Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In

Although this book is not supposed to be a memoir, it has many memoir-like spots. I’d categorize it under memoir. Kate Kennedy reads the audiobook, and you can feel the emotion come through with her talking about her pregnancy journey, her experience with loss, mental health, and so much more.

I saw myself in much of her storytelling: from the fact that she wrote about millennials loving Shel Silverstein (and I have a tattoo of some of his art), to when she wrote about milky pens (I forgot about those until this moment!), to the expectations we put on our self to do it all and be it all.

You can hear Kate’s voice break many times when she talks about emotional experiences, and that made the book that much more powerful. I cried a few times - from her talking about her time at Virginia Tech, to her pregnancy loss, to the acknowledgements when she wrote about her loved ones.

This book is about the millennial experience, and Kate’s experience specifically, but many of us can see ourselves in her writing - and isn’t that what we want in the art we consume?

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roziereads's review against another edition

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4.25

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lysstea's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

Kate Kennedy is like a millennial Delilah in the way she keeps you company. This book is truly for millennial women and it was like listening to a friend reminisce on your childhood experiences.

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imshelbylee's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

2.75

Though I only listen to her podcast once or twice a year, much of this book was a rehash of things the author has written and spoken about at length already. I really dig Kate's content online - so I hope she's booked, busy, and never reads this review. Part personal memoir, part generational analysis, I didn't feel the book earned its keep in either category.

I love memoirs - but part of the problem may be that Kate just hasn't experienced, or shared, many interesting experiences or observations she's had (this is not to say the book lacks in long descriptions of experiences and observations). Some parts of the book truly shocked me in terms of privilege - just a real realization of, oh, wow, some people really DO grow up as comfortably as mythic sitcom teenagers. Most enjoyable was the chapter about her corporate career and decision to leave it, which actually came off more vulnerable than most of the rest of the book. I wish I had an airplane trip to have read this on, because I think I would have enjoyed the 14th "Limited To" quip a lot more up in the filtered air.

I pushed myself and got through it for the sake of my 2024 Reading Challenge, but diehard fans may prefer the personal quality of the audiobook compared to the reading experience itself.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

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gab2411's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Millennial nostalgia seems to be everywhere right now as some fashion and trends are coming back into popular culture and a new generation is experiencing them. I love nostalgia and actually found this book from an Instagram ad that was clearly targeted to my demo. I saw the millennial pink cover with the ‘hot-girl handwriting’ sharpied burnt CD and knew I had to read it. So kudos to the marketing and cover design team!

Even though Kate grew up in Virginia and I in New Jersey, the amount of similarities of our millennial experiences was astounding to me. From specific Marykate & Ashley movie references, to the constant wish for a ‘vacation boyfriend,’ to mentioning the ‘girl with the green ribbon around her neck’ (you remember the horror story), to discussing Bath & Body Works hand sanitizers and the “hot girl scents of cucumber melon, warm vanilla sugar and sweet pea” I was astounded by our shared pop culture experiences! I absolutely thought cucumber melon was specific to my school, lol.

Some quotes that I had to bookmark based on how much I related to them to how much they made me laugh—

“Now, you curate a photo or two of the whole evening, but back then, your friends would mass-upload every goddamn photo like it was a makeshift animated flip-book of the nights least notable details. Social media wasn’t the highlight reel it is today; it was more like bad ongoing CCTV footage captioned with inside jokes. No accidental pocket photo, duplicate or legally questionable photo of a person underage-beer-bonging went undocumented, much to my hungover horror. Though I will say, there are few things more character building than waking up to an email that says, “You’ve been tagged 63 times in so-and-so’s album ‘cuZ tHe PaRtY dOnT StArT TiL I WaLk iN’”

I was the friend curating these Facebook albums, and yes indeed posted photos of the inside of a pocket with some kind of caption like “haha who had my camera here?” 🤭

“Legend has it that every time “Heart & Soul” plays, not unlike a bell ring, a person with the middle name Marie, Elizabeth, Lynn or Nicole gets their wings.”

This made me lollll.

“Even though clinical depression wasn’t on my radar, it seems like it should be pretty obvious from the volume of times I was listening to “The Blower’s Daughter” by Damien Rice on repeat’”

So specific, but this was absolutely my go to angst song and I totally left shady away messages with lyrics from it on AIM.

The book lost me a little as it kind of shifted more into memoir than essays, but I think the author’s perspective is very thoughtful. I like how she delved into the misogyny and extreme beauty standards of this time as well as the pressure to conform and not be an individual. The author is very vulnerable and I think many will see themselves in her struggles. I think at times some of the essays just got a little repetitive/meandering for me and felt like the author made the same points like 100 times. It was kind of like the Barbie movie ‘speech’ for me—well written and insightful, but feminist thought and theory I’ve mused on for years so there was nothing ground breaking. But that won’t be the case for all readers.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

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