When We Were Young by Richard Roper

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on July 20, 2021

Richard Roper used a familiar formula to create When We Were Young. He begins in the present and constructs the novel’s foundation from the memories of the two protagonists. The formula requires the protagonists to arrive at a dramatic moment in the present while the parallel story of their past explains how they came to be in their current position, revealing some secrets along the way. While excellent novels have been concocted using that method, the risk of following a formula is that the novel will feel formulaic. This one feels like Roper followed the formula for writing a soap opera.

As the story begins, Theo Hern’s parents are evicting him from their guest room as an act of tough love. Theo is pushing thirty. He aspired to be a comedy writer but settled for a series of marketing jobs, quitting the last one to chase the hope of a dream job that disappeared.

Theo’s old friend, Joel Thompson, suddenly reappears in Theo’s life after years of estrangement. When they were kids, Joel and Theo talked about walking the Thames Path. Joel proposes that they walk it now while using their time together to write scripts for a television series that they had envisioned before their friendship ended. Joel promises that a producer has agreed to back the series, a promise that more than stretches the truth.

Theo needs a gig so he overcomes his bitterness about Joel sufficiently to say yes. Joel’s actual motivation is to reconcile with Theo. Joel is dying from liver failure and the Thames Path walk with Theo is on his bucket list. The reader knows of Joel’s impending death but Theo does not. The reader also knows that Theo will tumble to the truth eventually because that’s part of the formula.

As the guys walk along the Thames Path, they tell the reader their backstories in alternating chapters. Joel was an awkward, friendless teen. Theo saved him from being bullied and they became best friends, bonding over a shared love of comedy. Joel eventually confesses to having worshipped Theo, which seems a bit much. In any event, Joel went on to have a career writing for television and began living with a childhood friend, Amber Crossley, who became a successful television actress. Joel messes that up with his drinking, putting an end to their relationship. The drinking is apparently motivated by Joel’s involvement in a traffic accident that put Theo’s sister Alice in a wheelchair. Alice, unlike Theo, has forgiven Joel, while Theo’s route to becoming a self-pitying loser caused Babs, the love of his life, to break up with him. Whew!

All of this is just too much. The dying protagonist who needs to come to terms with his life. The broken friendship that needs to be repaired. The abusive stepfather who comes between mother and son, creating another relationship that needs to be mended. The hidden truth that destroyed a friendship (I won’t spoil it but rest assured that a hidden truth exists because hidden truths and big reveals are part of the formula). The failed and failing romances. The alcoholic who is tempted to resume drinking. “I always suspected my husband was gay” is about the only soap opera theme that doesn’t appear in When We Were Young. Maybe that one has been reserved for the sequel.

The backstories are full of syrupy heartstring-tuggers, as if Joel’s upcoming death is insufficient. Characters frequently erupt at each other or share their feelings and hug it out. Readers who like to have a good cry might appreciate When We Were Young, but only if rolling eyes are capable of forming tears.

Blurbs describe the story as heartwarming. And it would be if it felt authentic. Instead, it feels like an exercise in obvious emotional manipulation. All of the contrived problems make it possible to bombard the reader with happy and sad endings. A good many readers like that sort of thing. Since I’m not one of them, I can only say that the story is well-constructed and has some enjoyable moments. The ending certainly could have been worse, but it’s a long walk to arrive at an ending that isn’t really a surprise. The story as a whole is just too predictable and formulaic to take seriously.

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