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I Remember Everything: Life Lessons from Dawson's Creek
Featuring illustrations by Jillian Barthold
The first coming of age series for millennial consumption, Dawson’s Creek created the most iconic meme of all time before the word meme was invented. On January 20, 1998, we were introduced to our Capeside High Class of 2001―the last class of students to live their whole childhood before 9/11. We met Jen Lindley, who, at the age of 15, we were told was a “big city vixen,” but actually turned out to be the third wave feminist icon, we didn’t know we desperately needed. Pacey Witter, “the lovable loser”, who was less loser, more the guy who taught us all exactly how sexy consent can be and sailed off with our hearts. Joey Potter, the “poor tomboy” from the wrong side of the creek that showed us the incredible amount of work it takes to rise up the social ladder, especially compared to her white, upper middle class, male best friend, Dawson Leery, the classic “good guy,” who became the blueprint for identifying toxic masculinity and white privilege, earning his place as the first titular character every viewer grew to hate.
I Remember Everything remembers everything about the seminal 90s show whose theme song was stuck in our heads for the entirety of its six seasons―and to this day if we’re being honest. With quotes from the show about sex, mental health, relationships, classism, queerness, and much, much, more, Erin Hensley and Julia Callahan, hosts of the podcast Dawson’s Critique, break down why we still can’t get enough of Capeside, MA and its teenage inhabitants. You don’t want to wait to get this book for all of your friends and you’ll want to know right now what will be their take on the hilarity that is Dawson’s cry face.
The first coming of age series for millennial consumption, Dawson’s Creek created the most iconic meme of all time before the word meme was invented. On January 20, 1998, we were introduced to our Capeside High Class of 2001―the last class of students to live their whole childhood before 9/11. We met Jen Lindley, who, at the age of 15, we were told was a “big city vixen,” but actually turned out to be the third wave feminist icon, we didn’t know we desperately needed. Pacey Witter, “the lovable loser”, who was less loser, more the guy who taught us all exactly how sexy consent can be and sailed off with our hearts. Joey Potter, the “poor tomboy” from the wrong side of the creek that showed us the incredible amount of work it takes to rise up the social ladder, especially compared to her white, upper middle class, male best friend, Dawson Leery, the classic “good guy,” who became the blueprint for identifying toxic masculinity and white privilege, earning his place as the first titular character every viewer grew to hate.
I Remember Everything remembers everything about the seminal 90s show whose theme song was stuck in our heads for the entirety of its six seasons―and to this day if we’re being honest. With quotes from the show about sex, mental health, relationships, classism, queerness, and much, much, more, Erin Hensley and Julia Callahan, hosts of the podcast Dawson’s Critique, break down why we still can’t get enough of Capeside, MA and its teenage inhabitants. You don’t want to wait to get this book for all of your friends and you’ll want to know right now what will be their take on the hilarity that is Dawson’s cry face.
- GenresNonfiction
192 pages, Hardcover
First published November 24, 2020
5 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 4, 2021
Ohhh, if only this were the sprawling, thoughtfully organized thematic appraisal of a watershed teen TV show I'd hoped for. I Remember Everything is characterized by a lack of focus, a meaningless structure, the authors' relentless repetition of the same few points, typos, tones of condescending and under-substantiated self-assurance (in a tactless PC-police sort of way), etc. In other words, it's pretty clear that this is what it is: a clumsily slapped-together coffee table book by a couple commentators whose largest qualification is having casually commented on the show before, in rambly podcast form.
January 1, 2021
Dawson’s Creek is my all time favorite show and is often misunderstood/dismissed instead of seen as the complex, emotional, funny, and loving show it is. Seriously there are very few things in this world that I love as much as this tv show. So did I agree with all their points? No way. But ultimately this is a book about loving Dawson’s Creek by people who love Dawson’s Creek for people who love Dawson’s Creek. So it’s getting 5 goddamn stars💚
April 24, 2023
Back in the early 2000s I spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on eBay buying up every piece of Dawsons Creek merchandise I could find from rare promo posters to the novels based on the show, to signed scripts and a series of 4 tv guide covers depicting the characters. I even had a replica of the necklace Dawson wore early on. I watched the show all the time on VHS (and later DVD when all the seasons were finally released) and was obsessed. When I randomly found out a book had recently been written about the show I was stoked!
