Monique's Review

I finished the book last week. Trial prep has kept me from posting my review, but I have a few minutes today:

Overall, I disliked the book. I actually hated it at first. The definitions in the margins were distracting and annoying. The drawings and the definitions made the book feel dated (which it is) and that just made me feel old.

My take on the book is that Generation Xers are miserable. They feel that they are the first generation to suffer the effects of high divorce rates, and the fact that most of us won't be more successful or make more money than our parents did. The characters all seem to have a longing for the fifties. Our parents grew up in two parent households. Divorces were rare amongst our grandparents. Our fathers grew up knowing that if they worked hard and went to college, they'd get great jobs and have more, be more, do more than the previous generation. Our parents took jobs with companies and stayed there for years, moving upward.

Then we came along. Most of us grew up in broken homes, or homes that should be broken, they are so beyond repair. We grew up knowing a college degree didn't mean much, it was just a step towards the now necessary graduate degree. Most of us won't work for the same company for years, and will scramble to have any sort of retirement. We have to worry about nuclear war (according to the author), the environment, and social security being there to pay our bills. We feel a sense of lethargy from all of this pushing down on us, leading us to be slackers--that cliche from the nineties.

I feel this, I really do. I've been there. I'm paying out the ass for my student loans for law school and I sure as hell don't feel upwardly mobile. But something about the book just made Gen-Xers seem whiny, annoying, and lazy.

I often felt like I was reading a book written by Ethan Hawke's character from Reality Bites. And that annoyed me--a lot. So, while it was an okay book, I didn't really enjoy. I'm looking forward to next month's pick and hoping I enjoy it more.