Iris Has Free Time

by Iris Smyles

Iris Has Free Time is Iris Smyles' iconoclastic and lyrical debut novel about trying to grow up before it's too late. A touching evocation of youth in its twilight, a celebration and also a farewell, Iris Has Free Time is a paean to the beauty, sadness, and joys of youth on the long eve of adulthood.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Humor, New York, Contemporary

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Mayka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newman PR sent me this book, and I already decided I wasn't going to like it. The promises they pitched to me, with Iris' signature "pink-outs" instead of "blackouts," are the kinds of Chick Lit language that I hate. But then...

Just like I never liked Holly Golightly, just like I can’t watch Sex and the City anymore without rolling my eyes (Oddly enough, I can still cite key details from the series, like the guy who broke up with Carrie in a Post-It Note was “Burger,” is Ron Livingston.), I feel a reflexive distrust toward “coming-of-age” stories. For the narrative of the young woman, this tends to lead down a slippery slope into “chick lit.” Coming-of-age stories can be fascinating and rich, but marketing has overused this phrase to make Chick Lit titles sound…less flouncy. To me, Chick Lit is a saccharine pink world that breeds dependency and confidence issues.

When I first caught wind of Iris Smyles’ Iris Has Free Time, I was worried it might be that type of coming-of-age that would make me avoid all situations involving heroines. (Do not forget the “e.”) But my skepticism was overturned, something I couldn’t help noticing when I finished the book in a week. (I’m a slow reader. This is a big deal.)

Smyles’ story stretches from undergrad at NYU to Recent Grad Life to grad school and ultimately graduating out of her twenties. Split into three parts, what really got to me was how Smyles’ perspective and language evolved from phase to phase. To be honest, the first “book” was what I was worried it would be: creative co-ed released unto Manhattan, spending her time with “The Captain” and “Lex” and boxes of T-shirts for your standard “I’m Gonna Run a T-Shirt Company” pipe dreams. She calls blackouts pink-outs. As I first read about Iris, I pictured a girl I once knew, who was insufferable in doses exceeding hours at a time. While she knew some good parties and was exciting in person, she simply wasn’t an evergreen friend. (Perhaps that’s why I’m not into the superficially bubbly Chick Lit type? I’m perfectly willing to admit that!)

Yet Smyles’ writing is truly lyrical, as so many early readers have described it, and compelling enough that I kept reading. Book II revealed an Iris with a little less impulse, a little more reflection. Book III revealed a woman with experiences that sounded like the stories my friends and I swap around (over brunch in our favorite table that fits our perfect quartet – sarcasm):

Born into a world built in our service, we’d been shepherded to schools (Entire buildings were dedicated to the cultivation of our minds!) and had our lunches prepared (Candy bar companies had made things “fun-size” for us!). Only yesterday we were young, aristocrats rich with time. And the way a snob is proud of the money into which he is born, we had been proud of our youth.

-Chapter 6: Europe, Book III, Iris Has Free Time by Iris Smyles

But really, the Iris at the end is not the Iris at the beginning. She is a sum of all Irises, and an aggregate refreshing person to “know.” Our heroine Iris actually learns and develops word by word.

With graduation season hitting the States – along with it, my last summer in my twenties! – and Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s rather astoundingly viral “20 Things I Wish I’d Known When I was 30” – again, my ending twenties – I warranted myself a chance to get corny and asked Smyles what she’d tell her New Grad self now:

Things I Would Tell My 21-Year-Old Self:

I’m uncomfortable with giving advice because it suggests that words could have spared me my mistakes, or that I would prefer to have been spared. And I don’t regret my wrong turns. If it took me a long time to find my way, I saw a lot while I was lost.

Instead of advice then, here’s what I’ve learned so far:
There is no such thing as “free time.”

See? Even in emails, Smyles writes lyrically. That she even responded to this no-name’s question is gracious on its own.

The grain of salt you need to remember when you read Iris jacket blurbs is this: That marketers and publicists only have so many words to get you into a story, so of course they’re going to almost literally throw glitter in your face by describing Smyles’ writing and stories as “a mountain of glitter.” I don’t think it is, in the superficial, gets-into-everything way that glitter might imply. This is a book I really do plan on keeping around for any future daughters I might have, because it grows from glitter to handsome gold.

I’m all Smyles. (Puns! Had to. Carrie would be proud. Were Carrie a real person who could know Iris Smyles.)

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iris Smyles, where have you been all my life!? Every lady I know and love will be required to read this book.

[Anne Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author has a great way with words but I just couldn't get enthused about Iris or her story. Guess I don't have a lot of patience with 20-somethings who spend their free time smoking joints, getting drunk or having mindless sex. Grow up.

[Angie Never · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writing a novel about trying to write a novel is not the same thing as writing a novel.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this that I loved- that saw so clearly what it is like to be a girl in her 20s- and it was very well written and made me laugh, but at other times Iris was so unlikeable it was painful to read, and many parts of it could have been cut or edited out.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haters gonna hate, I guess, but I loved this book.