This book, while being about the show, doesn’t really have any cogent points. It provides examples of dialogue and then “analysis” which sometimes is just summarizing what was said in the dialogue. At one point they share a quote and the only insight offered is this: #soulmates.
It is also very selective about what dialogue it includes to classify characters dichotomously as either awful or amazing. Sure, Dawson was probably the most annoying character, but it only focuses on those times he was wrong. It doesn’t mention how he helped pay for Joey’s college or saved Pacey and Jen’s lives or sacrificed his relationship with Joey by informing her of her dad’s criminal activity. It just harps on how terrible he is. On the other side of the coin, it puts Pacey on a pedestal and neglects to mention how he lost all of his friends money, slept with a married woman, cheated on Audrey, and treated Joey like garbage at their prom.
The collector in me had to have this book, but the avid reader and Dawson’s Creek fan was extremely disappointed. Before I read it I was excited to learn the authors have a Dawson’s Creek podcast, but after finishing it, I have no desire to listen to said podcast.
This book, while being about the show, doesn’t really have any cogent points. It provides examples of dialogue and then “analysis” which sometimes is just summarizing what was said in the dialogue. At one point they share a quote and the only insight offered is this: #soulmates.
It is also very selective about what dialogue it includes to classify characters dichotomously as either awful or amazing. Sure, Dawson was probably the most annoying character, but it only focuses on those times he was wrong. It doesn’t mention how he helped pay for Joey’s college or saved Pacey and Jen’s lives or sacrificed his relationship with Joey by informing her of her dad’s criminal activity. It just harps on how terrible he is. On the other side of the coin, it puts Pacey on a pedestal and neglects to mention how he lost all of his friends money, slept with a married woman, cheated on Audrey, and treated Joey like garbage at their prom.
The collector in me had to have this book, but the avid reader and Dawson’s Creek fan was extremely disappointed. Before I read it I was excited to learn the authors have a Dawson’s Creek podcast, but after finishing it, I have no desire to listen to said podcast.
July 9, 2024
Loved it!
Application of the characters, their traits and actions into real life and how we can learn from them.
Enjoyed the dissection of Dawson and how he never apologised for his actions, only the misunderstanding of his intentions - I’ve met a couple of those in my life!
Also loved the analysis of the Pacey and Joey story and how giving space is an important element in loving someone. Oh to have experienced that type of relationship!!!
Application of the characters, their traits and actions into real life and how we can learn from them.
Enjoyed the dissection of Dawson and how he never apologised for his actions, only the misunderstanding of his intentions - I’ve met a couple of those in my life!
Also loved the analysis of the Pacey and Joey story and how giving space is an important element in loving someone. Oh to have experienced that type of relationship!!!
August 12, 2023
I've always been a huge fan of Dawson's Creek and have many fond memories of watching it as a young college student. So I was excited to find a book that contained some fun info about it. The book just seems to be ALL OVER THE PLACE and not in the best way. The book is divided into sections but it doesn't seem to have any good organization to it, making it a hard book to read cover to cover.
May 24, 2024
5 stars not because the book was so good but because I love Dawson’s Creek 4eva❤️❤️❤️ The author was definitely a progressive liberal feminist, all adjectives which would never be used to describe me. Though she argued many points as a rebel w/o a cause, we definitely could agree on a few things: Pacey is a hero, season 3 is the BEST, and Dawson’s Creek is one of the best shows to grace America.
October 12, 2021
I really enjoy the authors’ podcast so I decided to check out their book, but while their podcast tends to be a bit too verbose at times this book had the opposite problem. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a coffee table quote book for Dawson’s Creek or a collection of essays on the show. And because of that it ended up being rather messy. It wasn’t very well written and felt very much like a high school essay. It was mainly long quotes followed by a two sentence summary of the quote. I think if you’re a big Dawson’s fan or fan of this podcast you would enjoy this book and flipping through it every now and then. But I do not think this book delivers its promise of arguing that Dawson’s is the first millennial show, and a lot of their arguments are not super well developed. They do much better with their podcast.
October 25, 2020
Disappointing
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April 14, 2021It's Dawson's Creek and I love Dawson's Creek. How can I give it a rating?
December 12, 2020
Looks like a marketing genius is behind this one as well.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews