The book was written by Lucy Blaikston, who is the author of the popular online newsletter ‘Shit You Should Care About’, a platform that aims to bring news to people in a form that is easy to understand, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing. It is known for its great layout, simple political updates, and ability to engage young audiences like never before. Frustrated with the way big media outlets present news, in a way that can be hard to understand or even misleading to the general public, she came up with this idea with two friends in the back of a university lecture. This book is a nonfiction biography/memoir, and described by the authors as a ‘collage of cultural analysis, anecdotes, personal essays, poems and lists, interplayed like a conversation between friends.’
It is a real and candid exploration of challenges faced by young adults, from work burnout and failing relationships, to moving to the other side of the world and the grief of losing loved ones.
While the book addresses some heavy themes like grief, failure, and severe burnout, the writing style remains like and easy to read all the way through. I loved the variety; things like poems and conversations over text to break up any large pieces of text. The chapters were also fairly short, which I liked, and overall it was a fast read.
It gives personal anecdotes of common experiences, which I loved, it seemed like a story that a lot of women in their twenties share and can relate to. Since I am teenager, I couldn’t relate as much as others might. Reading this book has given me some good advice for the future, but less of that feeling of connection through similar experiences. It’s definitely a book I will re-read as I believe it will hold new relevance for me as time goes on.
I loved how it emphasized that friendship can be just as fulfilling, if not more, than a romantic relationship, which is definitely a topic that needs to be spoken about more. In multiple chapters it went over this topic and how surrounding yourself with people who truly care about you significantly improves your life and mental health. Both of the authors had experiences where friendship had significantly helped them in difficult times in their life, whether this was after a breakup, failing something that meant a lot to them, or a way to come back to themselves after feeling generally lost and confused.
While the story is deeply personal and many people will relate to it, it was also inspirational. It gave a new sense of hope that with effort, goals can be achieved, no matter how far fetched they are. Ideas you get in the back of a lecture theatre can turn into something beyond your imagination.
Lucy expresses her struggles with internet fame, and is here to remind us that no matter how many millions of followers someone has, they are still a person. She explains her journey from a small Harry Styles fan page to a news page with over three million followers.
The discussion of loving the internet but being so aware of its flaws felt very relevant to Gen Z, and deeply discussed the feeling of being from a place that is far away from ‘everywhere else’ but still wanting to have that impact on media and news and how it is presented to the world. One of the authors also shared her experience of internet fame and the important message that no matter how many millions of followers someone has, they are still human and need to be treated with empathy.
It was funny and light-hearted whilst dealing with serious topics, and overall a great read. However, I think it is for a specific audience, and if you aren’t in your late teens to twenties you might not enjoy it as much as people in this age range. I also didn’t realize this was a biography/memoir at first, so if you don’t enjoy that kind of book it’s unlikely for you to enjoy this as much as others. I definitely think people who are in their late teens to twenties and/or people from Aotearoa New Zealand will be able to relate to and connect with it the most, but I recommend it to everyone interested.