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themodvictorian's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like this, and I agree with much of what Filipovic states about certain topics—such as housing and money—but the writing is unfocused and sloppy, and the organization and flow of the book is poor.
The back of the edition I read claims that Filipovic draws on “data, history, and deep reporting,” but besides presenting some data—often accompanied by arbitrary little graphics that take up 1/3 of the page and add nothing to the text—she skimmed over any tidbits of history she mentioned, and the surface level, sometimes juvenile-like writing hardly presented evidence of deep reporting.
It should also be noted that Filipovic offers no real references, sources, or citations to back any of her claims, outside of the occasional name-dropping of a publication or a research center. This essentially makes the entire book more of an overlong opinion piece rather than a work of serious non-fiction.
I also must also confess that I was quite disgusted that she brushed off young people’s destructive porn habits and porn addiction as simply a result of more “diversity” in pornography and that “much of the research on porn is highly idealogical” (pg. 244), which is simply not true. Take Fight the New Drug for example, a secular non-profit organization that seeks to educate people on the harm of pornography. In fact, nearly everything Filipovic states in this book about pornography and its effects is blatantly false and reeks of disdainful bias.
Overall, this book makes a lot of broad claims and offers little to no solutions and leaves an aftertaste of hopelessness.
The back of the edition I read claims that Filipovic draws on “data, history, and deep reporting,” but besides presenting some data—often accompanied by arbitrary little graphics that take up 1/3 of the page and add nothing to the text—she skimmed over any tidbits of history she mentioned, and the surface level, sometimes juvenile-like writing hardly presented evidence of deep reporting.
It should also be noted that Filipovic offers no real references, sources, or citations to back any of her claims, outside of the occasional name-dropping of a publication or a research center. This essentially makes the entire book more of an overlong opinion piece rather than a work of serious non-fiction.
I also must also confess that I was quite disgusted that she brushed off young people’s destructive porn habits and porn addiction as simply a result of more “diversity” in pornography and that “much of the research on porn is highly idealogical” (pg. 244), which is simply not true. Take Fight the New Drug for example, a secular non-profit organization that seeks to educate people on the harm of pornography. In fact, nearly everything Filipovic states in this book about pornography and its effects is blatantly false and reeks of disdainful bias.
Overall, this book makes a lot of broad claims and offers little to no solutions and leaves an aftertaste of hopelessness.
witaszaa's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of useful data on why younger American generations are worst off than the Baby Boomers. I knew the general arguments presented so I just skimmed about half the book (aka preaching to the choir). This info should be force fed to conservative voters
klinden95's review against another edition
4.0
I think it’s really unfortunate that the author didn’t actually cite any sources in this — I feel as though so much of this book came off as her opinion when it’s clear from the sheer volume of statistics stated that this is a well researched book. Still a great (and as a millennial, extremely bleak) read
samle1e's review against another edition
4.0
According to this, Baby Boomers deviated from the norm, and Millennials are a return to more typical culture and values. I buy that, and I also liked the point that Boomers grew up during a time of great fear (about nuclear war and Communism). And that explains why cable news amps up fear of just about everything. This was very well researched, with a slew of statistics, but none of them are footnoted. And some of the dollar figures are adjusted for inflation and some aren't, which is confusing.
jessejane306's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I have never felt both so seen and so depressed by a book. Boomers and/or conservatives love to rag on millennials and why we’re the worst. Filipovic calls them out.
Filipovic did her research. She had plenty of statistics, data, studies, and dates and times to backup everything she said. She also had plenty of interviews to contextualize her points. It was both well researched and well written. I listened to the audiobook and can confirm it was well narrated too.
The struggle is real in a lot of ways and Filipovic explains them in a level of detail even Faux News watchers can’t dismiss. (Without severe cognitive anyway.) This is where the depressing part came in.
She literary says “We may be screwed for the rest of our lives” and she’s not wrong. I had to read this in small doses because I was reminded how fucked our country, politics, economy, and planet are. As one person with no power, money, or influence, I’m powerless to stop it. Boomers aren’t keen on handing the power over too millennials either.
She does include an appeal to boomers at the very end but it felt too little too late to take the sting out of it. I wish there could have been more to be optimistic about. Having facts and stats to back up how abysmal things are knocked off a star for me. I don’t need another reason to be stressed and miserable this time of year.
In spite of my personal bias, this book is well done on all levels. If you want to understand millennials or get your boomer relatives to STFU and STFD, this book is for you.
naughty_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
I wish I had been taking notes as I read this book. It was quite insightful and more kind and fair than Boomers probably deserve, as they congratulate themselves for the Civil Rights movement (that they were likely infants during and not leading the charge) only to grow up “with the best music ever” to perpetuate White flight, blame everyone but the 1% for stagnant wages, chip away at social safety nets and women’s rights, and continue to destroy the environment hoping the next generation, which they deride as “snowflakes,” will magically solve all the issues they are pushing off on their children and grandchildren before we reach cataclysmic irreversible climate change.
Millennials are the first generation who can expect a crappier life than what their parents had. The “Me”/Boomer generation had it all, and when they finally turn the reins over, what will they leave? It’s like a kid who won’t share a toy with anyone else until they’ve broken it.
All the cool things that we normally credit Boomers for (Woodstock, Civil Rights, etc.) were actually the generation before them. Reading this book makes it so much easier to understand why who we assumed were the “free love” hippies raised their children with “Just Say No,” virginity pledges, and Ronald Reagan.
Millennials are the first generation who can expect a crappier life than what their parents had. The “Me”/Boomer generation had it all, and when they finally turn the reins over, what will they leave? It’s like a kid who won’t share a toy with anyone else until they’ve broken it.
All the cool things that we normally credit Boomers for (Woodstock, Civil Rights, etc.) were actually the generation before them. Reading this book makes it so much easier to understand why who we assumed were the “free love” hippies raised their children with “Just Say No,” virginity pledges, and Ronald Reagan.
bdplume's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very good consolidation of the generational challenges Millenials face as well as some context for the ways we got here. It debunks a few myths while also providing context for some of the things which are largely true of our generation. I’ve heard some version of most of the arguments presented within but never collected in one place. I think this is an excellent presentation of those arguments that also takes care to consider the concerns and context of Boomers. It serves as a fantastic template for how to have these discussions without the flippancy or dismissiveness often seen on social media.
bookmarkparty's review against another edition
4.0
First off, thank you to Atria Books for my gifted copy of this book. Given the content of the book, I figured it would be interesting to share both the millennial and the boomer perspective. So I have a special guest reviewer providing the second review…my Dad