The Loop-de-lopp, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood
For a month when I didn’t finish many books at all, this one was a much needed read. Despite having a wonderful trip to London, I feel like my life is in need of a shakeup and Mari’s book was the perfect read to complement this feeling.
Synopsis
In the journey toward adulthood, it is easy to find yourself treading the path of those who came before you; the path often appears straight and narrow, with a few bumps in the road and a little scenery to keep you inspired. But what if you don’t want to walk a worn path? What is you want to wander? What if there is no map to guide you through the detours life throws your way?
This guide to growing pains and growing up by the illustrator, writer, and Instagram sensation Mari Andrew brilliantly captures the heavy feelings and comical complexities gathered on the way to adulthood. From creating a new home in a new city to understanding the link between a good hair dryer and good self-esteem to dealing with the depths of heartache and loss, these tales of the twentysomething document a road less traveled- a road that sometimes is just the way you’re meant to go.
Review
My parents married before at 24 & 26, they not only had, but had built with their own hands, a house that was finished before my mom came home from the hospital with me at 28, have had the same occupations since they finished high school (Dad) and college (Mom), and were able to provide just about everything my sister and I desired our entire lives. There were rough patches of course, they’re no longer together, but their lives were shaped by a different time, a different era.
To compare my life to my grandmothers’ lives is even more starkly contrasted. As millennials, my sister and I are mostly self sufficient, but there are definitely times when we’ve had to delicately ask for help. Our lives have been shaped by a very different era, and will forever be marked by the Recession of ’08. We will spend most of our young adulthood renting, we will postpone having children, if we have them at all, and we may not have substantial savings accounts until we are well into our 40s.
But that’s the path our lives have taken. It’s completely different than our parents, even if we wanted to measure up against their life paths, we can’t. That world doesn’t exist anymore. And while this idea isn’t exactly what Am I There Yet? delves into, the theme is close – your life is your life and we all live our lives differently and have to follow our own paths in order to carve out some semblance of self identity. If you’re looking to find some inspiration to be yourself, and even more importantly, to know that you’re not alone in feeling like your life isn’t following the prescribed path society seems to prefer, take a look at Am I There Yet?
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
Celebration of Books 