Title: Take Me with You
Author: Steven Rowley
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: May 19, 2026
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy via NetGalley (audiobook purchased via Audible)
Rating:
A poignant, hilarious, and wholly original love story, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light and . . . disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly . . . will he ever return? Jesse knew they were longing for something, both feeling stuck. But had Norman been so stuck that his only option was to leave Jesse behind?
As Jesse struggles to understand Norman’s disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life. Should he return to the classroom? Put in a pool? Get a dog? Call his estranged mother? What does it mean to be alone when you’ve always been one half of a whole?
When Norman’s sister Lally lands on Jesse’s doorstep with an urgent request, Norman’s absence becomes even more profound. Add to Jesse’s grief and confusion a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that he may have had a hand in Norman’s disappearance, and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure. With his husband missing and the world closing in, all eyes are on Jesse. Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay.
In Take Me With You, Steven Rowley brings his resonant wit and emotional insight to an epic love story – an exploration of the forces that draw two people into the same orbit and the gravity that threatens to pull them apart.
Take Me With You is a sweet, gently humorous look at love, long-term relationships, being left behind… and alien abduction. Yes, that’s correct: In this lovely work of contemporary fiction, a man leaves his partner of 30-something years to soar off in a strange beam of light. And yet… don’t pick up Take Me With You expecting a science fiction adventure. The aliens are just the trappings of the story: The novel is actually about what it takes to stay together, what it means to be left, and how to find ways to move forward.
Jesse and Norman met as young men when their paths collided, literally, during a skating/biking accident. While very different people, they connected instantly and have grown — if not old — then certainly mid-to-late middle aged together. Living in a solitary home in the desert of Joshua Tree, they’ve built a good life together. So yes, their knees may creak, and Jesse is not okay with Norman’s new tongue scraper… but they’ve seen each other through a lot, and expect to always be together.
Until one night, Jesse wakes up to a bright light, and runs to the backyard just in time to see Norman step into a beam of light that draws him up into the sky. It’s not an abduction, really: Norman seems to be a willing participant. And then he’s gone, and Jesse is left behind, and he has no idea what to do with himself.
Jesse is an award-winning author, already committed to teaching a class on humor writing at the local community college. But how is he supposed to teach anyone to be funny, especially when his own life feels particularly tragic?
Much of the novel is told through Jesse’s perspective, until we hit a shift about halfway through. Norman’s sister Lally becomes the point-of-view character at that point, as she seeks answers about Norman’s whereabouts with an agenda of her own.
Because I listened to the audiobook (narrated by actor Michael Urie, who is fabulous), I wasn’t able to highlight great quotes/lines as I went along, which is a shame. The writing in Take Me With You is wonderful — not a surprise, given how terrific the author’s use of language is in previous novels such as The Guncle and The Celebrants. There’s an underlying sadness to so much of what happens here, but there’s joy and plenty of laughter too. Even at his lowest, Jesse can’t help but be funny, and his interactions with the people in his life make the book sing.
Abandonment is an overarching theme of this book. Many characters experience or have experienced abandonment at some point in their lives, whether through deliberate choices or unexpected tragedies — but there’s also the abandonment involved in emotional distance. Jesse and Norman have spent decades together, but are they truly still together the way they once were? Is Norman’s departure the act of abandonment, or have they each removed themselves from one another through inertia and routine and the general erosion of long relationships?
I’m not sure that I entirely understand what happens very near the end of the book… but that’s okay. I can live with some ambiguity, and meanwhile, loved getting to know these richly drawn characters and their quirky lives.
Take Me With You didn’t delight me quite as much as Steven Rowley’s previous books did… but I still enjoyed it very, very much. Upbeat writing adds a needed dose of light to what might otherwise be heavier moments. Memorable characters, an unusual premise, and clever dialogue make this a book to savor.
Purchase links: Amazon – Audible audiobook – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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