I could not dream up this cast of characters if I tried. With the initial introductions to Rob, Sean, Tremble, and more, it's a struggle to see how this will all come together. But as the wedding approaches and the characters all end up in Maine together, the interactions finally come together. I have to say that Isabelle was a bit too much of a caricature of the uber progressive, cis, straight, white woman, but then again I can see that being the perception that others have. It seemed hard to believe a company would let her behavior stand, but who am I to say. No spoilers about the ending, but I was kind of surprised that things ended the way they did based on the results of Trone's new device.

Rob Barnett is down on his luck, recently let go from his publishing job on the one-year anniversary of his husband’s death. Rob’s friend and personal trainer, Sean, gets invited to his ex-wife Linda’s destination wedding to the third-richest man in the country. Sean and Rob decide to attend - if not to stop the wedding, at least to witness the groom’s simultaneous announcement of a mysterious technological invention. Also in attendance - legitimately and otherwise - is an ambitious woman from Rob’s former employer, a fiery blogger-turned-author with her debut novel on the line, a dentist running from his stalker, and a vigilante mayor seeking glory for himself and his town. Jumping between the past and the present, each of them must reckon with a part of their past that they are running from.

It’s hard to pin this book down, in part because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Each character embodies a trope - Rob as the man who can’t move on from the past, Sean as the man who let fame get in the way of what he truly valued, Linda as the woman who has to learn to let others in, and so on. The first few pages of the novel introduces the reader to eight different characters, each with varying degrees of importance to the narrative as a whole. The dialogue is quippy, the situation silly. Rudnick is a talented enough writer to sink some earnest moments into the equation as well.

I found myself wishing this book would have given less time to some of the side characters, especially those whose plot lines were quickly resolved or deemed to be a misunderstanding. The arc of the story was like a jagged mountain road - back and forth, up and down. The characters get introduced in the beginning, then the reader is taken on a journey of how each one got to the “present day” of the wedding, bouncing between perspectives and timelines. It was hard to follow, at times.

Overall, this book does have a lot of heart. For readers who like banter-heavy stories with a large cast of characters (think Anxious People by Fredrik Backman), this book could be a good addition to your list.

**Thank you to Simon & Schuster (Atria Books Imprint) and Paul Rudnick for providing this e-book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.**

Utterly hilarious! A quick read that had me laughing out loud and falling in love with the absolutely over the top, ridiculous characters. Rob, the editor who lost the love of his life, Jake, and is unable to recover. His trainer, Sean, who enlists him to attend the wedding of his ex wife, Linda, to billionaire Trone Meston. Tremble, the outrageous author who Rob wants to publish. Paolo, Rob’s best friend who may or may not have a stalker. And Isabelle, the “feminist” co-worker at Rob’s publishing firm who wants him gone. Throwing all of these wild characters together created a perfect riot of fun. Definitely recommend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of this title!

“What Is Wrong With You?” by Paul Rudnick started off kind of slow, but honestly, I think that worked for the story. I really liked how the relationships between the characters unfolded—it was messy, funny, emotional, and just super real. The characters themselves were total chaos in the best way: frustrating at times, but also really charming and hilarious. It felt like one of those books where you’re supposed to love some and want to shake others, and I was totally here for it.

The storyline between Rob and Jake really got to me. Their relationship was such a rollercoaster, and I kept wanting more of their story the whole way through.

Rudnick’s writing style took me a minute to get into, but once it clicked, I started enjoying it a lot more. Some of the humor didn’t quite land for me and kind of pulled me out of a few emotional moments, but overall, I really liked the way he told this story.

The epilogue is what really saved this for me.

3.75 rounded up. An unusual cast of characters thrown together by life. They are all grieving in their own ways and it not only affects their lives but their relationships, too. Book started a little slow for me but kept getting better. Stronger finish!

Advanced reader copy provided by Atria and NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

3.75! This book is like getting slapped in the face by dark humor and then hugged by a little bit of heart. It’s chaotic, weirdly bleak, and somehow still funny in a “we’re all doomed so might as well laugh” kinda way. The story throws a bunch of messy, mostly awful people onto a billionaire’s island for a wedding/product launch gone wrong, and chaos absolutely ensues. But underneath the absurdity and razor-sharp jabs, there’s this bittersweet thread about friendship, grief, and finding connection in a world that feels completely unhinged. If your coping mechanism is inappropriate laughter and existential dread, this one’s for you.

Well, it's only the top of April and I am positive I have just read one of my absolute favorite books of 2025.

