her labia" (rude, Kate). Meanwhile Diana/Donna is referred to as Paradigm's "Machiavellian head of marketing".

BTW, another thing mentioned in passing: Karl proposed to Kate with a literary scavenger hunt across Paris. As if I didn't love Charles enough already.

In hospital, she hallucinates seeing Karl, but he's not really there, of course – he doesn't even know she's in Myanmar, let alone that she's been hurt.

Kate needs better medical attention than what’s given at the rudimentary hospital she’s in, but it's too risky for her to fly all the way back to America. Derek suggests he and Mia take her to Australia, so she can go to the hospital in Darwin and then recuperate at his widowed father's farm in the outback.

(BTW, Htet's husband has been found while all this is going on, so that's something I guess.)

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Anyway, I guess whoever actually wrote this thing wanted to convey that Dusty, the dad, is a little more old-school Aussie than his kids, because there's a rare attempt at using Australian slang in a sentence: Dusty says, "that bogan ran off again and got mixed in with the sheep" (emphasis NOT mine).

Dusty is talking about a dog here. FYI, Americans, bogan is not a catch-all insult used to describe someone or something that's annoying. It's a complex descriptor that has a lot of class baggage – but believe me when I say no Australian would ever use it in a sentence like that.

(Admittedly, I have pretty strong feelings about the word bogan – I even wrote a whole essay about it. I'm not kidding.)

In the middle of this, she learns via the internet that Karl is dating someone else, Daphne Sarraf – a stand-in for Radha, who you might remember Charles briefly dated in Season 3 of Younger. It's suggested that Karl hasn't mentioned it to her because he didn't want to drop the bomb over the phone while she was still recovering from the accident.

Despite Kate wanting to fight for Karl at this point, she asks Mia to sell her wedding and engagement ring and give the money to Htet. I appreciate the noble intent and all but seriously WHAT ARE YOU DOING WOMAN THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO CONVINCE YOUR HUSBAND YOU STILL CARE?!

Kate isn't deterred, though – she FINALLY heads back to New York, after nearly a year away (on a trip that was only supposed to be one weekend, remember). She presents Karl with her manuscript and then... AND THEN...

As long as you're not Australian. Then it will just piss you off.

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The "Younger" Book Charles' Wife Wrote Is Real And I Actually Read It

I’m a huge fan of Younger, and after seasons of being on the fence between Josh and Charles (they are just both so great), I have recently landed firmly on Team Charles.

Naturally, as someone on Team Charles, when I found out his ex-wife’s book, Marriage Vacation, was being published in the real world, I jumped at the chance to read it.

The whole book is in-universe. There's a little Millennial logo on the spine, and no mention anywhere of who actually wrote it. Even the acknowledgements are from Pauline's perspective.

If you’re burning with curiosity but aren’t going to bother reading the book anytime soon, here’s how it all goes down.

Let’s get the who is who out of the way first:

The book begins with Kate in California for her friend’s wedding.

There’s a lot of Kate’s internal musings about how hot she and Karl are together, and how everyone is always jealous of them, and how dare Karl not be around NOW because nobody is jealous of her at this wedding.

In fact, Kate is the one who is being eaten up by jealousy – thanks to the appearance of one of her old college friends, Nina, who is now a successful author.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Kate is still at the wedding. In a plot straight from Younger, her friend Nina slips her a molly-spiked brownie, and Kate unwittingly gets extremely high.

On the plane to Thailand, Kate writes Karl a letter explaining where her head is at. She recounts how she and Karl first met in a bookshop in Paris, and how they gave in to their passion that night in a public park. THAT’S RIGHT, it’s the infamous page 58.

Anyway, Kate never sends the letter, instead calling Karl a day after she's arrived in Thailand. He's shocked, but pretty understanding, all things considered.

Kate is now at a retreat, in the middle of nowhere, by herself. You see, her friend Nina is a no-show. Kate is surprised, until she remembers Nina is a total flake who always cancels on plans.

Kate decides to stick around anyway, and uses the time to sleep and write. She makes a list of goals she wants to achieve by the end of her week in Thailand:

While Kate is busy writing and spending time at the refugee camp, she befriends Mia, a doctor, along with Mia's younger brother, Derek, who is also helping out. Aaaand here's where I got really twitchy.

I was expecting Kate to have a fling with Derek, and she does mention that she knows she can have sex with him if she wants to, but their relationship stays rather platonic, aside from some flirting here and there.

What makes her less happy is learning Karl has filed for divorce. She tries calling him, and guess who answers? That's right, it's LIZA. I mean, Lena.

But wait, before I get to the big climax, I have to tell you that this is the only mention of Liza/Lena in THE WHOLE BOOK.

If you're thinking that the relocation of the story to Australia might get me twitching again, ding ding ding, you're correct.

What follows is the most offensive passage in the book, in which Mia explains that their family farm is named "Bahloo Station" after "an old folktale" that "might have started with the native folk".

On an entirely more trivial note, we then get the introduction of Mia and Derek's dad, who is only in his fifties and "one of the most handsome men" Kate's ever seen. Which doesn't really compute because HAVE YOU SEEN HER HUSBAND?!

