| Title | : | Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adults Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development; Or, Why Its Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops Are Not for Dinner |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0451233174 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780451233172 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 2012 |
| Awards | : | Goodreads Choice Award Humor (2012) |
Jen is finally ready to put away childish things (except her Barbie Styling Head, of course) and embrace the investment-making, mortgage-carrying, life-insurance-having adult she’s become. From getting a mammogram to volunteering at a halfway house, she tackles the grown-up activities she’s resisted for years, and with each rite of passage she completes, she’ll uncover a valuable—and probably humiliating—life lesson that will ease her path to full-fledged, if reluctant, adulthood.
Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adults Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development; Or, Why Its Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops Are Not for Dinner Reviews
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This book received mixed reviews. Notably one snarky, verging on "personal vendetta" professional review.
And for the first time ever, I was moved to comment on that reviewer's site in defense of Jen Lancaster and thus join the fray.
This? Is the ONLY author I have bookmarked sections, or even an entire chapter, so I can share it with my husband. She makes me laugh out loud. Not LOL, but truly, loudly, snort and chortle. What's more, she makes my husband laugh too.
The negative review made us go into a pretty neat and deep discussion about what's wrong with this country. Seems like we love to read books about people who are down and out, and oh how we connect with them. But the moment said people find the means, and gumption to get out of the ditch, we are all too eager and jealous to be inspired and instead tear them down saying things like "how can we connect with the author when she has maids?"
Seriously?
Jen is an inspiration. She is the product of the generation that had so much, got so much, and helped get us into this mess we are in (I am that generation too, mind you), but instead of claiming innocence, blaming others and wallowing in a pool of despair and "help me now", she accepts responsibility and works her way out of the mess, learns from her mistakes and thus enjoys even more the sweet success SHE worked for.
And all along, she does that with an amazing sense of humor and compassion. How can you not love and laugh along with someone who buries a possum?
This book is a collection of thoughts all tied together into life lessons. The way we should try to live our lives, don't you think? Having fun, learning to enjoy the little things and not sweat everything, and extracting knowledge and experience. Jen rocks. Just keep writing them because I'll keep reading them.
It takes talent to take the most menial, mediocre of days (food shopping, for example) and turn it into an enchanting, funny anectode that keeps you reading EVERY word! Jen has it. In spades! I almost don't want her writing fiction because I find her real life so much more interesting! -
So disappointed. Not only did the book feel like a tired retread, but I was fed-fucking-up with hearing how "entitled" my generation is. As someone who didn't take nearly a decade to finish college (Lancaster did), who has a Ph.D. (don't recall Lancaster having an advanced degree), who hasn't ran up a ton of debt from selfish and self- indulgent purchases (natch), whose parents didn't pay for a car and a wedding (you know where this is going), I'm just not entirely sure where it is that MY generation comes off as being entitled. I thought someone who wrote such a witty, down-on-hard-times book as Bitter would have more compassion for those generations who have gotten more screwed by high education loans, the false promise of advanced degrees, and a crippled economy than her dot com bubble burst generation could ever imagine. *I* am NOT My Fair Lazy, Lancaster.
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Based on the other comments on this book I am probably the outlier here...but I am REALLY disappointed with this book. The whole time I was reading I had the feeling of "been there done that". The biggest issue I had was that most of the material had already been posted to her blog or addressed in her column. I was really looking forward to this one after the disappointment of her novel, but this one is leading me to believe she might have lost her touch...which makes me sad.
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I really wanted to like this book. I was an early Jen Lancaster adopter, reading her books and snorting and laughing, even in public. The problem with this book? It's almost all recycled material. Many of the chapters are slight expansions of some of her blog posts, especially the stuff about buying a house and the dog training. And the rest of it was material she used in her fiction debut published last year. Add in that the chapters are disjointed and out of order -- hard to read a memoir where the first few chapters take place in her new house in the 'burbs, and then all of a sudden she's back to writing about living in the city, and I found that irksome.