I want to say that I fancy myself a bigger-hearted version of this character. Because isn't it wonderful, being whimsical and magical and never quite growing up? I think so. I think that's preferable.

I love this book. I love the way it moves back and forth in time, and I love Iris' writing. It's hilarious and wonderful and I'm found - I'm sure this is not the intention - myself wanting to be like her. Whatever else is true, I think her sense of adventure is enviable, and I'd be curious to read anything else she some day writes.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your 20's are a confusing, turbulent, and crucial period of growing up for almost everyone. Psychologists are studying it, filmmakers are documenting it, and popular TV series are depicting it as a new, and large, generation of people are reaching this cross-roads. Adding her voice to the throng, Iris Smyles writes about the 20s in a fresh—if sometimes chaotic—voice.

Read my full review here: http://www.thewhynottblog.com/book-re...

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far, at page 150ish, i am loving this book. tama janowitzish...

i loved this book! the structure was a wee bit baffling in that it did not proceed chronologically and at times i was unsure what year we were in. but i can roll with stuff like that. also - there were times it felt more memoir-is and less fiction-y, which is ok, too, but the tone was very different to my mind. again, i rolled. i can't wait to read more from iris!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Iris has Free Time could have been a good book but I spent so much time confused while reading. The sequence of events did not flow. It seemed like a bunch of short stories with overlapping situations were crammed together to make a book. I just couldn't get into it. It was like every time I got into the story and thought I understood what time period, what boyfriend etc a new chapter would start and I would be back to trying to figure it all out again.

[Morgan Schulman · Rating 2 out of 5]

If Carrie Bradshaw had had a LiveJournal...

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get this at all. It's all over the place. She's a lovely writer, but this was beyond me.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

How about a glimpse into the life of a meandering, self-obsessed, spoiled brat? No. can't bring myself to finish this one...I have better things to do with my time.

[Lauren Dostal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a right book, right time scenario. I needed something light and this book is flipping hilarious and well written in a way that makes it compulsively readable. It reminded me heavily of lost friendships and lost years, both bitter-sweet. I loved the way Smyles handles the passage of time, moving forward and backwards, telling and retelling the tales with new lenses, new information, changing the story just like memory. A funny, light, nostalgic read. Recommended to anyone who needs some humor in their lives.

A note to reviewers who call this chic lit: feel free to go back to your sad white male canon where the women are mere objects and only the men get drunk and behave badly and no one laughs ever unless it’s ironically at the face of the black void of meaninglessness or a sad sunset. I’m sure it misses you terribly and you were obviously made for each other.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really enjoyable book about a 29 year old lost in her bad habits and worst relationships. I loved Iris, even if she was essentially an unlikable character due to self-sabotage and intentionally making bad choices. Even though I can’t exactly relate to the circumstances, I can relate to the feelings.

[Nessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book from the get go. But I lost steam part way through, I cannot abide repetitive books. But this totally captures the feeling of being lost and having no idea what to do after university. Many parts made me laugh. Glad i read it! And also glad I am over that stage in life.

[Ursula Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful start! Romantic and youthful and delightful! But something got lost in the middle and just got repetitive and I became bored and couldn't force myself to keep reading. Inspiring in many ways none the less

[K Thibault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures the magic of the liminal space between graduation and one's first job. In my top 3 books about post-grad life.

[Joshua Turek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good

[Craig McMurtry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, sad and immensely beautiful, "Iris Has Free Time" chronicles the late teens and twenties of a disparate, young Manhattan woman. Imagine the HBO television series "Girls" written from the perspective of the character of Jessa. Then imagine that crafted by a young master, a genius of literary construction, like Martin Amis, perhaps. I delighted in the words, the phrases, the parts and especially the whole.

The essence of a novel is the management of information. It's about when D'Arcy knows the truth about Jane and when Elizabeth finds out the truth about D'Arcy. It's about when Pip finds out the truth of his origins. By the 20th Century, it's about how, with Nick, the reader learns the truth about Gatsby and Daisy. With Amis, it's about the veracity of the narrator's version, and thereby the truth about the narrator himself. And in Elmore Leonard, when Raylan Givens tells Tommy Bucks to leave Miami or be shot on sight, right at the outset, it's invariably about the fundamental truth of that information, about revealing how truth that information is, given the characters involved.

In "Iris," there is the scrapbook of amusing tales of Iris' misadventures. Each one is told in a different, ingenious way--one is a movie review, for instance. If those were all the book contained, it would have been a delightful read. But then The Information is provided. The missing narrative. The reader may have been asking, "exactly why is Felix 'The Bastard,' for instance?" The timing of the delivery is exquisite and transforms the experience of the work from funny and sad to timeless and remarkable.

Human life is about adapting to time, the fundamental shortage of it. That's what "Iris" is about. I've never had a drink in Manhattan, yet less to many of them. But the book is about me, nonetheless, because I was seventeen once and then I was thirty.

