I was lucky enough to win an electronic ARC of ASTRID SEES ALL by Natalie Standiford through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and I hope you have a safe and socially distanced holiday!

Astrid Sees All from Natalie Standiford is a coming of age novel packed full of nostalgia, interesting characters (not always likeable), and unusual twists.

I am glad I waited to write my opinions for a while because this is one of those books that, for me, became better as I thought about it. Let me use an analogy to explain what I mean, and this will apply to the novel as a whole and to Astrid as a character. You have probably had a friend you liked but at the same time always seemed to be shaking your head about. Maybe what they did seemed foolish or self-centered, maybe just illogical, and you couldn't understand why they did what they did. Then, usually when you're no longer interacting with the person on a regular basis, you begin to understand what was going on for that person. You may still think choices were bad or ill-conceived, but you start to understand why. Maybe something in their past, maybe just being disconnected from their feelings. When you reflect on it, you both understand that person better and feel a bit more empathy for what they were going through. This book, and Astrid herself, is that old acquaintance for me.

I was caught up in the nostalgia of the 80s for most of the book and probably didn't offer enough of myself to understanding Astrid. Though I lived in Manhattan for about two years during the 80s I was never a part of the world in this book, but that world was always visible and around, so this was a fun trip for me. After finishing, I came to understand better how and why Astrid did what she did, and the book ultimately became that much better for me. It also means I will likely reread it in the near future from a different perspective than nostalgia.

While I recommend this book I will say that readers who don't like a lot of tangents (or what appear to be tangents at first) may have a hard time connecting. Many of those loose ends do get tied up eventually, so if you enjoy the flow overall keep reading and trust the story to come to some type of conclusion.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Astrid Sees All, by Natalie Standiford, is about both a youthful embrace of all the experiences offered in 1980s Manhattan, and about running headlong into self-destruction.

New grad Phoebe follows her wild college friend Carmen to Manhattan, where the two dive right into drugs, clubs and men. It's a terribly unbalanced friendship, with Carmen firmly in the lead and Phoebe just trying to seem cool enough to tag along. This constantly reminds readers just how young Phoebe is. Carmen, with artistic, wealthy parents and a family apartment in Manhattan, is sheltered from a lot of possible consequences, but that only makes Carmen take bigger, wilder risks. And can anyone really be sheltered from addiction or heartbreak?

Phoebe should be reeling from her father's recent death, but instead her insistence that she is just fine comes through in every action she takes. Again, this shows her youth and makes the decisions she faces more intense. Phoebe is often disconnected from her own emotions, which makes the moments when she can't avoid her feelings so much more dramatic. It's a compelling story, even when Phoebe makes self-destructive decisions.

The eighties club scene is glamorous and gritty by turns, with pretty much endless coke. Eighties music and fashion make the backdrop, but this is an engaging coming-of-age story with a stylish retro aesthetic, not a total nostalgia barrage. (I'm looking at you, Ready Player One.)

As "Astrid the Star Girl", Phoebe lands a gig telling fortunes, through her unique divination method of pulling three movie ticket stubs. This started as a private ritual, but with a fashionable turban the Carmen stole-borrowed for her, it's a niche side act for 1980s nightclubs. This is Phoebe's entrance to a world of glamorous celebs, wild nights, and payment in powder. When she spends her nights as Astrid the Star Girl, Phoebe's forced to discover what she might be besides just Carmen's sidekick.

Astrid Sees All tells not just Phoebe's story, but all about the clubs and drugs and adventure of Manhattan in the eighties. This is a great setting, but telling so many stories leads to the kind of overfull and meandering plot that gets novels labeled that backhanded "ambitious." There's just so much crammed in, including a storyline about missing girls in the village. I thought the constant references to the Missing posters were heavy-handed reminders of all the dangers awaiting young girls in Manhattan, and I was totally unprepared for the resolution of that plot. Actually, that sums up my feelings on most of the book. Whenever I thought something was leaning too heavy-handedly symbolic, there was a dramatic, surprising twist.

Readers who enjoyed novels like Everybody Rise and Sweetbitter will enjoy this coming-of-age story about gritty and exciting club nights.

Astrid Sees All is by Natalie Standiford and will be published by Atria Books on April 6, 2021.

The author absolutely nails the 80s in this and those of us who used to sneak into NYC to go to the clubs can attest to all the drug use and general grittiness of the city at the time. Unlike Phoebe, my friends and I were happy to escape back to our suburban homes once we'd had enough. Our narrator, on the other hand, wants to stay and become lost in its web with her college friend, Carmen, who is everything she wants to be.