Additionally, and I will say I felt this a bit in her last book, I feel she's not growing as an author. She's not pushing the envelope. It's just the same outlandish Jen Lancaster stories and eventually, even Jen Lancaster can't have all this crazy shit happen to her nonstop. Perhaps a little bit of letting down her public persona/guard and being a little bit more vulnerable would add a dimension and depth to her writing that she's lacking at the moment.
I'm really glad I didn't spend $25 on this book and got it from the library, because I would have been ticked off at the money wasted. Think twice before picking up this latest tome. -
I seriously think Jen lost her way. I no longer find her funny. I feel like she isn't even telling a story anymore its just a mish-mosh of random crap. This book does not even compare to the genius wit of her first three books. Her last book left me disappointed and unable to finish as is this one. Gone are her laugh-out-loud-so-funny-I-snorted writings and I'm left extremely underwhelmed. I'm really really struggling with finishing this book so much I've decided to put it down and move on to the next one. Blehhh. What a disappointment! :(
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I got 100 pages into it and just couldn't continue. I have read a couple of blog entries from this author that I found hilarious. However, I did not find this book funny. It seems that the author thinks very highly of herself, is self-involved, and strongly evokes an "I'm better than you" vibe. She even goes so far to describe a moment where she is thinking "do you know who I am?" She describes her monster SUV, her valet parking nightmares, her volunteer work that she doesn't want to do because she needs to wear a matching t-shirt, the horror of shopping at Whole Foods when it is too crowded, etc. - poor Jen. She also obnoxiously wraps up the end of each chapter with a "lesson" we can learn from her.
I'm so glad I borrowed this book from the library. -
Yikes. This book felt and read as very unfinished to me. I felt like I was being dropped into the middle of a lot of stories that Lancaster acted as if I (the reader) should know. We find out that Jen had or still has a stalker. I literally went back to the other books to make sure that I had not skipped over that before. This memoir just felt like a loosely put together series of vignettes that really didn't tell us a story at all. Not going to lie, it felt a little like Lancaster realized she owed a book to her publisher and threw this at them and they published it.
"Jeneration X" follows Lancaster as she realizes she needs to be an adult. Yeah, I am not kidding. She finally does things that I have been doing since I was in my 20s, like think about budgeting/savings accounts. Getting life insurance (this one made me hard pause). There's a whole thing about her finally getting a mammogram and as someone who had to start having these when I was 30 because my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 38 and passed away from it at the age of 49, I had to start having them young. It just felt like I stepped into a bizarre world where people do not have to worry about things at all and just float through life.
The narrative flow in this one was backwards too. At some point Jen and her husband move, but then we are back to them in the city? I don't know. I got so confused and realized I didn't care enough to see if I had read that right or not.
I also didn't laugh at all while reading this one (the biggest problem). I just kept reading and going what is this the whole time through. i don't recall having this reaction when I read it when it first came out. Reading about someone dealing with valet service for her car, shopping at Whole Foods, etc just did not sing to me. Most of the stuff read as petty or extremely ridiculous. -
I felt like I was re-reading rejects from her blog. I also was on my toes waiting for the infamous Landsend bathing suit and bought used car debacle incidents (you can read about those on her blog, and actually respond to some of those topics - or you could at the time - on her FB page). I've gone from LOVING, ADORING this author to being weary after her thinly veiled "fictional" book about new home buyers.
I knew about this book when I went to see JL speak at B&N after her Pretty in Plaid memoir was released, and was excited to think about the shenanigans she would write about. However, I am starting to wonder, as my friend Kelly says: is she writing about the life she lives, or living her life to have something to write about?
