Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - 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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jmelauren's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing

3.0

I loved being a 90s kid! We grew up with all the best stuff!

I thoroughly enjoyed all the referrals and memories. However I didn't relate to this book at all.

I was the *gasp* well adjusted teenager.

I never thought about my hair or body of clothes.

I never thought about what I ate or if boys liked me or what the other girls thought.

I wasn't into drinking, drugs, sex, or parties.

I did what I wanted to do because I wanted to do it. It didn't matter if other kids thought it was cool or not because I thought it was cool and that's all that matterd.

I was Rory Gilmore before Logan Huntzberger. Well except for all the academic stuff. Because the one part of this book I did relate to is math is hard.

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roziereads's review against another edition

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4.25

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kaylinvm94's review against another edition

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funny reflective slow-paced

3.5

Part memoir (despite saying it's not), part commentary on the formative culture and socializing experienced by many (white, middle class, American) millennial women, full of pop culture and nostalgia. As a younger millennial, a lot of these experiences were spot on, with a couple being a few years ahead of me, but overall a real trip down memory lane framed in the larger social context we were experiencing these things in. The content is interesting but as a whole the book is very long winded and took a long time to get through. The author is clearly a good writer, but the point often gets lost in pun-filled rambling.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an advance review copy of this book.

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lollierey's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

“Ultimately, I want to remind people of something so simple yet so overlooked in our existence (and resistance): amidst your efforts to move the needle in this slow, painstaking process of transferring power, please go out of your way to honor your own pleasure.”

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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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arireadsitall's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.5

I am the exact demographic for this book. as a millennial as a former party girl lol as a woman in her 30s trying to conceive and as a girly who just loves some pop culture. This book made me laugh. It made me smile and it made me feel very very very seen for my Alpha choices in the early 2000s. Made me all my ups and downs, including my wardrobe choices and former hookups. I really needed this book.

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kari_f's review against another edition

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4.0

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Even though I didn’t relate to some of the author’s perspectives, I felt like she did a nice job unpacking so much about millennial stereotypes, as well as the many ways millennial culture impacted the world and how previous generations impacted what would become millennial culture.

She touched on purity culture, how women are/were portrayed in media, capitalism, the importance of friendship, and finding/being proud of one’s identity.

There were a few bits that felt repetitive, and I honestly didn’t like all the puns. A few would have been fine, but it got to the point that they were taking me out of the headspace of the book. The book also felt like a memoir even though the author stated several times that it wasn’t.

Otherwise, though, I felt like this was an excellent dive into millennialism in the US, and I’m curious to find out more about how some of these aspects of life impacted millennials in other countries.

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

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