And if "Iris Has Free Time" isn't perfect, then it will do just fine until "Iris Has a Book Tour" comes along.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Iris Has Free Time" is a memoir of sorts of Iris Smyles, who has written for many different magazines. This memoir almost reads like a series of essays and not necessarily a continuous story. That being said, the essays fit rather nicely together. They are not necessarily in sequential order, which jarred me a little bit each time a time change happened and made it a little difficult to stay in the book.

This book was often a little more serious than I had originally expected but also had a couple funny moments that made me laugh. There were also some very keen, insightful bits of writing throughout the book every once in awhile. The book was fairly uneven in some places on the whole though. Some of the essays could have been slimmed down a little bit to leave room for more detail in others. One of my favorite essay/chapters was entitled Autumn in New York in which Iris captures what it's like to be in that city during that magical time of year.

I liked how well Ms. Smyles' stories captured New York City at the turn of the new millennium. These stories are about youth and trying to leave that youth behind when you're in your twenties.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iris Smyles, the main character of Iris Smyles's book, is a very funny character who inhabits a funny book. "Iris Has Free Time" is more comic monologue than novel - it reads like listening to one of these contemporary humorous storytellers that I like so much, like Mike Birbiglia for example. And who is this Iris, and what does she want out of life, and where is she headed? It is a little hard to know. She drifts blithely from friend to internship to teaching job to casual romance to toking & drinking bout, finding a lot to laugh about along the way. Not much seems to faze her, although she clearly has a few obsessions, like the smartalecky T-shirts she designs. Things are pretty light most of the time, but there is a serious, wistful side to her that is displayed from time to time, which hints at the possibility that this may be a book about a new lost generation, the daughters and sons of the Great Recession . . . Nah. It's a comedy, and a frequently witty one, with moments of real hilarity.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun, witty, quirky, read. Despite being published in 2013, it comes off as a bit dated; the main character graduates college in 2000 - a time in which I was still finding my way through middle school. However, she still does a fantastic job of capturing your 20s and the ridiculous things you do in the name of youth, with the belief that adulthood is a far off and intangible idea. She perfectly articulates what it's like to get older during this time, and how it's a shock each year. After all, your 20s are supposed to be a fantastic and exploratory time, but then the expectation of maturity will hit you like a ton of bricks 1 day, and you won't be ready. I think any "young professional" can relate to holding onto a dream but not being able to achieve it once hit with the harsh realities of the world, yet constantly looking for the next big thing to satiate that mythical dream of forever happiness anyway.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost didn't want to like this book. It just seems so foreign from how I personally view life, and a bit mindless at first glance. But really it felt like a journey, an updated version of those books you read in high school where you finish them and go "that was it? Shouldn't there be more?" There is more, and it appears when reading about a twenty-something year old woman who is truly in-between in her life. I feel the same way right now, though with less drugs, sex, and alcohol. Enjoyed it.

Also there were a ton of typos, and places where the wrong homonym was used; that got old really quickly. Shuddering is not the same as shuttering, for example. Needs a little editing in that regard!

[Luke Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really pretty great. Almost reads as a collections of memoiristic essays, but there's plenty of clever narrative maneuvers to tie the thing together as a "novel." Very much seems to belong the the "novel-from-life" genre recently championed by Sheila Heti. Much more honest and much less party-girl fantasia than I was expecting, with was absolutely for the best. Perhaps I'm biased, as for better or worse, I could deeply identify with the heroine, a driving force, I'm sure behind the confessional memoir, which this book is not, but the writing is smart but breezy, and frequently funny (I actually chuckled aloud several times, something I rarely do)-- a sort of summer beach read that manages to say something about fiction, youth, and t-shirts.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I had trusted the negative reviews of this book! I was almost finished the book and I couldn't make it to the end. I expected Iris to become more mature as the story developed, yet, she was the same immature, lost girl readers meet at the beginning of the book. Also, I didn't see the relevance of the quotes at the start of each chapter. Reading this book was like being in someone's head, reading their every thought and random memories. I would not recommend this book.

[LK · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is supposedly categorized as a novel, which is good; if it were the author's memoir, I don't know how she would have any friends or social connections.

I just did not enjoy reading about a spoiled, selfish girl in her early 20's trying to make her way in New York. She supposedly has no money but spends what she has on booze and partying. Blech.

[Lucie Mckenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read as though the author tidied up her journal records of drunken episodes in her 20s and put them in a book. Some mildly amusing moments but with no discernible plot or character growth there was nothing to make it interesting. Don't believe reviewers touting it as a version of girls, it has none of the insight or charm.

[Marymudie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Iris DID have too much free time - she needed a good editor to shorten this book. It went on in the same vein for too long. She either needed to grow up and move on or crash and burn. Some of the insights were well written. They just got lost in one more binge. Too bad. I was hoping to like this book.

[Sari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but it took so long to get through. I have to admit I skipped to the end chapter because I wanted to know what happens to Iris but desperately wanted to finish this book.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tremendously enjoyed this book after hearing the author read the gorgeous Autumn in New York passage at BKBF. Think Sheila Heti for people who are still excited to be alive and planning to grow up at some point.