Either way, I was expecting more than a short collection of personal stories and how that has made her to be a better person. I was under the impression she was actually going to do volunteer work and how THOSE experiences made her into a better person, so I was slightly disappointed, only because I was expecting a different outcome. That may have been only because she spoke of her upcoming book 2 years before that sucker was even published or probably written. -
Jen Lancaster. People either love her books or hate them. OK. I'm just gonna say it. I love Jen , and if we knew each other I know we'd be friends. LOL. But really, I do feel as if I know her. I've read all of her other books except My Fair Lazy, which I hope to get a hold of soon.
If you've read her other books you can see how much she's matured in this latest memoir, both in her life and in her writing style. And, that's is why I love it even more. Jen can be judgmental, rude, crude and social unacceptable, but at least she can admit when she's wrong...and leave you laughing your ass off. Her writing style is at times cynical, sarcastic, ironic and hilarious. But along with that she has a unique way of telling a story. A way to segue from her husband and her sitting mesmerized by an infomercial, straight to slathering one of her cats with vaseline in an attempt to help it pass an ingested eight inch string. The woman is just plain crazy...and a very talented humorist. Reading one of her books makes me feel good. -
3.5 stars
Incredibly enjoyable and had me busting a gut, but...
I could have done without the constant feeling of déjà vu since I read about half the stories on her blog already. She did expand on the stories in her book, but still, needed more new stories. -
Unlike many of the other reviewers, I'd never heard of Jen Lancaster before I picked up this book in the public library (no disappointed, "That was already on her blog" from me). The cover looked interesting, so I sat down to take a look while the kids were finishing up their bookhunts. A half hour later I was rocking from side to side in my chair, holding my belly while tears of laughter ran down my cheeks; my completely embarrassed thirteen year old tugged the book out of my hands and hurried us out of the library... but not without my book!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not only am I in the same age group as Lancaster (the nostalgia angle of a modern set of witty observations never hurts), but we share a similar snarky outlook on life. I wouldn't call this a memoir any more than I would call A.J. Jacobs' books memoirs--this is a collected set of observations about everyday events, presented much like a stand up comedy act. Not everything hangs together, and not everything is chronologically linear, and that's okay. It's like having a conversation with a friend: one thing sometimes brings up another and the topic wanders for a while before coming back to the original point. Again, that's okay.
There are occasional passages where Lancaster steps out from behind her 'class clown' shield, and those are a bit jarring. Perhaps she doesn't have the personal distance to write about trying to protect herself from a stalker, or losing a beloved pet, or to talk about family dysfunction--the humor in those passages comes across as brittle, taut, thin. Then again, that also follows along the lines of a conversation with a good friend. Sometimes we laugh to keep from crying, and a good friend will see that and play along.
My BS meter is set to sensitive, so there were passages that made me snort: the references to her wealth and position (though it was refreshing to see her call herself on her own snobbishness) and the repeated "Thank goodness we don't have kids" (anyone who gives so much attention to something they're against comes across as longing for that thing)were the main offenders. Neither were enough to make me toss the book down in disgust.
"Jeneration X" made me laugh more than anything I've read this year. It also made me want to look up her other books.
But I'll skip the blog, thank you. I want to thoroughly enjoy the next book, too. -
I picked this book up off the library ‘new books’ shelf on a whim. I don’t often read humor books, but the description sounded fun- a late coming of age story. I figured I’d read the book a little at a time, in between bouts with a history of China book. Instead, I found myself addicted, ignored the serious book, and read this straight through.
Each of the 27 chapters describes events – some pivotal, some simply ludicrous- as the author is dragged, kicking and screaming, into late onset adulthood. Buying a house, buying life insurance, finally training the dogs that have the manners of very friendly ferals; nothing seems to happen to her without disasters, which, luckily for her, she sees the humor in. And so did I.
It’s odd; she and I have pretty much nothing in common other than being females of the human species. She’s comfortably well off (now; at one point, she lived in poverty), lives in a high class neighborhood, carries designer handbags and can afford a cleaning woman. But she can describe a situation in such a funny way that, even though I’ve certainly never been in that situation, I can feel how she saw it and feel for her- and laugh until I nearly cried.