Kate enjoys her time at the farm, resting and writing – this is when she begins her novel, which will go on to become Marriage Vacation, because this whole thing is basically a snake eating its own tail.

Meanwhile, Kate has also been enjoying Dusty's company. Derek has picked up with his ex-girlfriend and is out of the house most of the time, while Mia has gone back to Thailand. So Kate and Dusty are left mostly alone with each other, and quite like what they see.

We get one final unsent letter to Karl, in which Kate says a very similar thing to what Charles told Liza on Younger about them being "two vines".

Kate books a trip to Paris and asks Karl to meet her there, because she's all about spontaneity now. He doesn't, because one of their daughters gets sick, and unlike Kate, he chooses parenting over leaving the country on a whim.

There's a flash-forward to "one year later", and Kate describes a happy family trip to Hawaii, in which she and Karl have recaptured their passion for each other, and for fucking in public (they do it in a hammock near the beach).

So there you have it! The book everyone went so bananas about at Empirical. It is not really literary, as the show suggests, but it is a quick, easy, and relatively entertaining read.

The "Younger" Book Charles' Wife Wrote Is Real And I Actually Read It

I’m a huge fan of Younger, and after seasons of being on the fence between Josh and Charles (they are just both so great), I have recently landed firmly on Team Charles.

Naturally, as someone on Team Charles, when I found out his ex-wife’s book, Marriage Vacation, was being published in the real world, I jumped at the chance to read it.

The whole book is in-universe. There's a little Millennial logo on the spine, and no mention anywhere of who actually wrote it. Even the acknowledgements are from Pauline's perspective.

If you’re burning with curiosity but aren’t going to bother reading the book anytime soon, here’s how it all goes down.

Let’s get the who is who out of the way first:

The book begins with Kate in California for her friend’s wedding.

There’s a lot of Kate’s internal musings about how hot she and Karl are together, and how everyone is always jealous of them, and how dare Karl not be around NOW because nobody is jealous of her at this wedding.

In fact, Kate is the one who is being eaten up by jealousy – thanks to the appearance of one of her old college friends, Nina, who is now a successful author.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Kate is still at the wedding. In a plot straight from Younger, her friend Nina slips her a molly-spiked brownie, and Kate unwittingly gets extremely high.

On the plane to Thailand, Kate writes Karl a letter explaining where her head is at. She recounts how she and Karl first met in a bookshop in Paris, and how they gave in to their passion that night in a public park. THAT’S RIGHT, it’s the infamous page 58.

Anyway, Kate never sends the letter, instead calling Karl a day after she's arrived in Thailand. He's shocked, but pretty understanding, all things considered.

Kate is now at a retreat, in the middle of nowhere, by herself. You see, her friend Nina is a no-show. Kate is surprised, until she remembers Nina is a total flake who always cancels on plans.

Kate decides to stick around anyway, and uses the time to sleep and write. She makes a list of goals she wants to achieve by the end of her week in Thailand:

While Kate is busy writing and spending time at the refugee camp, she befriends Mia, a doctor, along with Mia's younger brother, Derek, who is also helping out. Aaaand here's where I got really twitchy.

I was expecting Kate to have a fling with Derek, and she does mention that she knows she can have sex with him if she wants to, but their relationship stays rather platonic, aside from some flirting here and there.

What makes her less happy is learning Karl has filed for divorce. She tries calling him, and guess who answers? That's right, it's LIZA. I mean, Lena.

But wait, before I get to the big climax, I have to tell you that this is the only mention of Liza/Lena in THE WHOLE BOOK.

If you're thinking that the relocation of the story to Australia might get me twitching again, ding ding ding, you're correct.

What follows is the most offensive passage in the book, in which Mia explains that their family farm is named "Bahloo Station" after "an old folktale" that "might have started with the native folk".

On an entirely more trivial note, we then get the introduction of Mia and Derek's dad, who is only in his fifties and "one of the most handsome men" Kate's ever seen. Which doesn't really compute because HAVE YOU SEEN HER HUSBAND?!

Kate enjoys her time at the farm, resting and writing – this is when she begins her novel, which will go on to become Marriage Vacation, because this whole thing is basically a snake eating its own tail.

Meanwhile, Kate has also been enjoying Dusty's company. Derek has picked up with his ex-girlfriend and is out of the house most of the time, while Mia has gone back to Thailand. So Kate and Dusty are left mostly alone with each other, and quite like what they see.

We get one final unsent letter to Karl, in which Kate says a very similar thing to what Charles told Liza on Younger about them being "two vines".

Kate books a trip to Paris and asks Karl to meet her there, because she's all about spontaneity now. He doesn't, because one of their daughters gets sick, and unlike Kate, he chooses parenting over leaving the country on a whim.

There's a flash-forward to "one year later", and Kate describes a happy family trip to Hawaii, in which she and Karl have recaptured their passion for each other, and for fucking in public (they do it in a hammock near the beach).

So there you have it! The book everyone went so bananas about at Empirical. It is not really literary, as the show suggests, but it is a quick, easy, and relatively entertaining read.

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