In lesser hands, this story could have turned into a Single White Female type book, but Standiford is more subtle with Phoebe. She tries to make her own way in the city but following Carmen's path seems inevitable: pulsating nightclubs, dubious boyfriends, expensive drugs, and more.

The book is more a slice-of-life-in-time than a thriller or mystery but it is a page-turner, a quick read. Truly enjoyable. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

A bizarre story that keeps twisting and turning. It keeps you entertained and turning pages to see what happens next.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I love reading books about New York City. Phoebe/Astrid was such a lost soul. At points you felt bad for her and then you wanted to slap her for being stupid.

Overall it was a great read. I’ve had a very hard time concentrating on a book lately but this one was refreshing.

Astrid Sees All does a great job painting a portrait of New York City in the 80's. It almost feels like a time machine, setting the stage for a raucous story to unfold, like a hipper, more street savvy Sex and the City... But then... Nothing happens. There's no real development, nothing more than atmospheric meandering. If the too-hip literary crowd bites, I could see it being popular, but other than that, I don't think it has much mainstream appeal, as it doesn't follow through with what it sets up. The comparison to Patti Smith's books is appropriate, as they are 250-pages of mood-setting more so than explorations of character or driving narratives with plot. Sure, maybe Sweetbitter. But the comparison to Fleabag is wholly inaccurate, as there's none of the acerbic wit or comedic existential exhaustion that Phoebe Waller-Bridge brings to her characters.

I absolutely couldn't WAIT to read this book, just the beautiful cover alone drew me in so much.

The book is set in New York in the 1980's and Natalie Standiford's writing felt so evocative of the raw and gritty, yet vivid setting. I really appreciated the contrast of the vibrant and chaotic clubbing scenes against the backdrop of the squalid living situations. Similarly, the characters felt so realistic and vulnerable as well. Phoebe's character, while unlikable, perfectly encapsulates the desperation to fit in and search for our own character that so many of us experience in our young adulthood.

While I wished the novel had wrapped up with Phoebe finding her sense of self, I understand why it didn't (that's just not how life works). 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this novel! I wanted to love it more. A fellow New Yorker myself, It was wonderful to be transported to the 1980s in the city. My only issue with this story was that Phoebe and Carmen never really developed. The story spans a few years and the Phoebe from the first page is not much different from the last page. And Carmen, ugh I could not stand her. She was such a terrible friend. There wasn’t much meat to the novel, not much plot happened. It felt more like a slow start to a TV show. I didn’t hate it, but I think since I didn’t love any character, it was hard to truly enjoy.

Astrid Sees All is an interesting look into one young women's life when she leaves her family home in Baltimore to be part of the decadent club scene in New York. The time is the 1980's when drugs were part of everyday
life. Astrid was desperate to be part of the in crowd and searched for a way in. It seemed to me that Astrid had no real sense of self and was willing to do anything to be noticed and accepted. Astrid had little money and lived in squalor.

The characters range from pathetic to self involved. The descriptions of the life and times were good. I really felt sorry for Astrid and her made up profession of fortune telling using her collection of movie stubs. The writing was obviously good since it evoked strong feelings in me. The book deserves a solid four star rating.

I received an advanced readers copy from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#AstridSeesAll #NetGalley

Another case of how despite being really sick of historical fiction, the right book can be the most powerful thing. This was epic. The start and introduction were confusing in terms of the timeline, but the characters were all very well-drawn and though I moved to New York City decades after Phoebe did, I could find a lot of parallels in my experience.

Astrid See All takes us to the eclectic Eighties, a time of drug, sex and rock and roll set in the glitter and grime of New York City. Life didn't begin until the sun went down. And our protagonist, Phoebe, doesn't want to miss any of the possibilities. Her mother tries detaining her in Baltimore after Phoebe's father dies, but the desire to be back in the city and her best friend, Carmen, prove stronger and she breaks away. She finds a job being a fortune teller at a local nightclub. She has a most unique way of "reading the future." This book is an adventure of a culture and way of life during the wild times of the early Eighties, becoming almost a third character to Phoebe and Carmen. Their friendship is fracture and glued as most girl friends can attest - and this is an emotional and dark ride into the core of being twenty-something. A must read.

this book is told through the point of view of Phoebe. After her father's death, she wants to quickly move back to New York to deal with her ex Ivan and get back to her friend Carmen. Phoebe is in her early twenties and has a very romantic view of New York in the 80s. They end up getting a place together and Phoebe finds a job as a f psychic at a night club. Don't want to give out the story but it was a great depiction of an era I didn't live through and I feel like I was there.