After reading the book, I found that Lancaster has written several other books and has a blog, and that many readers were upset because much of what is in Jen X is taken from those. Coming at the book as a new reader, I am able to say that the book is hilarious. -
this lady's books are really starting to grow on me. every now & again, she drops in a little tidbit that makes it difficult to overlook the fact that she is a gun-toting republican former sorority girl, but if you can just get past that, she really can be pretty funny. maybe as she becomes more invested in her career as a serial memoirist, her authorial voice is maturing a bit? becoming a little more accessible or something? she's still snarky as all get out, which i like, but the bitter edge that was sometimes off-putting seems to be disappearing.
that said, let's not pretend that her books are anything other that essays cobbled together out of snippets of her everyday life & spackled together specifically to meet a deadline. supposedly this book is all about learning adult life lessons, but that's just the packaging throw on to make the book cohere as a book, & it's all pretty transparent. which is fine. just as long as you know that you're just getting some slice of life humor essays, full stop. it also helps if you accept in advance that a large number of them will be about the foibles of being a working serial memoirist with a deadline. it gets a little meta that way.
all in all, there are worse books you could read in the bathtub. -
Jen Lancaster is almost always going to get 5 stars with me. Almost. I couldn't get into My Fair Lazy and I didn't attempt the fiction book she did last year(maybe that's next). This is full of trying to grow up wisdom. How to move out of the apartment you've been in with your hubby for many years, how to "boycott" Thanksgiving with your insane family(My favorite chapter, I think-and yes, I will be putting that into practice this year) and have a Thanksgiving with your friends instead, how to try to maintain the eating and drinking habits you did when you were 22(and finding out Father Time is NOT a friend in either respect), among many other unforgettable chapters. The thing I love about Jen Lancaster's books is that she does not beat around the bush about ANYTHING. That is awesome. The fact that she is unabashedly unafraid of stating that and maintaining a sarcastic edge of humor throughout her book- makes her even more awesome in my book. So do yourself a favor- if you want a wickedly funny look at life from someone who isn't afraid to march up to you and go "What the hell is the matter with you?", read her books. Start with Bitter is the New Black and read all of them.
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Funny and enjoyable. She speaks my snarky love language. It’s slightly anachronistic in 2022, but I didn’t care. Gen X - or in this case, Jen X - forever, ‘cuz reality bites.
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I'm on page 137 - nearly halfway through this book on the first night. First, I'll say I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'm not "braying like a jackass," but I'm certainly entertained. However, I'm not thrilled to report that so far 4 chapters contain material recycled from the author's blog. Now, I do thoroughly enjoy her blog, and don't mind re-visiting some stories, but when previous books have been more strongly original, I have to say I'm disappointed. I'm just not sure if I should be disappointed in Jen or her agents/editors. I'm going to hope that she's been so pressured to produce a book a year that she felt no choice but to re-use material. If that's the case, I'm hoping (for her sake) that my review, and others like it, give her the impetus to not give in to such pressures with future books. I mean, as much as I enjoy the blog, if, to make a living and keep filling pages, she needs to stop blogging, then I hope she will. As someone who also was laid off in the dot com bubble burst, and changed careers as a result, I fully support her writing career, and will continue to do so. Not just because I (somewhat) identify, but because I'm always entertained by her.
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I finished, and I was much happier with the second half. Although there was some material that sounded a bit familiar, the stories went into much more detail than her blog did. Plus, I laughed harder. I wouldn't quite say that I brayed like a jackass, but I definitely had some good chuckles with a bit of a guffaw here and there. -
So I realized something sad when I started to read Jeneration X, Jen Lancaster’s 2012 “chapter” of her non-fiction series: I think I’ve outgrown it. This is equal parts sad and odd because a) I used to love her non fiction titles and b) I’m at least a decade younger than she is. At some point between
My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is t he New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto and the latest chapter in her “I’m a fancy author and now so is my friend Stacey and I have to remind you every other page”, I got bored.Also sad, it look me four weeks to get through this book, only the sixth one I’ve finished this year. I am so off pace it is sad.
