The setting of Montauk and the Hamptons is the real star in this 2019 memoir of love, longing, and change.

In a summer of discovery John Glynn opens up about the most important thing to find, discovering himself. John didn't have the money for a summer share on Montauk, a beach community a bit further out than the Hamptons of NY legend. A small inheritance from his grandmother made it possible and so began what many would call a series of lost weekends with other 20 somethings. I loved his details about the people in the house share, the ones he knew and the new friends he would make. There was so much drinking, and of course some sex, and laughable antics of meeting people, and learning about yourself in the process. John's willingness to share his journey is what makes this book remarkable. He realizes he's been holding back. While he knows so many people, straight, gay, bi, he is finally able to admit to his own desires and open up his heart to finding a person he can really be himself with. The journey is the story here, and how Glynn tells it is brilliant. I loved the friendships he shares, and how his eyes were opened to how he really felt. This does not read like a debut author. Following Glynn's Instagram after reading this, during his book launch and as his summer of 2019 has been is highly entertaining. This is a quick read and one I won't soon forget.

A coming of age story that slowly built up to an emotional ending. Scenes from a Montauk summer capture the endless weekends of drinking in a way that felt real but empty at times. For me, the ending redeemed the book.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I'll admit to only being interested because of the hype surrounding it on Instagram. Typically, I'm not a memoir reader unless it's from someone famous. However, forever being one who enjoys a good Bandwagon, I jumped on the chance to read and review this book - after all, where there is hype, there is me right smack dab in the middle of it, nosy as hell.

Out East tells the story about the author's first summer sharing a beachhouse with 30+ people in Montauk, New York. Oh, but it's so much more than that. John Glynn is struggling - with fitting in, with being happy, with finding his true place in the world. Love has alluded him and he can't figure out why. Spending his summer weekends in Montauk could be the answer he's been searching for.

This book is STUNNINGLY written. The prose is simply poetry and reads like a most beautiful novel. It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Reading this, I felt like I've been to Montauk, I've seen the buildings and beaches and made all the friendships. I devoured this book in two days, which is a miracle for me, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

I ended up really liking this! Glynn is a gifted writer- he so accurately captures that post college existential dread that many of us face. I was nervous reading this at first- the summer house in Montauk made me think that it might be shallow- but Glynn writes with humility and vulnerability and it works. This is a perfect coming of age memoir for summer.

I hadn’t heard of this one until Sarah mentioned it on one of her podcasts. I love coming-of-age (and coming out) stories, so I moved this one high up on the TBR list.

The first half of the book reminded me of the a tv show I used to watch (not sure of the name) on Bravo or MTV about young New Yorkers that make the trek to the Hamptons every weekend to party it up. Because this is so far removed from any lifestyle I’ve ever know, I was intrigued. But I got a little bored by the endless drinking and hookups scenes…as soon as you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard all you need to hear.

But around the halfway mark, Glynn gets to the heart of his story – not only is he incredibly lonely and full of self-doubt, but he’s starting to realize that he’s gay. His crush is also a roommate in “The Hive” – the home in Montauk that all these people descend on during the summer weekends.

Not sure how his friends or family will react to his coming out, Glynn writes his angst so beautifully. I appreciated his honesty and rawness so much. While his crush couldn’t reciprocate his feelings, I was more interested in how his parents would react to his news. Of course, as demonstrated throughout the story, they were amazingly supportive and I felt so hopeful for the rest of Glynn’s journey through love – whatever that may entail.

The only complaint I have for this book is that I would have liked more of Glynn’s coming out story and way less of his roommates’ partying and hooking up. The beauty of this story lies in Glynn’s narrative and so much of that felt wasted on other people’s stories – Ashley’s daily runs, the daily coffee trips, the room assignments. I wanted to know more about Glynn’s inner self and discovery…that would have made this more of a five-star, memorable read for me!

[4.5 stars]

You might expect a memoir about a Hamptons share to be 100% debauchery (think Bravo’s Summer House) and Out East certainly contained a lot of that, but it’s one of the most heartfelt and emotional memoirs I’ve ever read about friendship and love. Glynn perfectly captures that unsettled feeling you can get in your mid-twenties when your friends are at very different stages of life (some are single, some are getting married, some are having kids, and some haven’t found their calling while others have). And, he nails the camaraderie a share house can bring, filling a void of loneliness common during that moving from college to early adulthood. Unlike many other LGBTQ memoirs, Glynn didn’t always know he was gay…he always felt he just hadn’t found love yet, but that he was interested in women. Until he met the one man who would change all that. This background added another level of poignancy to Glynn’s struggle to come out. If things didn’t work out with the man he fell in love with, would he ever be able to date women again? Would he even want to? Was he gay or bi-sexual? Did that even matter? By the end of the book, I was frantically turning the pages late into the night dying to find out what would happen with John and the man he fell in love with. And, after finishing, I immediately stalked his Instagram for pictures of the entire endearing cast of characters and clues to his current relationship status. PS – John was an Editorial Assistant at Scribner and Out East is peppered with book mentions (plus, we have similar reading taste!).

I DNF'd this one at 25% I no longer cared.

The author was 27 when the story takes place and I think it's a rare person who has enough life experience to write an interesting memoir at a young age. There are notable exceptions: Wild, The Glass Castle, Educated, A Girl Named Zippy, But in this case I don't think the author's experiences warranted enough interesting things to make me want to read about it.

I wish the author well but this wasn't the book for me.

Read in one sitting in preparation for Memorial Day Weekend . . . it was that good. The way Glynn winds his formative childhood experiences into his adult life was expert level and the memories of his grandmother were touchstones bursting with emotion as he came to terms with other relationships in his life. The sea glass metaphor at the end . . . WOW! It was perfection.
Setting details were spot on - from Cumberland Farms when you get off the LIE to the split at Old Montauk Highway . . . BBC's at Cyril's . . . if you ever wondered what a sharehouse was like or if you want to head down a memory lane of your own time out east . . . you'll be pulling out your phone to reminisce about those "remember when . . ." stories.
As Glynn starts to develop his own sense of self against the "Summer Camp for Adults" atmosphere of Montauk, an appreciation for defining moments and what connections with others can do to feed our soul and bring us closer to the person we're meant to be. It's a waking up and rebirth story . . . things fall into place when we are honest with ourselves.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

I admit, I agreed to read this memoir because it's set in Montauk at the tip of Long Island, which I am proud to call home. While I have not been to Montauk in ages and have not never done a summer share out there, this book called to me. Little did I know just how powerful a read it would be.

This little book sure does pack a powerful punch. Yes, it's about a group of twenty-somethings spending their summer weekends living it up in Montauk, but it's so much more than that. This book is about the vulnerability that comes when you are struggling to find out deep down who you really are. It's about feeling lonely in a crowd because you aren't quite sure who you really are and you aren't quite sure your friends or family will accept you as the person you think you might be.

John Glynn has written a book that anyone who has experienced some type of internal struggle will relate to. And he has written it with heart. The emotions and the feelings are all there. This is John's story, but the way it is written allows others to see themselves in his shoes, whether directly or indirectly.

I loved this book for the story as much as for the writing. It is beautiful and yes, I did shed a few tears. The story got to me. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up...it's well worth the read!!! And I will certainly be keeping an eye out for what comes next from this talented writer!

I haven’t been seeing as many memoirs out there lately and this one caught my eye. If you want to win a copy of Out East by John Glynn, head to Goodreads here! This is getting RAVE reviews, people are really loving it and I am eager to get started.

Here’s what you need to know:

They call Montauk the end of the world, a spit of land jutting into the Atlantic. The house was a ramshackle split-level set on a hill, and each summer thirty-one people would sleep between its thin walls and shag carpets. Against the moonlight, the house’s octagonal roof resembled a bee’s nest. It was dubbed The Hive.

In 2013, John Glynn joined the share house. Packing his duffel for that first Memorial Day Weekend, he prayed for clarity. At 27, he was crippled by an all-encompassing loneliness, a feeling he had carried in his heart for as long as he could remember. John didn’t understand the loneliness. He just knew it was there. Like the moon gone dark.

OUT EAST is the portrait of summer, of the Hive and the people who lived in it, and John’s own reckoning with a half-formed sense of self. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, The Hive was a center of gravity, a port of call, a home. Friendships, conflicts, secrets, and epiphanies blossomed within this tightly woven friend group and came to define how they would live out the rest of their twenties and beyond.