This is the story of Phoebe and Carmen, two young women navigating through life in the East Village in 1984. Their involvement with men, and the drug scene and the club life of the time is depicted in fascinating detail, The main characters as well as the secondary characters are all well developed. This book draws the reader into the lives of Phoebe and Carmen to the point it is difficult to put it down.

Astrid Sees All is the story of Phoebe and her best friend Carmen. Both girls are struggling to make ends meet in in the drug infused culture of New York in the 1980s. The story is told through Phoebe's eyes and takes us through her adventures working as a psychic in a nightclub. Both girls have dead-end relationships with men, and both girls overindulge with drugs (and suffer the consequences) throughout the book. This novel is more a narration of what happens to them - this is not a story with a plot and resolution to the problem, so much. I appreciate the author's writing, and I did enjoy being transported back to the 80's.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book - a vivid capturing of the gritty, Lower East Side scene of the early 1980s in New York City. Astrid is a well=written protagonist- the reader empathizes and roots for her while also understand her complexity and failings. I loved the depictions of the secondary characters- I could imagine them perfectly and the author completely nails what that world was like. In short, a fun, interesting, easy read that I would definitely recommend.

Must read alert!!! I completely devoured Astrid Sees All in record time because simply put it’s unputdownable! The premise is extremely original, the storyline is meticulously planned out, and the characters are uniquely unforgettable! I found myself so invested in the characters and their outcomes-so much so that I keep thinking of what they would be doing present day! Astrid Sees All is the first adult novel from Natalie Standiford (who is well-known for her children’s and young adult novels) and I’m hoping she continues to write more in the adult genre because shes’s so stinking good! The entire time I was reading I continuously thought what a fantastic book club selection this book would make! Astrid Sees All is a 5 star novel will absolutely be on my 2021 favorites list!

This book was fantastic! “Astrid” starts telling fortunes at a club in NYC and her life forever changes as she becomes one of the typical glam glitterati of the 80s. While her best friend Carmen struggles with her drugged-out boyfriend, Astrid finds herself afloat in the city that never sleeps. I found this story mesmerizing and devoured the book in just a few days. The ending was epic and really sent the story out with a bang. Don’t be surprised if you’re up until 4 am, unable to stop, with this one.

Really love this book! Such a fun, readable novel that I couldn’t wait to get back to when I was doing other things. I was in another reading slump after struggling with several (books) in a row. Some are so hard to finish and it seems like a chore. Not this one. Phoebe/Astrid is a great lead character. I enjoyed her adventures and relationships. Kind of wished she actually did have some magic in her when reading futures. That would have been cool. I love a book with a bit of added magic! This is an author I’m familiar with and I’m so glad she jumped into the adult genre. I will be watching for more!

When I read about the setting of Astrid Sees All - East Village NYC in 1984, I barely needed any other details to be sold on it. Add in gritty underbelly of the club scene and drugs, this Sid and Nancy-loving gal was sold. There's something about that time period that has always fascinated me, and the story did not disappoint.

Phoebe is in her early '20s, and like many wide-eyed college grads (especially artists, writers, publishing types) the allure of Manhattan is hard to ignore. Phoebe joins forces with wild child high school pal Carmen, and the two of them throw themselves into living in NYC when you're young and broke - when the fantasy of the city makes it easy to overlook roach and mice-infested shoebox size apartments as long as there are clubs to dance in all night and coke to be found.

The gritty part of the story is that Carmen's boyfriend Atti is a junkie, Phoebe's beloved father is terminally ill and all the booze and drugs in the East Village can change that. When the inevitable happens and Phoebe's father succumbs to his illness, she ignores her family's pleas to stay home and calm down for a bit and returns right back to NYC and Carmen and more drugs, sex and rock-and-roll. Eventually she turns a one-off party trick (telling fortunes using old movie stubs) into a regular gig as Astrid the in-house fortune teller at one of the city's hottest nightclubs, which finds her rubbing shoulders with fictional characters as well Andy Warhol.

The story follows both girl's ups and downs with the city as a constant background - full of ghosts, shadowy figures in the night, a serial killer on the loose and more. I can totally see the comparison's to Bittersweet. I loved this book, and when it comes out I can't wait for other readers to discover it, and get transported back to that specific, early 1980s=eras East Village in New York.