I think the biggest issue with this one was a lack of filter or editor. Seriously, a book shouldn’t read like a blog, and there’s a reason I don’t read her blog.That said, there were some funnies in this book as well as some things I identified with — unfortunately they were somewhat drowned out by her egotism. Midway through the book when talking about eBay she identified herself as “hypercompetitive asshole”. At least she knows her shortcomings. Note to self: read the Amazon reviews before buying. A good number of them nailed exactly what I was thinking. -
I am a huge fan of the written word, and I mean on actual pages. I have never been a fan of audio books, and I have been leery of e-readers, because I am a person who interacts with her books. I write in the margins, bend the pages and crease the bindings. I got an e-reader as my first mothers day present and this was my first Kindle book. I flew through it much faster than I thought I would. The set up was not annoying at all, and I found it to be quite easy to navigate. This, however, is not a review for a kindle-it is a review for Jeneration X. Written by one of my favorite authors-Jen Lancaster sarcastically pokes fun at herself and the life that she lives. This book is about her "growing up"-despite her being in her forties. A great, funny, fast beach read if you are so inclined.
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This was seriously painful to read. I read Bitter is the New Black years ago and was entertained. This time, not so much. I wanted to poke my eyes out when she continuously plugged her previous books AND her friends book. No, I did not want to read a commercial. I don't watch them on TV and most certainly don't want them in a book. I also think once you have multiple books out at some point you'd progress a little and your writing would improve beyond being a self important blogger.
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Oh, maaaan. I really wanted to like this book. I LOVED her first few books and inhaled them each in 1 to 2 days. This one fell so short for me. Perhaps I'm over her whining and don't find it as funny now. :(
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Meh. One-trick pony.
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I love her books and she reads them so well. This was a great one. Highly recommend!
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Dear Jen,
Thank goodness! This is the penultimate (so far) book of memoirs written by
Jen Lancaster and, since I've already read the final memoir (so far),
The Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog, I am celebrating a Jen-less future! I feel absolutely no obligation to read your fiction. I have only continued reading your memoirs because, despite the fact that I have come to despise you as a person, you still can (occasionally) make me laugh until I cry. Kind of like Whoopi Goldberg after the blackface debacle with her and Ted Danson. Only I haven't watched Whoopi since.
The Tao of Martha is the first of your books that I read and it will always remain my favorite, despite several things that drove me absolutely crazy, as noted in my review of said book.
Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adult's Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development; Or, Why It's Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops Are Not for Dinner also drove me absolutely crazy every time you brought up the differences between Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. You know what, Jen? I happen to be a Baby Boomer and you know why I'm being irresponsible and doing whatever the hell I want? It's because I've raised my child, he is now a responsible member of society (making considerably more money than his father, BTW), and after working for damn near forty-five years, I have earned the right to have a little fun. I can't speak for other Millennials but as noted, the one I raised is a productive member of society. And BTW, how many of your precious Generation Xers are back living in their parents' basements because, unlike you, they never figured out a way to recover from the economic woes earlier this century?
I'll grant you there is a small percentage of Baby Boomers who still hang onto the worst aspects of the hippie culture but, as evidenced by my Goodreads moniker, I was and still am a hippie at heart, despite the fact that I am also a responsible citizen who supported herself and yes, actually got married and stayed married (37 years this past February), and raised a son who is also a responsible citizen.
Speaking of sons (and daughters), I totally respect your decision not to have children. Some people are suited to be parents; others are not. Good on you for realizing that furbabies are the pinnacle of your procreational achievement. But...if you'd had children, particularly just before the events of
Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office : A Memoir, you wouldn't have needed to write the current book because believe me, you would have grown up in a hurry. When you have a child or children to support, you cannot be too proud to take a job which requires you to say "Would you like fries with that?" because pride is the first thing that takes a hike when you have a child, right about the time when several medical professionals are gathered around your nether regions urging you to "Breathe!" and "Push!".