How many of us struggle to understand who we are? Its definitely an ongoing issue for so many. I like seeing how people learn about themselves and the process of self-discovery. Plus it’s set on the east coast which I love. Looking forward to this one.

John is a few years out of college, living in NYC with friends and working at a publishing house. All appears to be okay on the outside, but inside John is struggling. He’s lonely and not quite sure of himself. He longs for that special someone in his life. After his grandmother passes’ he inherits a few thousand dollars. He then uses the money to take a leap of faith and go in on a summer house in Montauk. The place is called The HIVE and upwards of 25+ young adults take turns escaping the city for the beach and nightclub life. As the summer progresses, John is able to open up to the idea of love.

This memoir is a coming of age and coming out story. What I was most eye-opening about with this story is that John had the support and love of his family and friends, meanwhile he was still scared to admit that he is attracted to men. The internal struggles really came out in Glynn’s story. He peeled back the layers for us and let us into his heart.

Of course, THE HIVE reminded me of the Bravo show “Summer House”, for which I’m obsessed with. What do you get when you put that many people in a house with lots of alcohol? Hmmm…well not all bad things.

This story is touching, thought-provoking and beautiful. I give OUT EAST 4.5 stars.

Beautiful memoir by John Glynn reflecting on a summer spent by the beach. Friday means catching the train to Montauk, New York where buildings disappear and the blue of the sea and sky merge as one. John is 27, working hard at a Manhattan publishing company and living in a hip part of town with two awesome roommates. He is livin’ the dream. Lately, even when surrounded by tons of friends, John is painfully lonely. His buddies are starting to pair off, life taking them to the next stage. He realizes he has never felt that deep romantic connection with anyone. John spends the summer at the Hive, a shared house where 30 young adults enjoy sun filled days and alcohol fueled nights. John is consumed with the drama of fitting in, finding love and most unexpectedly, figuring out his sexual identity. While closely observing the world of these privileged, beautiful people John finally allows himself the freedom to choose. This sensitive, well written, fast paced memoir is a peek into growing up, acceptance and the importance of love. Thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking, highly recommend this perfect summer read.

Well developed characters and a delightfully honest story of finding oneself. I loved it and I will be recommending this to our library visitors for sure!

Someone I admire greatly recently wrote about me on her Facebook page calling me a "super-reader -- Karen reads EVERYTHING." I tried to play it cool, but the truth is her post thrilled me! I could not even sleep after reading it and if you received a text of me freaking out at a very odd hour, I apologize.

I do read quite broadly but, here is what I do not read: I do not read books with lots of swearing, books with drug references or too much partying. Books where people say, "bro." Essentially, I do not read books like Out East by John Glynn. Until I did.

Out East is a memoir of John Glynn's summer in Montauk, the beach town at the end of Long Island. Several thousand dollars bought him long weekends of crazy partying in a shared house called "The Hive" with people everywhere. Introvert me was cringing at the whole ordeal. I would need an entire week (or more) to recover from such an experience. In fact, you might need to pay me thousands of dollars to attend for a weekend. So, it's a book on a summer spent partying.

No, it's actually so much more than that which is why even someone like me could enjoy it. They say reading makes you more empathetic and I found myself able to truly see someone who I might feel was very different than me if I met them in real life. We both love to run and read. The frequency of name dropping books is absolute perfection. What's more, John Glynn can write! His writing is beautiful, his exploration into himself deep and profound. The last line gave me goosebumps.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

While perusing NetGalley, the cover of Out East caught my attention, and I decided to look into the book. After reading the description- a memoir of the author's summertime in Montauk- I thought it sounded like it would be a fun pick-me-up style read. I've been reading some heavier novels and thought this sounded perfect.

As I read, the author shared about how he came upon the opportunity to live in The Hive, a sharehouse filled with somewhere between 20 and 30 people each weekend. The group was lead by house leaders who controlled the property and finance deals, and all John had to do was come up with the money to reserve his place- in which, like a sign, he did. From there, he becomes part of this party group, which was also collectively called the Hive. If you're my age, think Jersey Shore but on Long Island, with more people, money, and a tad more class... or as John's friends called it, summer camp for adults. Although there was always a good time to be had over the weekend at the Hive, John still felt a little on the outside and alone.

