But You're Still So Young

February 1, 2021
By age 30, many baby boomers had finished college, moved out of their parents' houses, gotten married, supported themselves financially, and had kids. For Americans currently nearing or already into their thirties, achieving major adult milestones has not been nearly so linear. Schaefer, author of a book on female friendship (Text Me When You Get Home, 2018), explores these milestones here. She weaves her own stories into those of the thirtysomethings she interviews, including Marcus, who at 39 feels his unfulfilling job is keeping the rest of his adult life from progressing, and Nick and Muriel, who have been working toward careers in comedy while struggling financially. Schaefer situates stories from her sources with historical context, noting the structural inequality that underpinned many of the assumed stages of adulthood. While some may be left wondering how Schaefer sourced the individuals she follows through the book, and why she feels they are representative of a generational trend, her conversational writing style will draw in readers, especially those who enjoyed her previous book.

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February 19, 2021

Combining memoir and case study, Schaefer (Text Me when You Get Home) examines why so many millennials have delayed, or failed to attain, the hallmarks of American adulthood: completing their education, purchasing a home, marrying, achieving financial independence, and having children. Each chapter focuses on one of those goals and delves into the personal lives of millennials who have struggled with pursuing and achieving it. While the author is aware of, and discusses, her relative privilege, she makes statements that require further examination. For example, in the chapter on educational attainment, Schaefer claims that the phenomenon of young people moving straight from high school into the workforce, bypassing college, is "virtually nonexistent." The book would benefit from a closer examination of the ways in which these assessments hinge on socioeconomic and geographic assumptions. The author is more successful when describing her own life and those of the individuals and couples in her case studies. She connects their individual challenges and circumstances to the broader narrative about the difficulties millennials face when they reach adulthood. VERDICT This book will appeal to those who enjoy human interest stories and non-judgmental writing about the millennial generation--Rebecca Brody, Westfield State Univ., MA

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March 1, 2021
Schaefer's breezy survey examines the dilemmas facing Americans in their 30s. The author of Text Me When You Get Home, now in her 40s, discusses her own experiences and those of seven other men and women, "all part of today's sprawling middle class," as they face five life transitions that in earlier times often occurred significantly earlier in one's life span. These include completing school, leaving home, marrying, becoming financially independent, and having a child. Schaefer, who began this book before the pandemic, touches briefly on its role in slowing these achievements down, but she focuses primarily on pre-pandemic life. The author occasionally refers to other books, generally pop sociology like Gaily Sheehy's Passages or Jill Filipovic's The H Spot, and quotes celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, but she pays most attention to documenting the lives of herself and her subjects. While these anecdotes are entertaining, in occasionally uncomfortable ways, the individuals that Schaefer profiles are hardly representative of the range of 30-something experience. Two are stand-up comedians attempting to find success in Los Angeles, sometimes relying on money from their parents; another quit a stable job to pursue entrepreneurship; one is a stay-at-home father writing a novel. Alongside their stories, Schaefer chronicles her own familiar struggles within the 21st-century journalism landscape. Most of her subjects are impetuous--e.g., using a $10,000 loan to go on a spending spree or saying things like, "Let's be irresponsible with it. Let's go to Italy"--which means little reader sympathy for their plights even as they attempt to take risks and follow their dreams. While a book about delayed adulthood in the U.S. could be useful, this one covers such a narrow spectrum of individuals that it's difficult to extrapolate any meaningful conclusions from their experiences. By contrast, Sheehy's book included interviews with 115 people. A disappointingly superficial approach to a potentially rewarding topic.

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