This is my least favorite of all your books, with Bitter is the New Black coming in such a close second it might as well be a tie. I realize reviews are not generally written in the form of a letter to the author, but your continual slandering of my generation pissed me off to the point where, if I had your email address, I would send a copy of this review directly to you. But thanks to Goodreads' ridiculous policy of putting the most recent reviews last rather than first, it is unlikely that you or anyone else will ever read this. So be it. I have had my say.
Best of luck to you, but I am happy to bid you a final goodbye. -Kira FlowerChild
P.S. Please note the reason it took eleven days for me to read this book is because every time you pissed me off, I stopped and read another book. Three books in all.
P.P.S. OMG I just saw there is another memoir,
I Regret Nothing. Nope nope nope. I'm done. -
This is Jen Lancaster's fifth memoir. In this book she has focused the content around "Reluctant Adult Lessons Learned," which is really just a way for her tell her stories and add a moral at the end of it. Jen writes about her life, obviously as it's a memoir, but recently, she moved from being a renter in the city of Chicago to buying a home in the North Suburbs. Logically, many of her stories deal with this transition in her life as well as the humorous capers her pets have committed since her last book.
I love Lancaster's style, and I enjoyed this memoir, but it was far from my favorite. Being a collection of humorous stories, it felt more like a collection of essays rather than a story with continuity. My favorite memoir of hers had the continuity of a story line, so even though I can empathize with her plights in being a first time homebuyer, I didn't love the book as much as Such a Pretty Fat.
Of all the "Reluctant Adult Lessons Learned" my favorite was the following, "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Probably not today, but you'll feel marginally better about it if you get your s*#$t togeather first" (Lancaster 189). Despite loving this quotation just for the humor in it, this quote really is at the heart of all Jen's lesson's learned. She talks a lot about having more opportunity than before, and because she's had these opportunities she can move from the survival mode that she wrote about in Bitter is the New Black and Bright Lights Big Ass, to really taking charge of her life. I think this quotation summarizes her journey. She's growing up, but she's still boisterous and silly.
Lancaster is a master at humor. My favorite technique of hers is her use of footnotes to add in hillarity, irony, and self-depricating humor. She is a very witty writer and makes excellent use of verbal irony. There were several places in the book that literally caused me to laugh out loud.
While I adore Lancaster's wit, she's not for everyone. I know my bff Ms. Reyes is not a fan of hers despite her love of sarcasm. Also, my students are not quite to the point in their lives where they're ready to reflect on what "adult lessons" they can learn, because you are all still in the throes of enjoying your youth. Therefore, I would say fans of Lancaster won't be disappointed, but the person who would get the most enjoyment from this memoir would be someone who has the chance, like Lancaster to learn to laugh at her youthful experiences and reflect on how much s/he's grown. -
Reader beware that if you read this book (or any of Jen Lancaster's books for that matter), be prepared to put on notice any friends, family, co-workers and others in your life that when you're reading this, you will be laughing out loud, snorting, giggling and often than not, stifling your laughter (so as to not appear completely like you've lost your mind), to the point where you seem to be wheezing from a form of an asthma attack.
In other words?
This crazy chica is HILARIOUS.
Jeneration X, while not as strong of a total theme as compared to her other novels (in my opinion), is witty, funny and gives you lessons and sometimes even deep thoughts that give you pause to think. It's one fun read that I couldn't put it down and like all of Jen's books that I've read so far (all but her fiction novel), has yet to even remotely disappoint. She's bright, vivacious and you totally wish you could be friends with her; heck, even neighbors (though she's not fond of them, haha).
