Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where the participants tell their readers about an upcoming release they are waiting to read. This week I've picked Adult Fantasy by Briohny Doyle.
A wry and topical inquiry into how we respond when our cultural clock starts ticking.
‘For a long time I pretended turning thirty was no big deal - but looking back, it’s clear I was bat-shit na-na for a good nine months either side of that birthday.’ The first of the millennials are now in their thirties. Dubbed ‘the Peter Pan generation’, they have been accused of delaying adult milestones. But do marriage, careers, mortgages, and babies mean the same thing today that they did 30 years ago?
Briohny Doyle turned 30 without a clear idea of what her adult life should look like. A greengrocer with a graduate degree, the world she lived in didn’t match the one her parents described. Her dad advised her to find a nice secure job; her best friend got married and moved to the suburbs. But she couldn’t help wondering if the so-called adult milestones distract us from other measures of maturity.
In a crackling mix of memoir and cultural critique, Doyle explores how societies cultivate ideas about education, work, relationships, and ageing. She interrogates the concept of adulthood through the neon buzz of pop culture and the lives of other young adults. In a rapidly-changing world, she asks: what is an adult, and how do you become one?
‘For a long time I pretended turning thirty was no big deal - but looking back, it’s clear I was bat-shit na-na for a good nine months either side of that birthday.’ The first of the millennials are now in their thirties. Dubbed ‘the Peter Pan generation’, they have been accused of delaying adult milestones. But do marriage, careers, mortgages, and babies mean the same thing today that they did 30 years ago?
Briohny Doyle turned 30 without a clear idea of what her adult life should look like. A greengrocer with a graduate degree, the world she lived in didn’t match the one her parents described. Her dad advised her to find a nice secure job; her best friend got married and moved to the suburbs. But she couldn’t help wondering if the so-called adult milestones distract us from other measures of maturity.
In a crackling mix of memoir and cultural critique, Doyle explores how societies cultivate ideas about education, work, relationships, and ageing. She interrogates the concept of adulthood through the neon buzz of pop culture and the lives of other young adults. In a rapidly-changing world, she asks: what is an adult, and how do you become one?
Given all the present discussion about how anybody in my generation is going to be able to afford their own home and enjoy all the avocado on toast they want, I think a memoir like this would be quite interesting to read. What does 'adulting' even mean any more? How do we measure success? I'm looking forward to seeing the perspective this book brings to those questions.
Oh, wow. This is different. Will be waiting to read your thoughts on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'll get to reading it when it's released and will definitely let you know! Thanks for stopping by :)
DeleteI have just added it as well (tried the Goodreads link but ended up at Readings weirdly). This would be an absolutely fascinating look into the fictional future. I'm at that age now so I'd love to compare how our lives have been shaped in comparison to the next generation. I'm a firm believer that the next generation inherits the lasts troubles and so forth. Much the same as the generation before mine. It'll be an interesting read that I hope millennials take with a grain of salt though because ultimately we make our won choices and this generation has bright futures and really will change the world. Brilliant choice!
ReplyDeleteThat is certainly true - I'm very curious to see what this book has to say about the current generation of millenials, and how it will age as well. Thanks!
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