Paul Rudnick's third novel in four years is arguably his strongest, the perfect mash-up of his truly riotous Playing the Palace and his deeply heartfelt and utterly charming Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style. Rudnick, a published veteran of stage, screen, and the printed word, is without a doubt one of the funniest humans walking on planet earth. His wit is relentless and the vividness and accuracy of his metaphors and asides are unmatched. For his newest novel, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?, Rudnick takes us to a remote island straight out of Glass Onion, where a near omniscient billionaire has managed to gather up some of the weirdest, wildest, occasionally worst people on the planet to bear witness to his over-the-top wedding: There's the recently fired, recently widowed editor, his crass literary protege, the politically correct zealot who fired the editor, the best friend of the editor, a gay dentist who might have a stalker on the island who is another gay dentist, and the editor's trainer, who is a former movie star, a blundering fool, and, oh yeah, the ex-husband of the woman marrying the eccentric billionaire. I am desperate to know what plotting out this novel might have looked like.

While the novel is an absurdist tour-de-force of hi-jinxes and WTF moments leading up to the big wedding (and the life-changing tech launch that the billionaire will be releasing concurrent to his nuptials), Rudnick's novel, with its crazy name that speaks volumes about its characters, is ultimately a rich character study about this group of individuals, from so many backgrounds and world views, and how they all search for love. For a second love. For moving on from love. For physical love. For love that matches their own ego. For the love of literature. For the love of gains. And, ultimately, I often know I've found a favorite novel based on how many lines I want to pull out of it and tattoo on my body, and this book has packed them all in, whether because they are life-affirming, lush, and deeply thoughtful about the queer experience, or because they are just so freaking stupid. Yes, the plot in this one is zany. Yes, it's a novel that points to a time in the future (like maybe a year away) where everything is controlled by oligarchs and that makes it super nihilistic. But there's so much joy and laughter on the pages of this book, and we can all use a bit more of that right now.

I wanted to love this so bad, and I see what it was trying to do, but I don't think it entirely succeeded. I did like the character introductions that occured early on in the book. But once the characters started inter-weaving and time passed by I really had a hard time keeping everything straight. So, I am leaving this book with no idea what is wrong with these people lol. My own conclusion: they're just bad people that need therapy.

I would still recommend this one for people who like character-based books. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I know that I have read worse books (for me), but I can't remember when. I found this books sooooooo hard to get through. There was such description that somehow the plot got lost. I kind of liked the characters and it was a character driven book book, but I think they got lost in their back stories and I just wanted them to move the plot along--which there really wasn't a lot of. About the first 3/4 of the book told how this diverse set of characters came to be lumped together in this book. And then the end seemed so consumed in the new Trone product that I'm not sure I understood, except everyone was waiting anxiously to see what it was and then they ended up regifting it. This was one of those books that sounded good, but then ended up being a slog for me--but he must have lots of readers as he appears to be a very successful writer...

3.75 stars! I loved Paul Rudnick's previous novel FARRELL COVINGTON AND THE LIMITS OF STYLE, so I was especially looking forward to reading WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? As always, I really enjoyed Rudnick's sharp, witty writing style, and he does a good job of balancing the lighthearted tone of the story with some of the more serious topics covered. I also appreciated how character-driven this book was. Sometimes with multiple POVs, it can be difficult to feel like you really get to know the characters, but that wasn't the case here—everyone had their own distinct personalities and voices, and it was easy to keep track of everyone throughout! The pacing felt a little slow at the beginning, at times, but I was quickly absorbed into the story as things picked up. Overall, this was such an entertaining read, that I could easily see being adapted into a star-studded TV series! If you love quick, quirky reads with a screwball-comedy feel, you'll definitely want to check out this one. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC, provided in exchange for an honest review.

This is the type of book that will appeal to a very specific group of readers. While it had its moments, overall I wanted to love this one more than I did.

A tech billionaire is having the wedding of the season -- and has been teasing an announcement of a new product. His bride is a former flight attendant whose ex-husband is a gym bro who made it big on a tv show decades ago and is looking forward to the reboot. He's the trainer of an editor who was just fired and is struggling to move on after the death of his husband. The debut author whose book he was working on is a crass and crude young woman (there was some backstory involving her town's mayor, I believe?). There are two will-they-won't-they-are-they-maybe-murderous-stalkers dentists. A woman who's so into ally ship and social justice she refuses to admit she's cis and straight.

I love a big cast of characters and everyone here did have their own distinct personalities and voices, but this wasn't the sure-fit hit I hoped for.

My rating: 3.5 stars

What Is Wrong With You? was a funny quirky little novel that had little bits of wisdom sprinkled in between its humor. I found most characters to be hilarious, while others to be downright annoying (which was their purpose). I did like how there were multiple POVs as well and did not find it too confusing as the author gave us enough background information to keep everyone straight.

The overall theme of love played out over the course of a long weekend and the events leading up to the wedding of the century between a tech billionaire and a flight attendant. Everyone is connected in some way, and I found that to be the funniest part as they all began to realize their connections. Love was seen in marriage, divorce, losing a spouse, friendship, dating, etc in this story, and I loved how the author explored each of these in his characters.

My struggle was how flippant and odd some of the writing was. I think this is the type of humor the author was going for but sometimes it took me away from the story when he went off on tangents. When I was in the mood for it or enjoying the tangent I would laugh, but not at every instance did I find it necessary.

If you like humorous literature that is crass on one page and poetic on the next, I think What Is Wrong With You? is a great book to pick up! Quick read that I finished in a day.

Thank you to Atria Books for an ARC and finished copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book!
What Is Wrong with You? by Paul Rudnick was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.
Rudnick's writing style is so engaging—witty and funny, yet touching and heartfelt all at once.

I am going to DNF this @ 30%. The writing style is not for me, and I don’t think any review I would write would be fair. This is heavily a character study but just feels like it is trying to hard to be observationally funny. I do think it will do well with readers who enjoy low plot heavy character analysis, this one just wasn’t for me!

Thank you to Atria books for the opportunity to read this eARC early in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to love this so bad, and I see what it was trying to do, but I don't think it entirely succeeded.

I did love that it read like the asides in a screenplay, and I know this author can write the heck out of a movie, so I made myself finish it because the flow of the story worked for me. It's a lot of internal thought and processing, and a demonstration of how absolutely unhinged we truly are inside our own brains. There was definitely humor, and I laughed, and I got a little choked up because to love is to inevitably experience grief. It is a book of overwhelming chaos even before we get to the wedding and if you can keep up with everyone, you'll enjoy how it all rolls out.

The thing is, when do you cross from sarcasm into cruelty? I found things I liked about the many characters (even Isabelle, and I am a sucker for Sean. Sue me. Also, the world needs more Tremble Woodspills.), but the critique of people trying to do better, be better, and achieve some form of equity being so obsessively belittled in this book will do damage. A lot of people who do not regularly spend time and thought in these headspaces will miss the point - which is that you have to LISTEN to the people you are advocating for and that even if it seems to be caught up in the minutiae, the issues are real.

So in the, this was a great bland of funny and sad, but went too hard against the equity issues that the fact it's ultimately for them will be missed. I've got complicated feelings about this one, and for anyone who disagrees and had a great time, good on you.

this was a wildly amusing, yet endearing romp of a book. I have read paul rudnick’s “playing the palace” as well and the humor from that book bled into this read as well, which i was excited for.

i’m in general just such a sucker for a book where individual lives intertwine in unexpected ways, it hits every time.

very funny, very tender, and very gay!!

An eccentric grouping of people are on a private island to celebrate a billionaire’s wedding. The author is definitely a talented writer, the style just isn’t for me. The humor is very bleak and dark, and the prose is quite verbose. If you’re a fan of character driven stories about people who really need therapy, then do check this one out!

What is Wrong with You? by Paul Rudnick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I adored this one. I have a soft spot for books that put different characters together and illustrate friendship and love across all different types (cough cough Iona Iverson).

This one was heartfelt and hilarious. I literally laughed out loud many different times at the absurdity and wit. I found the writing to be beautiful, but it did take me a bit to get into. However, once I did I was awed by Rudnick’s control over language and how he conveyed the essence of humanity with his words. Really, this book was such a fun ride.

Fans of diverse characters, heartfelt and emotional exploration, and laugh-out-loud moments will love this one.

I'm one of those people who constantly asks the titular question about myself and others, and this synopsis sounded like a lot of fun.

And it is. The beginning is a bit uneven with some of the characters not being relatable at all. And there's really nothing much going on in the book except characters reminiscing about their past so I was wondering what the point was. Some of the characters (Paolo especially) are hilarious while others have some great observations about life and love.

I'm glad I came across this title and look forward to reading more from Paul Rudnick.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the e-copy!

Thanks to Atria Books for the ARC, however, What Is Wrong with You was unfortunately a DNF for me at 19%. There were way too many characters to keep track of so early in the book. Every time I felt as if we were starting to learn about a character, another side character was introduced and it just became frustrating. It stopped me from wanting to pick up the book or continue finishing it. I also didn’t find the humor to be that funny. Perhaps there are less character introductions later in the book, but the beginning of the book was so disorienting that I lost interest in the story. Ultimately, this book helped me realize that I don’t enjoy multiple POV shifts within a book. I prefer character studies that feature a small cast with one point of view that shapes the story.