My most favorite parts of the book was the Thanksgiving-themed chapter (so true that the family you choose is often better than your actual relatives) and the one where her bra tried to strangle her during a financial meeting with her, Fletch and the banker. :D
Reading Jen's novel is like hearing funny stories from a girl friend over some Starbucks, laughing your head off and having a blast - except with words and paper....though if you read this while sipping on a mocha caramel frapp is kinda close. ;) -
Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adult’s Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development; Or, Why It’s Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops Are Not for Dinner by Jen Lancaster
368 pages
★★★★
Oh Jen Lancaster, how I love you and your humor. Seriously. I love this author. She has never disappointed me in her many memoirs and luckily, this one was no different. What was different for me was that instead of reading this book, I listened to the audio version – narrated by the author herself. As usual, this book goes into the humorous situations that Jen manages to find herself in and a range of her thoughts are thrown in for good measure. This book focuses on her attempts to become an adult, at 42ish years old, and wins and fails along the way. While Jen’s stories are often humorous, they work not only because they make you laugh but because they are relatable. I dare you, in one of her many books, not to find one time you relate to her.
The audio version was something new for me with this author. At first I had difficulty with it. Jen Lancaster is a fast reader and this was somewhat annoying to me. But I quickly got into the rhythm of it and it just felt right, like there was no other way you would expect Jen to narrate. Her inflictions made parts of this book even more humorous than if I had just read them. Not only does this author’s writing continuously make me smile and laugh but so does her reading. As usual, a winner if you are a fan of Jan Lancaster. -
The fact that there are so many one-star reviews by Millennials, angry with her for snarkily disparaging their entire generation out of hand, makes me pretty certain that Jen Lancaster has absolutely pegged Generation X perfectly. I shall now excitedly read her entire back catalog forthwith… right after I eat my dinner of chocolate ("Made With Real Cocoa!") Cherios.
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I know this goes against pretty much every review out there, but I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. It was ok, and I will admit that Jen Lancaster is funny at times (she uses some hilarious slang, I’ll give her that), but the book didn’t make me laugh as much as I thought it would. The only other Lancaster book I’ve (tried) reading was her fiction If You Were Here and I couldn’t get over the footnotes enough to finish reading. While I didn’t mind them as much in here (I kind of expect it with nonfiction) I’m still not sure if I really like her style. Like I said, it wasn’t a bad book, just not really my thing I guess.
I had hoped the book would provide hilarious actual wisdom into adult life. I did enjoy some of the life lessons learned at the end of each chapter, and the idea/format of the book I think was a good one. I’m just not sure it was executed how I would have preferred (I can’t help but think, what would David Sedaris have done with this premise?).
Oh, and is it just me or does she talk about her cats WAY too much? First of all, I couldn’t keep track of all her animals because there are so many, so when she started talking about one I had to stop and think about which one it was. And secondly, every time a new chapter would start and she’d mention a pet, I’d think to myself, please don’t let this whole chapter be about cats again. It got old after awhile. -
http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....
In her typical hysterical fashion Jen (my imaginary BFF) uses the self deprecating humor that she has perfected to tell us some stories that have helped her realize that she is becoming an adult. Like buying her first home in the suburbs of Chicago. Or hosting her first holiday dinner. Or when she returned to her Alma Mater to receive a distinguished award. (I nearly wet myself laughing so hard at her adventures after the fancy shin-dig). She teaches us some of the very useful life lessons that she learned along the way, but she also teaches that it is still okay at the age of forty-something to still own barbie dolls. No matter what anyone else says.
As always Jen (my imaginary BFF) entertains in ways that I wish every author could learn. She is funny, loyal, witty, and willing to call herself a jackass. The best qualities a girl could ever need in a BFF, real or imaginary. If you are looking for a good laugh and are over the age of thirty, this book is for you. You will recognize your self in at least one of Jen's essays. I promise. And you will laugh out loud because you have soooooooooo been in those shoes at some point in your life. Under 30? -- Read it anyway. You will learn what NOT to do as you move through life. Either way. I promise that you will laugh.
