Generation What?: Dispatches from the Quarter-Life Crisis

by Bess Vanrenen (Editor), Vanrenen

Seemingly a bit ludicrous and even comical, the quarter-life crisis is actually a very real phenomenon afflicting more rudderless twenty-somethings with each passing year. In Generation What? , young up-and-coming writers recount their individual quarrels between hoping to exist on the fringes of childhood and wanting to participate in the arena of adult responsibility. Some heartbreaking, some humorous, the essayists’ disparate topics—passionless marriage, fallible parents, Peace Corps survival, cutting the college-life cord, and the like—run the gamut of disillusionment, denial, and yes, even deliverance. The Lost Generation nursed the devastating wounds of World War I. The Greatest Generation conquered both the Great Depression and totalitarianism. The Beat Generation sped along the counterculture pathways. The Baby Boomers embraced protests and free love, while Generation X birthed mass technology and postmodern malaise. And Generation Y—the young people of the millennium who have more resources, technology, and education than any before—has . . . what? Essayists include editors from Broken Pencil and JANE magazine and contributors to The New York Times, The Village Voice, BUST, Adbusters, and PLENTY, as well as young authors with books forthcoming from Harper Perennial and Simon & Schuster. Bess Vanrenen currently calls Denver, Colorado, home, although she has also lived in Brooklyn, Reno, and Maadi, Egypt. For anyone hoping to induce a quarter-life crisis, Bess recommends graduate school.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Bess Vanrenen works as an assistant editor at Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. She received her master of arts degree in English literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004. She has lived in New Jersey, Egypt, Nevada, Florida, New York, and France. She had a brief stint waiting tables at a TGI Fridays in Paris, where she saw a small cockroach climbing across a tray of apple fritters. Her French coworkers seemed unperturbed. She has also worked a paper route (for one night), smiled at and greeted IHOP customers (where she received the laurels, “Employee of the Month”), chauffeured packages around her college campus and later sub sandwiches (though she was convinced the selling of sandwiches merely disguised the selling of more interesting, albeit illegal, substances), and provided elderly folks with debatably humorous holiday cards.

Reviews

[Brandon Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe this generation is a bunch of privileged, entitled kids who found themselves all-too-quickly with scruff and ovulation cycles and proceeded to bitch and moan.

Maybe this generation was born into a set of circumstances which lead to more contemplation that previous generations: over-abundance of options in all facets of life, over-saturation of outside conflicting messages, over-done social networking, a world of constant TMI, Warhol's "fifteen minutes" prophecy coming to life before their very eyes -- and as a result are cynical and freaked out and trying to quiet the conflicting voices in their consciousness.

What is for certain:

Hal Niedzviecki studied abroad, lived through mind-fucking anxiety attacks, mindlessly contracted an STD, and wrote a beautiful essay about this tumultuous time of his life -- one you might relate to. And if you don't see shades of yourself, and you fit into this generation, I guarantee you will in one of the rest of these well-chosen essays, because:

Maybe you felt the all-embodying coming-together sense-of-purpose, proceeding the Bush/Kerry election, your first as a registered voter, like Courtney E. Martin did. Maybe you know the crushing of spirit that followed. Maybe like me, you forgot that time, and this essay will make you see it from a new vantage point.

Maybe you thought the military would give you purpose, like Matt Farwell did. Maybe you found yourself in Afghanistan like him.

Maybe like Catherine Strawn or Bess Vanrenen or Joshua M. Bernstein, you thought purpose would be in New York, and maybe you found it there, and maybe you didn't, and maybe you found yourself writing porn copy.

Maybe you went on tour with a band, like Nick Burd, and on those lonely roads maybe you worked through the spectrum of grandiose and humble thoughts, and figured some things out.

Maybe like Caitlin Dougherty, you joined the Peace Corps, got back, and felt at a distance, balancing new knowledge with the advancing lives of those you love around you moving into marriage and careers.

Maybe like Jared Jacang Maher, from your father you learned to listen to the sounds of the house.

Maybe like Jennifer Banash, you couldn't commit, even though you had a great guy. Maybe you found happiness through honesty, even though it hurt like hell.

Maybe like Kate Torgovnick, you realized you were a grown-up when you realized you were a bed-maker, and this threw you into an identity crisis of sorts.

These essays are beautifully, brutally, fearlessly honest, and reveal the inner minds of so many of us.

[Caroline Donnelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the essays are well-written and interesting, I don't think they quite captured going through a quarter-life crisis as the forward had said they would. There was a lot of reflection and most of the stories had a "it was tough but I got through it and so can you" vibe without a whole of information on how they got through it. The most powerful, in my opinion, was the essay from the woman that joined the Peace Corps.

[Veronica Lingo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generation What? Presents a multi-layered view of the trials, joys and humiliations of my own generation. Told via many essays from a wide array of authors, the series of short stories can seem staccato and jarring; but at the end, they easily form together to provide a mosaic of the 25-something experience. From college, to marriage (and divorce) to children, to careers, the stories are rife with frustration, bemusement, fear, self-realization and satisfaction. I found myself identifying with many of the stories, from the burning anger and confusion over the Presidential Election in 2006, to the blunt humility that comes from making peace with not being where one wants to be at 25. Ultimately, the book is an interesting read that allows readers (especially from my own generation) plenty of opportunity for reflection, laughs and tears.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to look for books about people in their 20s and came across this one. The essays were all pretty interesting and well-written. Mostly they ended up making me feel better about my life by comparison--the essays are all about people having actual, serious crises, not just turning 25 and thinking "Shoot, my twenties are halfway over and I'm not having as much fun as I expected." Even so, a lot of the things the authors were dealing with sound familiar from my own life and the lives of my friends.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, there have been a few good short stories about quarter life. Some are sad, some are funny...etc...