You, Again

Josh is one of the protagonists in You, Again. His perspective is shown through the novel’s third-person limited point of view; other sections depict Ari’s perspective.

Josh’s character arcs follow his professional development as a chef, his attitude toward romance, and what makes a good romantic partner. At the beginning of the novel, he is uptight and determined to prove himself as a chef, which he differentiates from a cook—a role that he sees his father, Danny, in as the owner of Brodsky’s, a famous New York Jewish deli. After his father’s sudden death, Josh longs to distance himself from his father’s legacy and grapples with The Cost and Benefit of Following Professional Dreams. This leads him to become preoccupied with haute cuisine, something that the novel indicates is only partially due to Josh’s preferences, culinarily speaking. Josh’s desire to distance himself from his father’s reputation also connects to his anxiety about facing his privilege, something that he worries overwrites all other elements of his identity. He gradually grows to accept that he can admit that he has had certain privileges as the white male heir to a famous restaurant; doing so allows him to realize that this does not constitute the entirety of who he is or erase his talent as a chef.

After Danny dies, Josh attempts to reinvent Brodsky’s as “The Brod,” an upscale restaurant. He is panned in the press, and his restaurant quickly goes under. This professional failure leads Josh to feel insecure about his cooking ability, particularly since it is quickly followed by a breakup with his long-term girlfriend, Sophie. Josh spends much of the novel avoiding cooking, though his passion for food remains. Josh ultimately finds his way back to cooking by accepting a middle ground between entirely decrying his father’s way of preparing food and wholly embracing it. He finds greater professional contentment working as a chef under Radhya than he did as the head chef in his own kitchen, a role that brought him too much pressure.

Throughout the novel, Josh learns to let go of his desire to have a romantic partner who has certain qualities (particularly regarding career, education, or wealth) and embrace the value of having a romantic partner who truly understands him—at both his high and low points. He also learns to overcome his desire to control everything in a relationship by force of will. Instead, Josh learns that he must both be willing to explain what he wants and needs from Ari and accept that Ari may not want the same things. His patience and emotional work in this regard are ultimately rewarded, as Ari decides that the risk of hurt is worth pursuing a relationship; the two finally can agree on the future that they desire with one another, acknowledging The Significance of Timing in Relationships.

Radhya is Ari’s best friend and Josh’s employee, former employee, and eventual boss. Radhya undergoes little change in the novel; instead, she serves as a foil against which Josh and Ari can understand the repercussions of their behavior.

Ari and Radhya are close friends and former roommates, though Ari struggles to show Radhya the full extent of her pain after her separation from Cass. Though Ari claims that this is due to pressure from Radhya for Ari to begin to pull herself back together and because Radhya long disliked Cass, the novel does not support this perspective. Rather, the author frames Ari’s distance from Radhya as arising out of Ari’s anxieties about vulnerability. Radhya ultimately proves to be a major catalyst for Ari’s return to New York after she works for several months at WinProv; Radhya honestly expresses her hurt about Ari’s absence while Radhya plans a pop-up restaurant. This fight causes Ari to return to New York after she is fired from her job in Washington, DC.

Radhya and Josh’s relationship goes through many more iterations in the novel. In Part 2, Radhya works for Josh in a professional kitchen—a role that, the novel suggests, Josh received as an unfair promotion due to nepotism and white privilege, as Josh is the white son of a famous restaurant owner and Radhya is a woman of color without Josh’s expensive culinary education. Josh unfairly fires Radhya after she follows his (incorrect) instructions on how to cook duck, leading to strong enmity between the two. This causes friction in Radhya’s relationship with Ari, as Radhya feels betrayed when Ari becomes friends with Josh.

When Ari and Josh stop speaking to one another after Ari leaves New York, Radhya takes on a mentorship role for Josh. He ultimately apologizes for his behavior when he fired her, something that Radhya accepts only after Josh recognizes his privilege in the restaurant business, shaped by prejudice and privilege. Radhya and Josh work with Briar to open Shaak + Schmaltz, a restaurant inspired by Radhya’s background in Gujarati cuisine and Brodsky’s history as an iconic New York Jewish deli. Radhya remains Josh’s boss, which shows her as finally receiving the accolades she deserves for her cooking; Shaak + Schmaltz proves to be a better working environment for Josh, who thrives when he can cook creatively without the pressure of being a head chef.

Cass is briefly Ari’s wife and then her ex-wife. She is the novel’s primary antagonist, though much of her poor behavior happens off the page. The novel presents Cass as being self-important and image obsessed. When Josh and Ari encounter her at The Strand bookstore, Josh feels that “every aspect of [Cass] feels precisely curated” (199). Ari’s depiction of Cass is presented as being somewhat unreliable— first because the attention from an older, more successful partner flatters Ari and later because Ari has internalized Cass’s rejection as being Ari’s fault for being somehow unworthy or unlovable.

Cass’s character is mostly presented, therefore, through Josh’s and Radhya’s impressions of her. They both see Cass as exploitative and someone who wants Ari’s attention to flatter her ego rather than because she genuinely loves Ari. When Cass abandons Ari for a younger, more successful professor named Katya, the novel implies that this is because Katya can offer Cass more social cache than Ari can, not because Cass genuinely loves Katya more. She is presented as being thoughtless—for example, she takes one of Ari’s only possessions after she leaves her. Cass is discussed increasingly less in the second half of the novel, thus indicating that Ari is no longer consumed with her ex-wife’s opinion and abandonment.