Dealing with a lack of relationships and interest in the girls of his circle, he thought maybe things would be different in Montauk. However, he finds himself wrestling inner turmoil about his friendship with a guy named Matt. There were strange emotions that John couldn't understand that came to the surface when he was with Matt, and often, when he wasn't. Taking the course of the summer to explore his feelings, John finds that he is capable of not being alone in the world, if he's honest and true to himself first.

Though this memoir is mostly about the author's personal journey to acceptance of his sexual and personal identity, there is also a lot of relatable experiences with love, making friendships, finding acceptance, and stepping outside of comfort zones. I find myself relating with not only the author, but many of the other people in his memoir that expressed universal emotions such as self esteem, work stress, and the desire to lose yourself in a good time.

Though there was a lot of emotional reflection, there were also plenty of observations and relaying of conversations that not only made me laugh, but made me feel like I was part of the group party. I've highlighted many sections that I wish I could share (and maybe I will in the future), but the gist is that this group overall sounded like the fun-loving people that I would want to surround myself with (or have). They look out for each other, support and celebrate during important moments, and have each other's back. Even for recent additions such as John, those in the Hive accepted him as if he had always been a part of the group.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Out East, and especially to those who are interested in LGBTQ novels, wrestling with their personal identity, or who just need to escape into the Montauk life.

This review will be posted on my blog (www.thelexingtonbookie.com) on 4/24/19

Out East is a coming-of-age memoir about finding love and identity in the Hamptons party scene. Recent grad John Glynn joins a summer houseshare where his college friends and friends-of-friends will spend weekends in Montauk. The house, known as the Hive, quickly becomes the scene of friend dramas, the beginning and ending of relationships, connections and missed connections, and realizations. This is a personal memoir, so the plot is basically watching people go to the Hamptons and back to the city, drinking a lot and maturing a little.

I enjoyed meeting the Hive tribe, both for the evoking pleasant memories of travel with friends, when travel involved cramming as many people as possible into a rental, but also for a reminder that a lot of that heady friendgroup drama is behind me now. Do I just hang out with fewer people who uncensor their rage after drinking? Or have problem drinkers at 25 learned to drink moderately at 36? Anyway, the toxic drunks in the friendgroup felt terribly familiar, and all of the interpersonal dynamics seemed real. There’s a very honest exploration of the feelings when a group of college friends starts pairing off for marriage, and of the special loneliness found in Manhattan.

This memoir so perfectly describes a lower tier of working Manhattanites. The Hive finds unclaimed Tory Burch flats as they clean their own rental at the end of the summer. Characters take the Jitney back to the office, not a car service. Again, the author perfectly describes the familiar lifestyle of twentysomethings working in Manhattan.

But sometimes the overwhelming success and privilege makes it harder to empathize with the characters’ emotions. I don’t mean that money automatically equals happiness, just that sharing a story of upper-class misery needs more nuance and skill than the “owner of a $3000 handbag” drinking and moaning about never finding love. Setbacks like a character’s failing startup didn’t really move me (even though I loved this character!) because there was such a cushion of privilege around them, I was never actually worried. While the author can be pitch-perfect on twentysomething angst, identity, and friendship, the privileged setting inherent in a Hamptons summer sometimes causes eyerolls instead of connection.

I read this memoir in one sitting and it will be in my summer reading guide. This is the perfect summer book with lots of drama, friendships and coming out story. Throughout the book you felt you were part of the Montauk scene. You felt you were each weekend partying it up in the Mem or the Point.

This read like Bravo Summer House. This is the story of a summer in Montauk at a summer share home called The Hive. I connected with each of the characters just like John did. I like that John shared the backstory of some of the characters in the story. We got to witness what was going on.

When it comes to his coming of age arc, I was all for it. I identified with the loneliness yet being surrounded by people. I felt for John when it came to his feelings for his summer share mate. I am glad that he got a resolution even though it wasn’t what he was looking for.

I decided to read this one because I love memoirs. And this one did not disappoint. It was intense and funny and heartwarming. It was so personal I almost felt like I was listening in to a private conversation but I could not stop or look away. I read this in a weekend and it felt like I took a trip myself.

This was the perfect balance of light reading and deep feeling. The main character's sexual and emotional coming of age is set against the frothy backdrop of a Hampton's party house filled with drama. This would be the perfect beach read, or for the depths of winter when you're just dreaming of being at the beach.